Glamour - ambition - fame - despair. You meet them all at the Oxford Union, possibly the most prestigious student debating society in the world. The Oxford Union has been the training ground for a parade of the greatest names in British politics from William Gladstone to Tony Benn not to mention Asquith, Heath, Heseltine and a host of others. Guest speakers have ranged from Michael Jackson to Bill Clinton and from Malcolm X to the Queen who did not, of course, assert any opinion. The Oxford Union is proud of its tradition as a hot house training ground of British and global political talent. This book throws open the portals of the Oxford Union as it follows the excitement, anxiety and manoeuvring of a campaign for the post of President. The author, an academic anthropologist and film maker, trailed a candidate for the post of President when making a television documentary. This has provided the basis for an anthropological study of this most 'establishment' institution ~ a study that throws new light on the workings of British politics. Using the Oxford Union as a guide the focus of the study is on British political ideology and process.What kind of person succeeds in British politics? What do they need to do to win elections? The study of the Union is fascinating in its own right but is also interesting as an ethnography of the sort of institution that has rarely been studied by anthropologists. Playing at Politics is an undergraduate level text in social anthropology as well as being a fascinating study of young ambition at work.
- ISBN13 9781906716851
- Publish Date 21 September 2005
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Dunedin Academic Press
- Format eBook
- Language English