Political Catchphrases and Contemporary History A Critique of New Normals

Political Catchphrases and Contemporary History presents an historical account of the period 2001-2020 by focusing on the shifting connotations of certain political catchphrases and words. These allow for a linked-up narrative covering areas such as politics and policy, business and investing, austerity and inequality, identity, climate change, crowd protests, flexible working, and online education. Key junctures are 9/11, the 2002 dot-com crash and the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the Occupy movements of 2011-2012, China's economic policy from 2014 onwards, and the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Half the book is devoted to the unusually pervasive usage of the catchphrase 'new normal'. Chapters are also given to 'we are the 99%' and the catchwords 'austerity' and 'resilience'. Case studies of these catchphrases and words occupy much of the book. The final chapter makes conceptual inferences and proposes both a theory of political catchphrases and a distinctive approach to contemporary history. The source materials are predominantly from the UK and USA, but refer, naturally, to issues of global moment.

1 - Introduction: Parts and Whole
2 - 'New Normal', 2001-2019
3 - 'New Normal', 2020
4 - The Concept of Normality
5 - Policy Catchwords: 'Austerity' and 'Resilience'
6 - Anti-Establishment Catchphrases: 'We Are The 99%'
7 - Conclusion: Loose Ends

Suman Gupta is Professor of Literature and Cultural History at the Open University, UK. He was educated at the universities of Delhi and Oxford. He has coordinated a number of international collaborative projects, including Framing Financial Crisis and Protest, Northwest and Southeast Europe, 2014-2016, and held visiting positions in Delhi University, India; Peking University, China; University of Texas Austin, USA; Federal University of Campinas, Brazil; CRASSH, Cambridge University, UK; Wolfson College, Oxford University, UK; and Roehampton University, UK. Gupta has authored or co-authored 18 monographs, and edited or co-edited 15 books and journal special issues.