Rewriting Australia

Abstract

Sociologists in Australia often talk about a politics of fear, or of moral panic, in order to explain the apparent awkwardness of a situation where leftwing intellectuals cannot come to grips with a rightwing political moment. This article addresses the question of dominant images of Australia through the 20th century as a part of the dominant leftwing historiography, which has now been replaced by a rightwing political narrative. The central theoretical and historical issue here is the problem of populism, and its shift from left to right. This leads to a discussion of the politics of fear and uncertainty, and how to begin to think about them, and to questions of the role of sociologists in all this.