Steven Fielding

Contact

• workRoom B122 Law and Social Sciences
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 95 14857
• steven.fielding@nottingham.ac.uk
• http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/politics/School/StaffAZ.php?id=ODA4MTQy&page_var=personal

Biography

I am a Professor of Political History.

Expertise Summary

I am able to comment on most aspects of British contemporary politics and modern political history, but have a specialist interest in the Labour Party and popular perceptions of politics in general. I have appeared on Sky News, Channel Four News, Radio 4 and Radio 5 as well as various local and international radio stations. I have been interviewed for the Guardian, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and numerous other international publications. I have written for the Financial Times, Guardian, the Conversation, the BBC website, Yorkshire Post, Prospect, the Times Red Box and many other outlets. I often write for the Spectator. I have presented a number of documentaries for Radio 4, the latest being How to Come Back From The Brink. I also co-present The Zeitgeist Tapes podcast.

Teaching Summary

During my academic career I have found myself teaching any number of courses, from French social and economic history to cultural studies by way of Chinese politics. Most of my teaching has however… read more

Research Summary

The British Labour Party and Social Democracy - I have a long-standing interest in the history and contemporary politics of the Labour Party - especially during the post-war period up to and… read more

Recent Publications

• FIELDING, STEVEN, SCHWARZ, BILL, SCHWARZ, BILL and TOYE, RICHARD, 2020. The Churchill Myths Oxford University Press.
• 2018. High Politics. In: DAVID BROWN, ROBERT CROWCROFT, GORDON PENTLAND, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Modern British Political History, 1800-200 Oxford University Press. 640
• STEVEN FIELDING, 2016. The heart of a heartless world: screening Victoria. In: MANDY MERCK, ed., The British monarchy on screen Manchester University Press. pp. 64-85
• STEVEN FIELDING, 2016. Period Drama Politics At: BBC Radio 4

• View all publications

PhD supervision

Contemporary British political history

Fictional and dramatic representations of politics in the UK and US

The Labour Party and social democracy

PhD students currently supervised

Ibtisam Ahmed

Elena Colombo

Joseph Himsworth, 'The Political Thought of Keith Joseph'

Robyn Muir

Lewis Scott, 'Brand Communication in British Political Parties since 2010'

Chris Stafford

During my academic career I have found myself teaching any number of courses, from French social and economic history to cultural studies by way of Chinese politics. Most of my teaching has however been focused on the history and politics of modern Britain and to a lesser extent the United States. I am generally interested in exploring how politics and culture are connected; and looking at the extent to which politics and history need to be understood together. I am therefore by experience and inclination not especially interested in teaching within disciplinary boundaries - I like casting my net a bit wider and hopefully thereby challenging students to do the same. Inter-disciplinary teaching can be challenging but it is invariably the most interesting. Most of my teaching now follows on from my past and present research interests - I think that is important as it means I can bring students not only the latest perspectives in the field but also provide them with insights into my own discoveries. This means I use fiction and drama from the US and UK as a way of helping students understanding politics and appreciate how it can structure how we feel about politics. Using fictions from both countries which are in some ways similar but in others very different means that I can provided students with striking and sometimes surprising contrasts and similarities. I am also concerned with understanding the changing nature of the Labour party from 'Old' to 'New' Labour and beyond to Starmer's Labour.

Current Research

The British Labour Party and Social Democracy - I have a long-standing interest in the history and contemporary politics of the Labour Party - especially during the post-war period up to and including the Starmer leadership. I am especially interested in the party's culture, ideology and how it has tried to evoke a positive response from the electorate. I am currently working on The Labour Party: from Callaghan to Starmer for Polity Press.

The Fictional Representation of Politics - If it is indisputable that many look upon politics in negative terms - generally seeing their elected representatives as inherently untrustworthy - it is also plain that (following the work of Murray Edelman) such attitudes are to some extent constructed through art. I am interested in comparing and contrasting fictional representations of politics in Britain and the USA, using examples taken from novels, film and television from the time of Anthony Trollope to that of Designated Survivor and The Crown. In relation to that I have wrote A State of Play (Bloomsbury, 2014) and this interest largely defined my contribution to the co-authored The Churchill Myths (Oxford University Press, 2019)

Rethinking Political History - The writing of modern British political history is currently undergoing a transformation, one which involves opening out to other disciplines and approaches - most obviously to those influenced by the need to properly locate political institutions within their cultural context. Given Colin Hay's recent outlining of a 'post-disciplinary' political science this is an especially interesting time to revisit some of the key moments in political history and challenge established narratives of the past that underpin contemporary political analysis. I will at some point sit down and wrote What is Political History? for Polity.

• FIELDING, STEVEN, SCHWARZ, BILL, SCHWARZ, BILL and TOYE, RICHARD, 2020. The Churchill Myths Oxford University Press.
• 2018. High Politics. In: DAVID BROWN, ROBERT CROWCROFT, GORDON PENTLAND, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Modern British Political History, 1800-200 Oxford University Press. 640
• STEVEN FIELDING, 2016. The heart of a heartless world: screening Victoria. In: MANDY MERCK, ed., The British monarchy on screen Manchester University Press. pp. 64-85
• STEVEN FIELDING, 2016. Period Drama Politics At: BBC Radio 4
• STEVEN FIELDING, 2015. 'Hell No!': Labour's 2015 Campaign Parliamentary Affairs. 68(supp:1), 54-69
• STEVEN FIELDING, 2015. 'Novels for "thinking people": fiction and the broad left'. In: ANDREW EDWARDS AND CHRIS WILLIAMS, ed., The Art of the Possible.: Politics and Governance in Modern British History. Essays in Memory of Duncan Tanner Manchester University Press. 98-120
• FIELDING, S, 2014. A state of play: British politics on screen, stage and page, from Anthony Trollope to The thick of it London : Bloomsbury.
• FIELDING, S., 2013. British politics and cinema’s historical dramas, 1929-38 Historical Journal. 56(2), 487-511
• STEVEN FIELDING, 2013. Archive Hour: 'Very British Dystopias' (Radio 4)
• FIELDING, S., 2012. New Labour, “sleaze” and television drama British Journal of Politics and International Relations. n/a(n/a), n/a
• FIELDING, S., 2010. The Permanent Crisis of Party Twentieth Century British History. VOL 21(NUMBER 1), 102-109
• FIELDING, STEVEN, 2010. Labour’s campaign: things can only get … worse Parliamentary Affairs. 62(2), 653-66
• STEVEN FIELDING, 2010. Archive Hour: ‘Dramatising New Labour’ (Radio 4)
• FIELDING, S., 2009. David Hare's Fictional Politics Political Quarterly. VOL 80(NUMBER 3), 371-379
• FIELDING, S., 2009. Never a Gabriel over Whitehall: fictional representations of British party politics during the Mosley era Contemporary British History. 23(4), 559-572
• FIELDING, S., 2008. A mirror for England? Cinematic representations of politicians and party politics, ca. 1944-64 Journal of British Studies. 47(1), 107-28
• FIELDING, S., 2007. Rethinking Labour's 1964 campaign Contemporary British History. 21(3), 309-324
• FIELDING, S., 2007. Looking for the `New Political History' JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORY -LONDON-. VOL 42(NUMB 3), 515-524
• FIELDING, S. and TANNER, D., 2006. The “rise of the left” revisited: Labour party culture in post-war Manchester and Salford Labour History Review. 71(3), 211-233
• FIELDING, S., 2003. The Labour governments, 1964-70. Vol. 1, Labour and cultural change Manchester: Manchester University Press.
• CALLAGHAN, J., FIELDING, S. and LUDLAM, S., eds., 2003. Interpreting the Labour Party: Approaches to Labour Politics and History Manchester University Press.
• FIELDING, S., 2002. The Labour Party: continuity and change in the making of 'New' Labour Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• FIELDING, S., 2002. ”New” Labour and the “new” labour history Mitteilungsblatt des Instituts fur soziale Bewegungen. 35-50
• FIELDING, S., 2001. Activists against “affluence”: Labour party culture during the “Golden Age”, c. 1950-1970 Journal of British Studies. 40(2), 241-267
• FIELDING, S., 2000. The Labour Party and the Recruitment of the Young, 1945-70 ARCHIVO- STORIA DELL ASSOCIAZIONISMO E DELLE ISTITUZIONI STUDENTESCHE. NUMERO 3, 577-598
• FIELDING, S., 1999. The Labour party and the politics of democracy Journal of British Studies. 38(4), 486-492
• FIELDING, S., 1999. Labour: Decline and Renewal 2. Baseline.
• FIELDING, S. and GEDDES, A., 1998. 'Labour and "ethnic entryism": participation, integration and the party context Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 24(1), 57-72
• FIELDING, S., 1998. 'Brotherhood and the brothers: responses to "coloured" immigration in the British Labour party, c.1951-65 Journal of Political Ideologies. 3(1), 79-97
• FIELDING, S., ed., 1997. The Labour Party Since 1951. 'Socialism' and Society Manchester University Press.
• FIELDING, S., THOMPSON, P. and TIRATSOO, N., 1995. 'England Arise!' The Labour Party and Popular Politics in 1940s Britain Manchester University Press.
• FIELDING, S., 1995. Labour: Decline and Renewal 1. Baseline.
• FIELDING, S., THOMSPON, P. and TIRATSOO, N., 1995. On Blair's New Labour and the `Spirit of 1945' HISTORY TODAY. VOL 45(MNTH 7), 11
• FIELDING, S., 1995. The Second World War and popular radicalism: the significance of the "movement away from party" History. 80(258), 38-58
• COOPEY, R., FIELDING, S. and TIRATSOO, N., eds., 1993. The Wilson Governments, 1964-70 Pinter.
• FIELDING, S., 1993. Class and Ethnicity. Irish Catholics in England, 1880-1939 Open University Press.
• DAVIES, A. and FIELDING, S., eds., 1992. Workers’ Worlds. Cultures and Communities in Manchester and Salford, 1880-1940 Manchester University Press.
• FIELDING, S., 1992. Labourism in the 1940s Twentieth Century British History. 3(2), 138-153
• FIELDING, S., 1992. What did "the people" want? The meaning of the 1945 general election Historical Journal. 35(3), 623-39
• FIELDING, S., 1988. Irish politics in Manchester, 1890-1914 International Review of Social History. 33(3), 261-284