In order to understand today’s nationalism, we need to address the historical decline of working-class communities, the sense of loss brought by deindustrialisation and how working-class people have been denied a voice in society and politics. Discontent has manifested strongly in these deprived post-industrial areas, often branded as communities that have been left behind under neoliberal globalisation. Whilst more and more people are voicing their discontent with a system that fails to provide social security and economic stability, many researchers have branded them merely as racists, xenophobes and ill educated. Although prejudices are likely to play a part in all political outcomes, today’s dissatisfaction across the West cannot be reduced to mere emotion and intolerance. This book therefore utilises on-the-ground research with working-class individuals in a Leave voting locale in Britain, exploring their discontent with politicians, the Labour Party, the European Union, immigration, refugees and the prolonged calls for a second referendum. It situates this sentiment towards society and politics within the decline of capitalism's post-war era and the loss of well-paid industrial jobs, increase in non-unionised service employment and the hollowing out of community spirit.

This book contributes to emerging debates about Levelling Up the UK Economy, considering these alongside the nature of, and trends in, both the political economy and spatial disparities. Drawing on a complex systems framing, the book pulls together a range of evidence to provide insights about the agenda from macro, meso and micro levels of analyses, including utilising qualitative data from a small scoping study with Directors of Regeneration across several ‘left behind’ places and 25 residents of ‘left behind’ Redcar & Cleveland in Teesside. The book outlines phases in capitalism’s development, particularly the shift from post-war capitalism to a post-industrial and neoliberal society and the implications for spatial inequalities. The 2022 Levelling Up White Paper is analysed alongside a focus on the role of local government relative to the agenda. The book offers an empirical case study of ‘left behind’ Redcar & Cleveland, exposing deindustrialisation, insecure employment, crime, anti-social behaviour and sentiments on a North South divide and Levelling Up. We suggest that only a transformative change in the political economy, including significant and sustained investment at different spatial levels, is likely to achieve the ambition to Level Up.

The health and fitness industry has experienced a meteoric rise over the past two decades, yet its slick exterior conceals a darker side. Using ethnographic data from gyms, interviews, and social media platforms, this book investigates the growing consumption of image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs), the motivations behind their use, and their role in masculine body image. Addressing a gap in the literature, Nick Gibbs also interrogates both the offline and digital drug supply chains with important insights for IPED harm reduction practitioners, law makers and policy advisors.

Making Sense of Ultra-Realism offers a unique insight into one of the most significant theoretical advances in 21st century criminology, drawing upon popular films and television series to contextualise and clarify the ultra-realist school of thought and providing a theoretically rich yet accessible introduction to the topic.

Based upon global data and following on from Lockdown: Social Harm in the COVID-19 Era, this book discusses the rise of surveillance capitalism and new forms of control and exclusion throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. It particularly addresses the use of vaccine passports, mandates and the new forms of capital extraction and political control that emerged throughout the pandemic. The book also explicates how the ‘vaccine hesitant’ became marginalized in both mainstream discourse and through regulatory interventions. Whilst the book addresses the wider political economy within which so-called ‘anti-vaxxers’ were ostracized, it also explores the complex nature of their sentiments. The book closes by considering The New Futures of Exclusion, outlining the forms of surveillance and control that may be implemented in the future particularly in light of the challenges brought by global warming and the energy transition. It is a broadly accessible text, particularly appealing to policymakers, general readers and academics in sociology, political sociology, politics, human geography, political economy, criminology, social policy, psychology, history, and infectious diseases and medicine.

This book asks whether the decision to lock down the world was justified in proportion to the potential harms and risks generated by the Covid-19 virus. Drawing on global, empirical data, it explores and exposes the social harms induced by lockdowns, many of which are 'hidden', including joblessness, mental health problems and an intensification of societal inequalities and divisions. It offers data-driven case studies on harms such as domestic violence, child abuse, the distress of being ordered to stay at home, and the numerous harms associated with the new wealth industries. It explores why some people weren't compliant with lockdown restrictions and examines the already vulnerable social groups who were disproportionally affected by lockdown including those who were locked in (care home residents), locked up (prisoners), and locked out (migrant workers, refugees). The book closes with a brief discussion on what the future might look like as we enter a post-Covid world, drawing on cutting-edge social theory.

"Zuberi looks at how the sounds, images, and lyrics of English popular music generate and critique ideas of national belonging, recasting the social and even the physical landscapes of cities like Manchester and London. The Smiths and Morrissey play on romanticized notions of the (white) English working class, while the Pet Shop Boys map a "queer urban Britain" in the AIDS era. The techno-culture of raves and dance clubs incorporates both an anti-institutional do-it-yourself politics and emergent leisure practices, while the potent mix of technology and creativity in British black music includes local conditions as well as a sense of global diaspora. British Asian musicians, drawing on Afrodiasporic and South Asian traditions, seek a sense of place in Britain as commercial interests try to pin down an image of them to market." "Sounds English shows how popular music complicates cherished notions of Englishness as it activates cultural outsiders and taps into a sense of not belonging."--BOOK JACKET.

First published in 1989, this is the third of three volumes exploring the changing notions of patriotism in British life from the thirteenth century to the late twentieth century and constitutes an attempt to come to terms with the power of the national idea through a historically informed critique. This volume studies some of the leading figures of national myth, such as Britannia and John Bull. One group of essays looks at the idea of distinctively national landscape and the ways in which it corresponds to notions of social order. A chapter on the poetry of Edmund Spenser explores metaphorical representations of Britain as a walled garden, and the idea of an enchanted national space is taken up in a series of essays on literature, theatre and cinema. An introductory piece charts some of the startling changes in the image of national character, from the seventeenth-century notion of the English as the most melancholy people in Europe, to the more uncertain and conflicting images of today.

This book ​makes a timely contribution to the analysis of nationalism and terrorism, and also the absence of terrorism. It proposes to analyse why Scottish, Welsh and English nationalism has never had as significant a turn to political violence as the case of Irish nationalism has. This will answer a question which is too rarely asked ‘why do certain groups not turn to terrorism?’ Nick Brooke makes an important contribution to debates on nationalism in the United Kingdom, as well as to debates on the relationship between nationalism and terrorism. Furthermore, the text provides complete narrative accounts of nationalist terrorism in Scotland, Wales and England, and considers how recent political developments impact the likelihood of further nationalist terrorism.

The first biography of Alfred Webb, Irish nationalist and president of the 1894 Indian National Congress. The biography explores how Webb viewed nationalism as a vehicle for global social justice. Drawing on archives in Britain, Ireland and India the author reveals how Irish and Indians used cosmopolitan London to create networks across the Empire.