Politics of Nostalgia

Simon Winlow is Professor of Social Sciences at Northumbria University, UK. An internationally recognized criminologist and sociologist, he is one of the left’s most original thinkers and a key commentator on British politics and culture.

• Introduction: Falling Chapter 1. The New Politics of Nostalgia Chapter 2. Fearing the Future Chapter 3. Lost Roots Chapter 4. Beyond Modernism Chapter 5. Permanent Reform Chapter 6. Intimations of Post-Sociality Chapter 7. Towards a Better Future

In The Politics of Nostalgia, Winlow takes us out onto the streets of our forgotten towns and cities to reveal lives destabilised by economic insecurity and high-paced cultural change. In these places, nostalgia is reshaping the political views of ordinary people, but not in the ways we tend to assume. This is a daring analysis of a nation tumbling downwards, a nation in which more and more people see only dark days ahead... The Politics of Nostalgia runs contrary to so much mainstream analysis of contemporary Britain, and it will be awkward reading for many who would prefer to look away from the reality of our nation today. Nonetheless, it offers an essential examination of where we are now, and where we appear to be going... It's also a reminder that a much better Britain existed in the near past, and, with sufficient public investment, a better future is possible. Having given away our resources and past to those with no interest in Britain, the state needs to get us our resources in order to give us back our future.