Clashing Tribes: The Longevity of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ Politics

Mace | Issue 2 | Uncategorised

From the Archive

Whatever you think of identity politics, the social battleground between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ is here to stay, argues Robert Ford.

Perhaps my interest in long term social change come from having an older father. My dad had just turned 50 when I came along in 1980. He would tell us stories of the Britain of his youth, living without television or computers, where cars were rare and store shelves often empty. Rationing was a defining experience of his childhood, explaining the delight he took in grocery shopping, and perhaps also why he was so much shorter than all five of his sons. The conditions we grow up with shape who we are, and what we want. This insight is not new, but its implications are perpetually underestimated. Politics focuses relentlessly on the short run – the agenda for the week, the coming Parliament – while the social changes wrought as new generations rise and older generations fade away run over decades. Such changes escape our notice, most of the time. But in the long run they reshape everything. University expansion and mass immigration were two of the engines of change which transformed Brit...

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