Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction: rethinking public opinion in late nineteenth-century Britain; 1. An open demos? The public and the question of membership; 2. The ghost in the machine: locating public opinion; 3. The mind of the nation? Reason and the public; 4. Political economy and the idea of 'public opinion'; 5. Representing labour: the labour movement, politics and the public; 6. Conclusion: 'public opinion' and political culture in Britain, 1870-1914.

Promotional Information

An examination of how 'public opinion' functioned as a concept in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain.

About the Author

James Thompson is a Senior Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol. His research focuses primarily upon the political and intellectual culture of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. He has published articles on a wide variety of aspects of modern British history, including trade union law, class and political language, and political posters.

Reviews

'... there is plenty of rich and exciting material here, and the collection is doubtless a useful addition to the existing scholarship.' Ben Weinstein, Reviews in History