Nostalgia and the post-war Labour Party: Prisoners of the past - Hardcover

Jobson, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1526113309 ISBN 13: 9781526113306

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2018

Synopsis

This book examines the impact that nostalgia has had on the Labour Party's political development since 1951. It argues that nostalgia has defined Labour's identity and determined the party's trajectory. Nostalgia has hindered policy discussion, determined the form and parameters of party modernisation, shaped internal conflict and cohesion and made it difficult for the party to adjust to socioeconomic changes. It has frequently left the party out of touch with the modern world. In this way, this study offers an assessment of Labour's failures to adapt to the changing nature of post-war Britain and will be of interest to both students and academics and to those with a more general interest in Labour's history and politics.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Jobson is Stipendiary Lecturer in Modern History at The Queen's College, University of Oxford

Review

"Nostalgia and the Post-War Labour PartyELprovides a serious contribution to the understanding of struggles within the Labour Party and raises significant questions about how parties engage with their own past to their advantage and disadvantage and how the past informs and sometimes perhaps restricts current politics. Most importantly, it shows that nostalgia is not simply an issue for the right, for Brexit and Trump voters, but is a charge that the left too has to deal with." - Tobias Becker, History Workshop Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1526113309
• ISBN 13: 9781526113306
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232