Mass-Observation and Vernacular Politics at the 1945 General Election

Abstract

Abstract This article sheds fresh light on popular attitudes towards politics in the 1940s. It does so by reading against the grain of archived material from Mass-Observation’s (M-O) study of the 1945 General Election, as it played out in the constituency of Fulham East. Where the formal reports from this investigation have underpinned influential accounts of ‘apathy’ in 1945, this article returns to the original field notes from the investigation. By attending to the framing of the M-O encounter in Fulham, it suggests that we can reinterpret seemingly apathetic responses as a reaction to the alienating high expectations underpinning the M-O questionnaire, exacerbated by the classed and gendered dynamics of the interview. In other instances, however, it argues displays of apathy or ignorance could indicate the popular delimiting of an appropriate level of political interest, confining this to voting, in contrast to the importance of critical, detailed ‘study’ of politics implicit within the questionnaire. The article consequently contributes to the ongoing discussions surrounding the re-use of archived social-science material by suggesting that we can only rely on such material to gain access to ‘vernacular’ attitudes when we reckon with its fundamentally mediated nature, framed by the assumptions and intersubjective dynamics of the social-science encounter. In turn, it offers an example of how recent interest in the vernacular might be combined with an older, more traditional form of political history, centred on elections.