The restorationist impulse

Hankering for the old ways

Featured in

  • Published 20170801
  • ISBN: 9781925498417
  • Extent: 264pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook

THE CHILDREN COME home from school to be greeted by their mother, who is wearing an apron. They then go off to play with their neighbourhood friends, from families very like their own. After dinner, and after husband and wife have cheerfully washed and dried the dishes together, they all sit around the family TV watching Father Knows Best.

This image of stability, security and contentment is only slightly more ridiculous than the nostalgic illusions sometimes peddled by politicians and media. Right-wing populist politicians increasingly invoke an imaginary past, one that is selective at best. The two most important and successful slogans of 2016 – Trump’s Make America Great Again, and Brexit’s Take Back Control – both appeal to moving from an unsatisfactory present back to a romantically remembered past.

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

More from author

We, the populists

EssayIN OCTOBER 2010 Australia's Director of Military Prosecutions, Brigadier Lyn McDade, brought charges against three Australian soldiers, resulting from an incident in which six...

More from this edition

When everybody does better

EssayPOPULISM – THE WORD – is surging. It has become the label of convenience for journalists, commentators and politicians to pin on any and all deplorable...

Grooming the globe

Introduction‘I KNOW IT makes you sick to think of that word fairness,’ Arthur C Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, told the Conservative...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.