The 1970s Project

Sean Tunney is Principal Lecturer in Journalism and News Media at Roehampton University.

He has written on media history and on British and European politics from the 1970s onwards. Previously, he worked as a journalist on newspapers and on the web. He published the book Labour and the Press 1972-2005: From New Left to New Labour in 2007.

Paper

My paper looks at some problems associated with periodising the 1970s, primarily with regard to political, social and economic change. It considers conceptions of the economy, the establishment and the counter-culture articulated by the New Left, New Right and mainstream politicians, particularly with regard to their varying considerations of democracy.

I argue in the paper that there are at least three ways of periodising the 1970s. The first form of periodisation is through the notion of the long 1960s. This is a New Left narrative, utilising William's notion of the Long Revolution, where Williams sees the New Left's project as the culmination of three interconnected areas of transformation: a cultural and communications revolution, a democratic revolution and what he calls an industrial revolution. I argue that this narrative can explain features of the earlier period of the 1970s, but that the deterioration of the British economy led to potential conflict between aspects of the latter two areas.

Next, I consider notions of the 1970s as a unique point in British history characterised by intense upheaval. Finally, I debate the idea of the period being a precursor to the 1980s and assess some aspects of the development of New Right thought in the period; its concentration on the importance of the individual, the failure of corporatism and the role of entrepreneurship. I conclude by relating the various viewpoints I have outlined to debates concerning today's changing multimedia environment and the role of participatory involvement in media production.