Working Classes

A follow up on our previous work on postwar conservatism, this investigation puts the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump in broad historical perspective, looking at the social and economic forces that made populism appealing to a number of working class people in the UK and the US. While this is primarily a project in political history, we wish to emphasize the importance of cultural factors as well.

Thanks to the contribution of scholars in cultural studies specializing in the analysis of TV series, film and literature, our project also examines the ways that social inequality and deindustrialization have been depicted and portrayed in cultural artifacts since the 1960s. Doing so, we hope to highlight the processes whereby social norms are gradually internalized and political identities are built.