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.So far did these Uses Cultural Studies 10/3/05 11:52 am Page 2424 The Uses of Cultural Studiesfranchises and tendering out processes enter into the norms and conven-tions of daily life, that now the very idea of reversing such practicesbecomes unthinkable.The return to council housing ? Unimaginable.Re-nationalisation of the railways? Highly unlikely, despite the high coststo government of bailing out the franchisees.And so on.This is what ismeant by the terrain of struggle.As John Berger, echoing Hall, hasrecently pointed out, what Gramsci also recognised was that theseprocesses are actually constitutive of a kind of revolution.6 For the left, anequally sustained process carried out at every level of society, would alsobe a kind of revolution; perhaps this is what is achievable once the telos of revolution is abandoned.Politics is therefore about envisaging long dura-tion, and the terrain is the site for constant intervention.Nothing is ever done.Gramsci also provides an understanding of the importance of thepopular as a necessary site for effecting political transformation.This,above all, was where Mrs Thatcher succeeded as she tapped into pop-ular working-class grievances not addressed by the Left in power in thelocal authorities and indeed in government.They had been too con-cerned with bureacracy, they were too happy to stitch up a deal with the union bosses and, as Hall points out, Labour in office has rarelyencouraged active participation and grassroots organisation.Thatchercommitted herself to freeing the people from the bureaucrats of thetown hall, whose policies restricted the choices of ordinary people onimportant issues like where they wanted their children to go to school,and whether or not they could paint the front door of their councilhouses a different colour.This ability, to recognise and successfullyaddress the terrain of ordinary life, which under Labour had been gov-erned by statist and monolithic procedures set in place by the extensivefield of the welfare state and public sector, which in adverse economicconditions could not deliver what it originally promised, was the basis ofthe popularity of Thatcherism.Gramsci s writing served also to remindthe left that they could not succeed hegemonically without gaining thispopular consent and without being open to new ideas and fresh thinking,even if that meant critically examining some of the old points of faith.The phrase which Hall coined to encompass the complex unity ofThatcherist values was authoritarian populism.This distinctive style ofleadership emphasised the need for a new popular morality based onlaw and order and family values.By defining the dynamics of popularcapitalism as inclusive, it too became a moral force.Capitalism was Uses Cultural Studies 10/3/05 11:52 am Page 25Stuart Hall and the Inventiveness of Cultural Studies 25now an economic system, not just for the wealthy or for the affluentmiddle classes, but also for the ordinary people; they too could becomestakeholders (later taken up by Blair) and investors in the newly priva-tised public facilities, they could own their own house, see it go up invalue and recoup the rewards.Democratic populism was another markof Mrs Thatcher s radicalism.She could plug into working-class griev-ances about the over-bureaucratised left, the trade unions and the localauthorities and she could encourage forms of grass roots revolt by draw-ing attention to the undemocratic elements and the paternalism of oldLabour, thus pulling the ground away from under Labour s feet, throughdrawing on their own vocabulary.Thatcherism was able to present theseideas as appropriate for a rapidly changing world; she was also a classic moderniser.The idea of popular capitalism was forward looking andhad novelty value without totally offending those who wished to upholdconservative traditions.How was it possible to build up such a force for change? Hall pointsto the many levels of society to which Mrs Thatcher turned her atten-tion.The universities had academics who, for some years previously, hadbeen developing what seemed at the time unpopular and even un-palatable ideas, for example, Keith Joseph, who was the academic whodrew attention to the issue of young single mothers being supported bythe welfare state.Hall also points to other figures like head teacherRhodes Boyson, who became a regular writer for the tabloid press onpopular issues like falling standards and the failings of progressive andleftist teachers.There were strenuous efforts across the whole civil soci-ety to gain consent for the strong law and order measures that needed tobe taken to stop the slide into excessive liberalism and the decline ofauthority.Authoritarian populism was thus the strongest possiblecounter to the values and beliefs of the late 1960s, to the left-wing rad-icalism which developed through the 1970s, and which included newsocial movements such as feminism and gay rights.These had all con-tributed to the decline in family values, the failure to punish criminals,the encouragement of dependency on social security, and the discour-aging of enterprise (a newly favoured word).This paved the way for amore disciplinary society.By repeatedly drawing attention to folk devilssuch as trade union militants, social security fraudsters and single moth-ers who, as the tabloids put it (often drawing on American new rightarguments) were wedded to the state, support increased for harsh meas-ures to be taken against these groups. Uses Cultural Studies 10/3/05 11:52 am Page 2626 The Uses of Cultural StudiesMrs Thatcher s discourse was also effective, argues Hall, for its inter-pellative capacity.It brought new subjects into being by naming them ina popular language.The concerned parent fed up with too-liberalteachers.The anxious hospital patient who wanted to have surgery onthe day of his or her choice, in order to get back to work as soon as pos-sible.The fearful owner-occupier who wanted to see more bobbies onthe beat [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.So far did these Uses Cultural Studies 10/3/05 11:52 am Page 2424 The Uses of Cultural Studiesfranchises and tendering out processes enter into the norms and conven-tions of daily life, that now the very idea of reversing such practicesbecomes unthinkable.The return to council housing ? Unimaginable.Re-nationalisation of the railways? Highly unlikely, despite the high coststo government of bailing out the franchisees.And so on.This is what ismeant by the terrain of struggle.As John Berger, echoing Hall, hasrecently pointed out, what Gramsci also recognised was that theseprocesses are actually constitutive of a kind of revolution.6 For the left, anequally sustained process carried out at every level of society, would alsobe a kind of revolution; perhaps this is what is achievable once the telos of revolution is abandoned.Politics is therefore about envisaging long dura-tion, and the terrain is the site for constant intervention.Nothing is ever done.Gramsci also provides an understanding of the importance of thepopular as a necessary site for effecting political transformation.This,above all, was where Mrs Thatcher succeeded as she tapped into pop-ular working-class grievances not addressed by the Left in power in thelocal authorities and indeed in government.They had been too con-cerned with bureacracy, they were too happy to stitch up a deal with the union bosses and, as Hall points out, Labour in office has rarelyencouraged active participation and grassroots organisation.Thatchercommitted herself to freeing the people from the bureaucrats of thetown hall, whose policies restricted the choices of ordinary people onimportant issues like where they wanted their children to go to school,and whether or not they could paint the front door of their councilhouses a different colour.This ability, to recognise and successfullyaddress the terrain of ordinary life, which under Labour had been gov-erned by statist and monolithic procedures set in place by the extensivefield of the welfare state and public sector, which in adverse economicconditions could not deliver what it originally promised, was the basis ofthe popularity of Thatcherism.Gramsci s writing served also to remindthe left that they could not succeed hegemonically without gaining thispopular consent and without being open to new ideas and fresh thinking,even if that meant critically examining some of the old points of faith.The phrase which Hall coined to encompass the complex unity ofThatcherist values was authoritarian populism.This distinctive style ofleadership emphasised the need for a new popular morality based onlaw and order and family values.By defining the dynamics of popularcapitalism as inclusive, it too became a moral force.Capitalism was Uses Cultural Studies 10/3/05 11:52 am Page 25Stuart Hall and the Inventiveness of Cultural Studies 25now an economic system, not just for the wealthy or for the affluentmiddle classes, but also for the ordinary people; they too could becomestakeholders (later taken up by Blair) and investors in the newly priva-tised public facilities, they could own their own house, see it go up invalue and recoup the rewards.Democratic populism was another markof Mrs Thatcher s radicalism.She could plug into working-class griev-ances about the over-bureaucratised left, the trade unions and the localauthorities and she could encourage forms of grass roots revolt by draw-ing attention to the undemocratic elements and the paternalism of oldLabour, thus pulling the ground away from under Labour s feet, throughdrawing on their own vocabulary.Thatcherism was able to present theseideas as appropriate for a rapidly changing world; she was also a classic moderniser.The idea of popular capitalism was forward looking andhad novelty value without totally offending those who wished to upholdconservative traditions.How was it possible to build up such a force for change? Hall pointsto the many levels of society to which Mrs Thatcher turned her atten-tion.The universities had academics who, for some years previously, hadbeen developing what seemed at the time unpopular and even un-palatable ideas, for example, Keith Joseph, who was the academic whodrew attention to the issue of young single mothers being supported bythe welfare state.Hall also points to other figures like head teacherRhodes Boyson, who became a regular writer for the tabloid press onpopular issues like falling standards and the failings of progressive andleftist teachers.There were strenuous efforts across the whole civil soci-ety to gain consent for the strong law and order measures that needed tobe taken to stop the slide into excessive liberalism and the decline ofauthority.Authoritarian populism was thus the strongest possiblecounter to the values and beliefs of the late 1960s, to the left-wing rad-icalism which developed through the 1970s, and which included newsocial movements such as feminism and gay rights.These had all con-tributed to the decline in family values, the failure to punish criminals,the encouragement of dependency on social security, and the discour-aging of enterprise (a newly favoured word).This paved the way for amore disciplinary society.By repeatedly drawing attention to folk devilssuch as trade union militants, social security fraudsters and single moth-ers who, as the tabloids put it (often drawing on American new rightarguments) were wedded to the state, support increased for harsh meas-ures to be taken against these groups. Uses Cultural Studies 10/3/05 11:52 am Page 2626 The Uses of Cultural StudiesMrs Thatcher s discourse was also effective, argues Hall, for its inter-pellative capacity.It brought new subjects into being by naming them ina popular language.The concerned parent fed up with too-liberalteachers.The anxious hospital patient who wanted to have surgery onthe day of his or her choice, in order to get back to work as soon as pos-sible.The fearful owner-occupier who wanted to see more bobbies onthe beat [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]