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The Public on the Public: The British Public as Trust, Reflexivity and Political Foreclosure pp 1–12Cite as

Introduction: We Are Not ‘the Public’

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Abstract

This opening chapter lays the grounds for our reading of the discursive formation of the British public. This public emerges with the establishment of financial management as the governing principle of the unifying British state, and its pragmatic version of property-based citizenship. The public is, and has always been, an encoding of financial stability, working to create a public ‘we’ or financially realist ‘us’ made familiar through wartime consensus. Here, we contend that, in Britain’s case, the resistance to popular determination enabled by this public has been so successful that the term ‘public’ must be re-read as politically paralysing. Indeed, the problem, or our problem, is the public – that which we are so often told will bring us together and provide for us.

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Notes

  1. For a discussion of the evolution of the terms ‘public’ and ‘public sphere’ see Jürgen Habermas (1989 ]1962[) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, trans. Thomas Burger (Cambridge: Polity), pp. 1–26

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  2. Dan Hind (2012 ]2010[) The Return of the Public: Democracy, Power, and the Case for Media Reform (London: Verso). See particularly in Hind the discussion of the Roman Republic as res publica, ‘a public possession’, pp. 15–30, and of the American Republic pp. 59–76.

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  3. For a discussion of the unwritten status of the constitution, see Michael Gardiner (2013) The Constitution of English Literature: The State, the Nation and the Canon (London: Bloomsbury), pp. 25–6 and pp. 107–8.

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  4. Also see: Anthony Barnett . ‘The Original Charter 88’ http://www.unlockdemocracy.org. uk/pages/the-original-charter-88

  5. Tom Nairn (2002 ]1977[) The Break-Up of Britain: Crisis and Neo-nationalism (London: Verso), pp. xv–xvi

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  6. Tom Nairn (2000) After Britain: New Labour and the Return of Scotland (London: Granta), pp. 276–8.

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  7. See Louis Althusser (1984 ]1970[) ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)’, trans. Ben Brewster, in Essays on Ideology (London: Verso), pp. 1–60.

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  8. Also see Michael Gardiner (2013) ‘English Literature as Ideology’, in Claire Westall and Michael Gardiner (eds) Literature of an Independent England: Revisions of England, Englishness and English Literature (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 203–17 (p. 211 and p. 223). We have drawn on Michel Foucault’s explanation of the ‘governmentalisation of the state’, but contend that this can be read through a specific state formation. Foucault warns against investing too heavily in the solidity of the state and its historical emergence, recognising it as ‘a composite reality and a mythicised abstraction whose importance is much less than we think’ (p. 109). However, we position ourselves as working with this idea of the state as a flexible abstraction brought into being through institutions and networks of power rather than as a single, fixed, establishment or body.

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  9. See Michel Foucault (2009) Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France 1977–8, trans. Graham Bruchell Michel Senellart (ed.) (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 108–9.

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  10. See Habermas (1989 ]1962[), pp. 31–67.

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  11. See Karl Marx (1990 ]1867[) Capital: Critique of Political Economy Vol.1 (London: Penguin), Chapter 31, especially pp. 912–14.

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  12. For a related discussion of ‘capitalist realism’ see Mark Fisher (2009) Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? (Winchester: Zer0).

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  13. See, for example, the main ‘facts’ page of the ‘Better Together’ campaign where the key question blocks are not about political franchise, democratic process or independence arguments for small nation-states, but rather are (in this order): ‘The Economy’; ‘The Pound’; ‘Jobs’; ‘The NHS’; ‘The Case for the UK’; ‘Further Devolution’; ‘Pensions’; ‘Defence’; ‘Welfare’;’ shopping’; ‘Mortgages’; ‘Energy Bills’; ‘The EU’; ‘Oil and Gas’; ‘Universities’ http://bettertogether.net/the-facts

  14. On the obvious rhetorical overlap between ‘one nationism’ and ‘in it togetherness’, as shared by Labour and the Conservatives, see, for example, Richard Seymour (6 October 2012) ‘Miliband’s “one nation”, Cameron’s “all in this together”–spot the difference’ The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/05/ed-miliband-one-nation-cameron. On the positive ‘value’ assessments of the Olympics after the completion of the games, see, for example, John Paul Ford Rojas (5 December 2012) ‘London 2012 Olympics were good value for money, says spending watchdog’ The Guardianhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/9723228/9-billion-Olympics-good-value-says-spending-watchdog.html.

  15. See, for example: BBC News (12 June 2014)’ scottish Independence: Hillary Clinton opposes “Yes” vote’ http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotlandscotland-politics-27828454. BBC News (17 June 2014)’ scottish independence: Chinese calls for a “united” UK’ http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotlandscotland-politics-27894257. For a brief response see Susan Evans (19 June 2014) ‘We Need to Talk About Keqiang’ Bella Caledoniahttp://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2014/06/19/we-need-to-talk-about-keqiang/.

  16. Robert Peston Goes Shopping, dir. Robin Dashwood, Episode 1’ seduction’ (5th), Episode 2 ‘Addiction’ (12th), and Episode 3 ‘Revolution (19th) October 2013, BBC 2.

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  17. The Jam released ‘Going Underground’ in 1980 with Polydor. Its lyrics include the lines: Something’s happening here today A show of strength with your boy’s brigade And I’m so happy and you’re so kind You want more money–of course I don’t mind To buy nuclear textbooks for atomic crimes And the public gets what the public wants But I want nothing this society’s got I’m going underground (going underground).

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  18. Such a move is seen in work by David Harvey, Noam Chomsky, Zygmunt Bauman and number others, but is rarely seen in mainstream discussions of the public.

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  19. See, for key examples: Colin Crouch (2011) The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism (Cambridge: Polity)

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  20. Andrew Gamble (2009) The Spectres at the Feast: Capitalist Crisis and the Politics of Recession (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)

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  21. David Parker (2009) The Official History of Privatisation Vol. I: The Formative Years 1970–87 (London: Routledge) and (2012) Vol II: Popular Capitalism 1987–97 (London: Routledge).

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  22. See, for example, David Harvey (2005) A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 64–86.

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  23. See Crouch (2011), pp. 82–90.

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  24. The phrase is associated with J.K. Galbraith (1977) The Age of Uncertainty: Part 7, The Mandarin Revolution dir. Mike Jackson, BBC TV, and (London: Andre Deutsch).

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  25. This has been understood by a range of commentators on neoliberalism including, Harvey, Crouch and Gamble. See, for example, Harvey (2005), p. xx.

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  26. This comparison was made by Gordon Brown in various speeches in late 2008. See Jean Eaglesham (12 October 2008) ‘Brown hails Blitz Spirit as way ahead’ Financial Timeshttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2e3d97d8-98a7-11ddace3-000077b07658.html#axzz2mzMg6txN. Also see Michael Gardiner (18 July 2013) ‘Neoliberalism, Child of the Keynesian State’ openDemocracy http://www.opendemocracy.net/michael-gardiner/neoliberalism-childof-keynesian-state. On Brown’s position

  27. see Tom Nairn (2006) Bard of Britishness (Cardiff: Institute of Welsh Affairs). The term ‘Jubilympics’ was a 2012 UK media coinage, taken from the BBC TV Series Twenty Twelve (Season One, Episode 3 aired BBC Four 13 April 2012) and refers to the convergence of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympic Games during the summer of that year.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of York, UK

    Claire Westall (Lecturer)

  2. University of Warwick, UK

    Michael Gardiner (Professor)

Authors
  1. Claire Westall
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  2. Michael Gardiner
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© 2014 Claire Westall and Michael Gardiner

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Westall, C., Gardiner, M. (2014). Introduction: We Are Not ‘the Public’. In: The Public on the Public: The British Public as Trust, Reflexivity and Political Foreclosure. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137351340_1

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