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Are We Rich Yet?

The Rise of Mass Investment Culture in Contemporary Britain

Amy Edwards

$49.95

Hardback

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English
University of California Press
14 June 2022
"An in-depth history of how finance remade everyday life in Thatcher's Britain.

Are We Rich Yet? tells the story of the financialization of British society. During the 1980s and 1990s, financial markets became part of daily life for many Britons as the practice of investing moved away from the offices of the City of London, onto Britain’s high streets, and into people’s homes. The Conservative Party claimed this shift as evidence that capital ownership was in the process of being democratized. In practice, investing became more institutionalized than ever in late-twentieth-century Britain: inclusion frequently meant tying one’s fortunes to the credit, insurance, pension, and mortgage industries to maintain independence from state-run support systems.

 

In tracing the rise of a consumer-oriented mass investment culture, historian Amy Edwards explains how the ""financial"" become such a central part of British society, not only economically and politically, but socially and culturally, too. She shifts our focus away from the corridors of Whitehall and towards a cast of characters that included brokers, bankers and traders, newspaper editors, goods manufacturers, marketing departments, production companies, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary men and women. Between them, they shaped the terrain upon which political and economic reform occurred. Grappling with the interactions between structural transformation and the rhythms of everyday life, Are We Rich Yet? thus understands the rise of neoliberalism as something other than the inevitable outcome of a carefully orchestrated right-wing political revolution."

By:  
Imprint:   University of California Press
Country of Publication:   United States
Volume:   21
Dimensions:   Height: 210mm,  Width: 140mm,  Spine: 36mm
Weight:   680g
ISBN:   9780520385467
ISBN 10:   0520385462
Series:   Berkeley Series in British Studies
Pages:   384
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. “A Wonderful Growth”: Investment Culture from 1840 to 1980 2. Over the Counter: Speculation and the Small Investor 3. Shopping for Shares: The Rise of Financial Consumerism  4. “The Moneymen’s Sunday Sermon”: The Making of a Mass-Market Financial Advice Industry 5. Yuppies: Finance and Investment in Popular Culture 6. Are We Rich Yet? Investment Clubs and Investor Activism  Conclusion  Notes  Bibliography  Index 

Amy Edwards is a Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on cultures of capitalism, finance, and enterprise in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Britain.

Reviews for Are We Rich Yet?: The Rise of Mass Investment Culture in Contemporary Britain

"""One consequence of depicting neoliberalism as the product of a multifaceted process involving many actors and causal factors is that the prospect of undertaking meaningful reform starts to look daunting. But Edwards shows us that the central difficulty is a cultural one: we have been taught for many years to live our lives as consumers rather than citizens."" * London Review of Books * ""Taken as a whole, Edwards’ reconnaissance into this area is a masterly mix of disciplines, approaches and sources that will reward many re-readings. The revolution of habits and outlooks that was the hallmark of the 1980s do require those sensitive cross-disciplinary approaches: Edwards shows others how it should be done."" * Contemporary British History *"


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