ABSTRACT
This chapter examines certain contemporary issues which are linked to the concept of cultural identity in Britain and the manner in which this identity finds, or fails to find, its expression in the media. It focuses on media-associated issues generally and upon the nature of media discourse in particular. Britain’s traditional political groupings have their origins in a kind of non-doctrinaire pragmatism which has contributed significantly to the political stability of the nation. The turbulent socio-cultural transformations which British society has undergone since 1945, and which have accelerated in the last two decades of the twentieth century, find their respective identities in, and are shaped by, new types of constantly evolving discourse types. The post-war baby boom whose children grew into a social stratum in its own right with its own youth culture, associated economic power and specialised market.
