In this post on the religious right over at public opinion it was argued by some that the family and censorship politics fundamentalist religions (eg. the Family First party) is imported and not a homegrown product.
I'm not convinced by this argument as I reckon that the politics of the moral majority in Australia is a renewal of the traditional polics of moral regulation.
What I have in mind here is the moral politics of the sexual purity, hygiene, temperance and censorship movements in civil society in the early part of the 20th century. This form of moral regulation was increasingly marginalised during the second part of the 20th century, but it rebirthed or renewed in the 1990s. What was was seen as traditional conservative attempts to reinstate the old version of respectability (eg., The Festival of Light, Fred Nile) slowly moved to centre stage in response to the radical politics of neo-liberalism in the form of family values.
This rebirth/renewal is less a return to traditional politics of moral regulation than a new configuration.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at January 28, 2005 02:48 PM | TrackBack