Book excerpt: Exploring relationships between politics, the people and social change, this book assesses the fortunes mainly of Labour, but also of the Communist Party and the New Left in postwar Britain. Using concepts like political culture, it looks at the left's articulation of 'affluence': consumerism, youth culture, America, TV, advertising and its disappointment at the people under the impact of such changes. It also examines party organization, socialist thinking and the use of new communication techniques like TV, advertising and opinion polling.