State and Society

A Social and Political History of Britain since 1870

Martin Pugh

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781350243101
• Edition: 6
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350243125
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Covering the major social and political events of British history from the late Victorian era through to the present day, the 6th edition of this landmark textbook helps students critically examine the relationship between the British state and its citizens. With accessible and engaging prose, the book guides students through a mix of chronological and thematic coverage connecting key political, economic and social changes, helping them examine the main themes and trends in British political history.
Newly featuring definitions of key terms, and with 20 additional illustrations, the 6th edition has also been updated to cover events since the 2015 general election, including: - The 2017 and 2019 general elections
- The Brexit vote and negotiations
- The COVID-19 pandemic
- The resignation of David Cameron, the fall of Theresa May, and the rise of Boris Johnson
- The rise of cultural politics, including feminism, Black Lives Matter, the centralisation of government and identity politics This book is essential for anyone looking to for an introduction to modern British social and political history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Tables and Figures
• Preface
• Part I The Loss of Confidence, 1870–1902
• 1 The Retreat of the Industrial Revolution
• 2 Not Quite a Democracy
• 3 The Victorian State and its People
• 4 Victorian Values: Myth and Reality
• 5 British National Identity: Unity and Division
• 6 Isolation and Expansion
• Part II The Reorientation: The Emergence of the Interventionist State, 1902–18
• 7 The State, Social Welfare and the Economy
• 8 The Liberal–Labour Alliance
• 9 Crisis and Controversy in Edwardian Britain
• 10 Politics and Society in the Great War
• Part III The Period of Confusion: Collectivism versus Capitalism, 1918–40
• 11 The Failure of Laissez-faire
• 12 Mass Democracy in an Age of Decline
• 13 The Era of Domesticity
• 14 Imperial Climax and Decline
• Part IV Consensus: The Age of the Benign State, 1940–70
• 15 The People’s War
• 16 The Keynesian Era
• 17 The Permissive Society
• 18 The Loss of Great Power Status
• Part V The Era of Reaction and Decline, 1970–2020
• 19 The Breakdown of the Post-war Consensus, 1970–9
• 20 The Era of Thatcherism
• 21 New Labour and the Blair Era
• 22 Crisis and Coalition
• 23 Brexit and the Pandemic
• Index
• Copyright