Cultural Politics in the Age of Austerity

This book traces the development of cultural politics in relation to the latest economic crisis in capitalism. Focusing on themes of ‘class’, ‘power’, ‘resistance’ and what Marcuse termed ‘affirmative culture’ - or the safe management of the status quo - it provides a number of case studies exploring the various effects of ‘austerity’ on cultural politics. Of central importance is the question of whether austerity creates radical developments in cultural politics that resist capital and if so, whether cultural politics might be of central importance in defining of the tensions that are central to dialectics. With studies of cultural politics and its meaning, class identity and culture, the neutralization of dissent, environmentalism and eco-socialism, ‘strategic communication’, propaganda and dissent, war commemoration, the culture of left-wing politics and grassroots social movements, Cultural Politics in the Age of Austerity assesses the impact of a range of cultural forms on the dynamics of society and relations of power during times of economic crisis. As such, it will appeal to scholars of media and cultural studies and political sociology.

David Berry is Senior Lecturer in Media, Communication and Culture at Southampton Solent University, UK, and author of The Romanian Mass Media and Cultural Development; and Journalism, Ethics and Society. He is co-editor of Public Policy and the Media and British Marxism and Cultural Studies and editor of Revisiting The Frankfurt School.