Towards a Very British Version of the “Culture Wars”

Alma-Pierre Bonnet is Senior Lecturer in British Studies at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University, France.Raphaële Kilty is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History and Politics at Clermont Auvergne University, France.

• 1. Towards a very British version of the “culture wars”: An introduction 2. Partisan conflict over Clause 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act: Culture Wars avant la lettre 3. Nigel Farage’s national populist campaign in favour of Brexit: Early signs of a culture war in the United Kingdom 4. Comparative evidence from the Yellow Vests movement in France: Communities of grievance 5. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s use of metaphors and the emergence of the UK “culture wars”: The great divider? 6. The Conservative Right’s ‘War against Woke’: Fighting the latest ‘enemies within’ 7. Policing the culture wars in contemporary Britain: ‘More PCs, less PC’ 8. Climate Change and Cultural Collision in UK politics: Petrolheads vs. Ecowarriors 9. Critical Race Theory and the politics of race in Britain: The Long Culture War 10. Academic freedom and transphobia in UK higher education: Two sides of the same coin? 11. Conservative unionism v. Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill: Killing two birds with one stone? 12. Conclusion

“This is an engaging and timely book on the much talked about ‘culture wars’ in the UK. It offers a striking assessment of the many fronts opened by populists in their efforts to take over the Conservative party. A must read for anyone eager to make sense of the new and consequential ‘phoney war’”.Florence Faucher, Director of the CEE, Sciences Po, Paris, France“A timely and thought-provoking book which explores the multiple dimensions of an agenda which now seems set to play an increasingly divisive and transformative role in political debate in the United Kingdom. The contributors are alert both to the political motivations driving contemporary culture wars and to their comparative context. A wide-ranging and sophisticated collection which deserves an extensive readership”.Gillian Peele, University of Oxford, UK