The Rise of the Right - by Simon Winlow & Steve Hall & James Treadwell (Paperback)

About the Book

This book is the first to offer an uncompromising look at the English Defence League (EDL), aiming to alter thinking about working-class politics and the rise of right-wing nationalism in de-industrialised English towns and cities.

Book Synopsis

The shock Brexit result highlighted a worrying trend: underemployed white men and women who have seen their standard of living fall, their communities disintegrate and their sense of value, function and inclusion diminish, desperately want a mainstream political party to defend their interests. However, no such party exists. These men and women cannot connect their declining fortunes and growing frustrations to their true cause. Instead, immigrants are scapegoated and groups like the English Defence League (EDL) emerge.

This book is the first to offer an accessible and uncompromising look at the EDL. It aims to alter thinking about working-class politics and the rise of right-wing nationalism in the de-industrialised and decaying towns and cities of England. The rise of the right among the working class, the authors claim, is inextricably connected to the withdrawal of the political left from traditional working-class communities, and the left's refusal to advance the economic interests of those who have suffered most from neoliberal economic restructuring. Incisive, contentious and boundary-breaking, it uses the voices of men and women who now support far-right political groups to address the total failure of mainstream parliamentary politics and the rising tide of frustration, resentment and anger.

Review Quotes

'In their brilliantly-researched work, the authors show what a disaster the 'mainstream' left's embrace of liberalism has been for traditional working-class communities' Neil Clark, journalist.

"[This book] should be an obligatory reading for anyone attempting to understand the increasing anti-establishment resentment against the self-serving elites across the West." Journal of Extreme Anthropology

"An honest book that critiques, questions, and debates the relationship between an unfair neo-liberal society, working-class people and the rise of the right". Lisa Mckenzie, London School of Economics & Political Science

"Compelling reading...a provocative, invigorating and critical analysis of contemporary political landscapes where simplistic left/right distinctions no longer apply." Elaine Campbell, Newcastle University

"If the Western left don't pay heed to what Winlow et al have to say, then it could be curtains forever." Sputnik News

"The achievement of this book that it is prepared to make a case for such a vision from within the horizons of one of the most cramped, defensive, melancholic and self-destructive corners of the working class landscape." - Universal Siblinghood

About the Author

Simon Winlow is Professor of Social Science at Northumbria University. A critical criminologist with research expertise in both sociology and criminology, he has also published widely on violence, criminal markets and cultures, and social, political and economic change.

Steve Hall is Professor of Criminology in the Teesside Centre for Realist Criminology, Teesside University. An internationally leading criminological researcher and theorist, he has published widely on criminological theory, consumerism and the history of violence.

James Treadwell is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham City University. He is renowned for his ethnographic work, and he has published widely on criminal markets, professional and organised crime, violence and victimisation.