Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics

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These ‘hyper-globalists’ have lost touch with the electorate they purport to represent and cater to. The values from unfashionable non-urban regions are undesirable and excluded in the voice of institutions such as academia, media, creative cultural institutions. Virtues of certain groups are upheld as desirable, honourable and rewarded with high status while others are slammed as ignorant ‘Karens and Gammons.’ Matthew Goodwin, acclaimed political scientist and co-author of National Populism, shows that the reason is not economic hardship, personalities or dark money.

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I had thought that there was a problem with division before (especially between the political classes and the working classes), however this book highlights with clear evidence just how deep that division is and, sadly just how illiberal and undemocratic those "winners" at the top have become. Having made all the arguments here for more than half a decade, he needed a new peg on which to hang them. He's plumped for a clear division between the 'old elite' and the 'new elite'. Apparently, the 'new elite' are different from the old because they have Oxbridge educations, have a 'loud and dominant' voice in institutions, and have a sense of moral righteousness that makes them believe they are superior to non-elites. Not sure what’s happened to Goodwin in recent years*, but this (ironically polemic) anti-“woke” / anti-“liberal elite” rant is a horribly far cry from the legitimately rigorous work he previously produced on the British far-right. You’re better off reading (for example) Aurelien Mondon instead. Both these books opened my world view to an entirely different way of thinking, helping me not just to understand the patriotic/populist argument but (to my amazement) find myself agreeing with large portions of it. People in all kinds of elite have a tendency to downplay their privileges,” said Savage. “My point would be: separate out what they say from the sociological truth. So when Liz Truss emphasises that she went to a comprehensive school [where she said children were ‘let down’] but it turns out to have been very good, we should interrogate that.”This book is a valuable read for understanding better the cause of our recent democratic upheavals. Baroness Stowell, The House Magazine

Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics - Goodreads Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics - Goodreads

Many would also agree with his view that this group was blind to the evidence that a majority would vote for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, arguably Britain’s defining anti-elitist event of the 21st century.

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Other reviewers have pointed out that education has been used as a differentiator for the elite for hundreds of years yet Goodwin identifies university education as the main marker of this new elite. The old Britain used to be run by the toffs but the significance of this new elite is that they are, well, toffs. Goodwin rounds up many right leaning perspectives in one book, which is good. I particularly liked the inclusion of McWhorter’s work. There’s not clearly much new stuff here though, and I found the pace a bit dry. I’m left wanting a deeper exploration of the moral frameworks uniting these perspectives; but perhaps that’s a credit to the book. Not a bad read, but I’m not rushing to recommend it to all my friends.