Cultural Writing. Political Science. CONSENSUS OR COERCION? offers a new perspective on post-war British history and the welfare state. It examines the relationship between 'the people' and 'the state' in areas as diverse as race relations, housing, social services, political activism, television and the family. Focusing upon the notion of social cohesion, the book argues that the British state's ability to represent itself as the crucial factor in the maintenance of this social cohesion has been of paramount importance to the state's continued existence.

Cultural Writing. CONSENSUS OR COERCION seeks to offer a new perspective on post-war British history and the welfare state. Focusing upon the notion of social cohesion, the book examines the relationship between 'the people' and 'the state' in areas as diverse as race relations, housing social services, political activism, television and the family.

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.

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.

Ross McKibbin investigates the ways in which `class culture' characterized English society and intruded into every aspect of life, during the period from 1918 to the mid-1950s. He shows how this division into separate social classes manifested itself within the mini `cultures' which together help constitute society: families and family life, friends and neighbours, the workplace, schools and colleges, religion, sexuality, sport, music, film, radio, and examines the effects of increasing Americanization. This fascinating and original study is invaluable for an understanding of the fundamental structures and belief systems underpinning English society in the first half of the twentieth century.

This is a study of the social character of the British working class in the period from the 1880s to the early 1950s, when about seventy-five per cent of the population were manual workers, or their dependents. It has three central themes: the nature of working-class culture and working-class organization; the relationships between the working class and other classes; and the role of both World Wars and the state in shaping class relations. Ross McKibbin examines different aspects of British political, social, and economic history to give an integrated explanation of the development of modern British society, and the ideological assumptions on which it is based. Attitudes to work and leisure are also explored, to build a coherent picture of the ideological world of Britain's social classes.