Parties and People: England, 1914-1951

by Ross McKibbin

Overview

The 'sequel' to his best-selling Classes and Cultures, Ross McKibbin's latest book is a powerful reinterpretation of British politics in the first decades of universal suffrage. What did it mean to be a 'democratic society'? To what extent did voters make up their own minds on politics or allow elites to do it for them?

Exploring the political culture of these extraordinary years, Parties and People shows that class became one of the principal determinants of political behaviour, although its influence was often surprisingly weak. McKibbin argues that the kind of democracy that emerged in Britain was far from inevitable-as much historical accident as design-and was in many ways highly flawed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199605170
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/15/2011
Series:	Ford Lectures 2008 2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Ross McKibbin is Emeritus Research Fellow at St John's College, Oxford.

Table of Contents

1. Edwardian Equipoise and the First World War2. Unstable Equilibrium, 1918-19293. The Crisis of Labour and the Conservative Hegemony, 1929-394. The Party System Thrown Off Course5. The English Road to Socialism6. England: Social Change, Historical Accident and Democracy

Editorial Reviews

"It is impossible to do justice in a brief review to the sophistication and complexity of
McKibbin s analysis of the period, particularly his careful attention to the importance of political culture in determining electoral behavior...[A]nyone concerned with the history of twentieth-century Britain will want to read this book."—Journal of British Studies

From the Publisher