Suchergebnisse

"Throughout the twentieth century, everyone from Marxists to economic individualists assumed that social and political activity was driven by the rational pursuit of material gain. Today, the fundamental importance of the cultivation and preservation of identity is finally re-emerging. In this book, Rodney Barker explores the rich fabric of speech, dress, diet and the built environment from which human identity is made. The colour of a scarf or the accent of a conversation can unite people or divide them, and the smallest detail can play its part in signalling who are allies and who are enemies. Identity simultaneously generates equality and inequality – it is both the engine of public life and the cause of its confusion and conflict – and a better understanding of its subtleties is crucial if we are to confront the tensions that it produces in society.

Synthesising methods and ideas from numerous disciplines – including history, political science, anthropology, law and sociology – Barker presents a picture of human life as more than just a collection of material interests. His ultimate aim is to show that no human activity is trivial or meaningless, that everything counts and plumage matters."

The rise of the New Right and the collapse of state communism in 1989 has fundamentally changed political thinking in the late twentieth century. Rodney Barker has revised and extended his classic text - Political Ideas in Modern Britain - in the light of these changes. His accessible account of political thinking in Britain since the 1880s now includes detailed analysis of: * the demise of traditional conservatism and socialism * the rise and decline of the New Right * the growth of feminism, liberalism and pluralism Political Ideas in Modern Britain charts the changing intellectual landscape of political thinking, illustrating how contemporary political thought is both rooted in tradition and a radical transformation of it. Whether the future is liberal, communitarian, pluralist, or simply uncertain, this is an essential guide for students of British politics. Rodney Barker is Senior Lecturer in Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Public and political life can no longer be seen as simply the pursuit of material gain or even as the struggle for enough food and shelter by which to live. The interests which people pursue are shaped by the identities which they both inherit and cultivate. In generating identities, everything is important, from clothing to cuisine, from architecture to language, and to understand why and how people associate in groups and communities, and why they compete and conflict with each other, every aspect of identity has to be taken seriously. Whatever secrets may remain in people's minds or souls, who they are socially is what they say, what they eat, and how they live. This book is ideal reading for students, lecturers, and the general reader interested in the importance of identity in public life, and in the inherent political momentum in identity cultivation to both equality and inequality simultaneously.