« Policing the culture wars in contemporary Britain: ‘More PCs, less PC’ »
Résumé
Starting from the premise that the culture wars are a political technique used to manufacture popular consent as part of a broader strategy of authoritarian populism, this article seeks to demonstrate how the Conservative Party in government has framed protesters as selfish, deviant and dangerous, justifying the passage of a raft of new public order laws to control their activities. In doing so, it has placed itself firmly on the side of those who it describes in populist terms as ‘the law-abiding majority’. By granting new powers to the police that they claim facilitate ‘common sense’ rather than ‘woke’ policing, this article shows how the government has also framed the police as allies and defenders of the public interest in the ongoing culture wars. It concludes by showing how the strategy entails the control of political dissent rather than of public disorder, thus shoring up the power of the State.