This book traces the word ‘progressive’ through modern British history, from the Enlightenment to Brexit. It explores the shifting meanings of this term and the contradictory political projects to which it has been attached. It also places this political language in its cultural context, asking how it relates to ideas about progressive social development, progressive business, and progressive rock music.
‘Progressive’ is often associated with a centre-left political tradition, but this book shows that this was only ever one use of the term – and one that was heavily contested even from its inception.
The power of the term ‘progressive’ is that it appears to anticipate the future. This can be politically and culturally valuable, but it is also dangerous. The suggestion that there is only one way forward has led to fear and doubt, anger and apathy, even amongst those who would like to consider themselves ‘progressive people’.
Table of Content
Acknowledgements.- List of abbreviations.- Chapter 1. Introduction: Being Progressive.- Chapter 2. Two Natural and Inevitable Parties?.- Chapter 3. Municipal Enterprise: Contesting the Liberal Tradition.- Chapter 4. The Pageant of Parliament: Politics in the Age of Modernism.- Chapter 5. Puzzled People: Making Sense of Modernity.- Chapter 6. Party Games: Realignments and Revisionism.- Chapter 7. The Rhetoric of Change: Modernisation and its Discontents.- Chapter 8. Conclusion: The Consequences of Progressive Thinking.- Bibliography
About the author
Emily Robinson is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Sussex, UK, Commissioning Editor of
Renewal, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her previous work includes
History, Heritage and Tradition in Contemporary British Politics: Past Politics and Present Histories (2012).
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