Britain in fragments
Why things are falling apart
By Satnam Virdee and Brendan McGeever

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Book Information
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 978-1-5261-6459-9
- Pages: 240
- Publisher: Manchester University Press
- Price: £19.99
- Published Date: February 2023
- BIC Category: 21st Century History: From C 2000 -, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Society & social sciences / Sociology, British Politics, Sociology, Sociology, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 21st Century, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Race & Ethnic Relations, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General
Description
Britain today is falling apart. One of the most dominant states in world history finds itself confronted with growing demands for nationalist secessionism. Brexit has already secured its break from the European Union while looming Scottish independence threatens to undermine the integrity of the British state. Meanwhile, class, gender, regional and generational inequalities are deepening while endemic racism has been re-invigorated. How has it come to this?
Britain in fragments traces how the historic pillars sustaining the democratic settlement have begun to crumble. This stability was constructed amid a century of imperial expansion abroad and working-class struggles for justice at home. The post-war welfare state was the apex of this historic arrangement; however, the ground beneath it began to shake as the processes of decolonisation and neoliberalism unfolded.
This book traces how successive Labour and Conservative governments have incrementally dismantled the democratic settlement. A bipartisan commitment to neoliberalism has culminated in a historic crisis of representation and legitimacy, opening the door to competing nationalist forces.
Contents
Introduction
1. Racism, nationalism, secessionism
2. Extinguishing multi-ethnic visions of class
3. Class becomes race
4. Socialism or barbarism?
Authors
Satnam Virdee is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow
Brendan McGeever is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Birkbeck, University of London