The Historical Contexts and Contemporary Uses of Mass-Observation: 1930s to the Present

The Historical Contexts and Contemporary Uses of MassObservation embraces new approaches and themes that highlight Mass Observation’s long history as an innovative research organization, a social movement, and an archival project. Spanning the period from Mass Observation’s inception to the present day, essay authors discuss a wide range of topics including anthropology, history, popular politics, cultural studies, literature, selfhood, emotion, art and visual studies. Indeed, what emerges across this volume is confirmation that engagement with Mass Observation-whether its historical materials or those produced in the last decade-is crucial to understanding the vast array of experiences that make up British life.

Lucy D. Curzon is Associate Professor of Contemporary and Modern Art History at the University of Alabama, USA. She is the author of Mass-Observation and Visual Culture: Depicting Everyday Lives in Britain (2017), which was awarded the 2018 Historians of British Art Book Award for Exemplary Scholarship on the Period after 1800.

Benjamin Jones is Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of East Anglia, UK. He is the author of The Working Class in Mid-Twentieth-Century England (2012), which was positively reviewed in Sociology, American Historical Review, Journal of Modern History, Journal of British Studies, The Historical Journal, Economic History Review, Contemporary British History, Twentieth Century British History, and Planning Perspectives.