The Question Of Uk Decline

An introduction to the issues surrounding the problem of United Kingdom's economic decline and the reasons put forward to explain this phenomenon.

An introduction to issues surrounding the problem of UK economic decline. This text discusses each of the major areas involved (economics, economic history, sociology, political science and international relations), and evaluates the major political solutions currently on offer.

The key aim of this new book is to show how economic decline has always been a highly politicised concept, forming a central part of post-war political argument. In doing so, Tomlinson reveals how the term has been used in such ways as to advance particular political causes.

The place of science and technology in the British economy and society is widely seen as critical to our understanding of the British 'decline'. There is a long tradition of characterising post-1870 Britain by its lack of enthusiasm for science and by the low social status of the practitioners of technology. David Edgerton examines these assumptions, analysing the arguments for them and pointing out the different intellectual traditions from which they arise. Drawing on a wealth of statistical data, he argues that British innovation and technical training were much stronger than is generally believed, and that from 1870 to 1970 Britain's innovative record was comparable to that of Germany. This book is a comprehensive study of the history of British science and technology in relation to economic performance. It will be of interest to scientists and engineers as well as economic historians, and will be invaluable to students approaching the subject for the first time.

Since the 1870s the British economy has steadily declined from its position as the 'workshop of the world' to that of a low-ranking European power. Michael Sanderson examines the question of how far defects in education and training have contributed to this economic decline. By looking at issues such as literacy, the quality of scientific and technical training, the supposed anti-industrial bias of public schools and the older universities, the neglect of vocational and technical training and the neglect of the non-academic teenager, Michael Sanderson demonstrates that education was far from the sole cause of economic decline, but that its deficiencies have certainly played a part. This book offers an accessible and concise analysis of a topic of current importance, interest and debate and will be of interest to students and teachers of the history of education and its impact on British economic development in the twentieth century.

Michael Dintenfass provides a challenging account of Britain's economic performance since 1870. He combines a succinct, clearly-written survey of recent scholarly work in British economic and business history with an original interpretive alternative to the institutionalized accounts of Britain's relative decline. Dintenfass addresses both specifically economic questions and socio-historical questions to place Britain's economic history in its broadest context.

This book sets out the present state of the discussion of the decline in British industry and introduces new directions in which the debate is now proceeding.

The human geography of the UK is currently being reshaped by a number of forces - such as globalisation, transition in the organisations of production, the changing character of state intervention, and changing relationships with Europe. A consideration of the impacts of these forces on economic, social and political landscapes is, therefore, an urgent task. At the same time, enduring institutional features of the British economy and polity are also having important influences on socio-economic processes. The result is a complex mosaic of uneven development, which belies the notion of simplistic regional contrasts. Rather than simply mapping spatial inequality, 'A United Kingdom?' charts the processes underpinning uneven development at a range of scales and for a number of key topics. The book draws upon and synthesises the latest contemporary research findings and places emphasis on the interrelated nature of economic, social and political geographies. It treats the human geographies of the UK in a coherent and integrated way, and asks whether contemporary processes of change are tending towards the reduction of socio-spatial divisions or their reproduction in new forms.