ABSTRACT
Traditionally, the right had occupied the ground of meritocratic self-advancement and aspiration. The left had largely embraced the contested ground of culture — feminism, human rights, ecology and ethnicity. Political movements which are against the elites, anti-establishment, have been making considerable headway. Brexit vote and election of Donald Trump was a cry from the disassociated who felt the system was not working for them. Reaction against the impersonal systems that shape people's experience of everyday life was concern to try to connect the public more directly with the outcomes they want. The sigh was for human interaction. In Western economic landscapes, the main way productive forces have de-personalised us was to make us objects of their relentlessness. The classic analysis of this was that of Marx in the 19th century. Consultations are made that seem a fig-leaf; the outcome pre-determined.
