ABSTRACT

Culture and Consensus, first published in 1995 and a revised edition in 1997, explores the history of the relationship between politics and the arts in Britain since 1940, and shows how the search for a secure sense of English identity has been reflected in official and unofficial attitudes to the arts, architecture, landscape and other emblems of national significance.

Illustrating his argument with a series of detailed case histories, Robert Hewison analyses how Britain’s cultural life has reached its present enfeebled condition and suggests a way forward. This book will be of interest to students of art and cultural studies.

chapter

Introduction

chapter I|21 pages

Dis-United Kingdom

Britain in the 1990s

chapter II|28 pages

Deep England

Britian in 1940s

chapter III|38 pages

New Britain

Britain in the early 1950s

chapter IV|35 pages

The Uses of Culture

Britain in the later 1950s

chapter V|36 pages

A Swinging Meritocracy

Britain in the 1960s

chapter VI|50 pages

The Uses of Subculture

Britain in the early 1970s

chapter VII|42 pages

The Enterprise Culture

Britain in the 1980s

chapter VIII|44 pages

Value for Money

The arts under Thatcherism

chapter IX|19 pages

The Public Culture

Britain in the future