Judith Williamson explores how our cultural tastes, in films, food, television, advertising, music poetry, song lyrics, photography, political movements and even the British Royal Family influence our thinking and how we govern our own lives, and shape those of our children.



The social critique delivered in the short chapters of this book have lost nothing since their publication in the 1980s and continue to deliver punchy and insightful examples of marxist criticism at its best. For example, the chapter on the anti-nuclear and environmental movements which convincingly shows how they have have adopted sexist tropes that undermine their progressive narrative.

Judith Williamson

Judith Williamson is a professor and journalist, formerly a teacher of cultural studies at the Maidstone College of Art. She is the author of Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising, Deadline at Dawn, and Consuming Passions: The Dynamics of Popular Culture.