Dr Jonathan Dean contributes chapter on the social and politics significance of the Pet Shop Boys
The Associate Professor of Politics' chapter is part of an edited collection containing academic reflections on the lauded synth-pop duo.
Dr Jonathan Dean has written a chapter for the new edited collection, The Pet Shop Boys and the Political: Queerness, Culture, Identity and Society, which was published in February 2024 by Bloomsbury. The book, which is edited by Bodie A. Ashton (Universität Erfurt, Germany), explores the cultural and political impact of the Pet Shop Boys, ‘and offers a fascinating window into the late 20th and 2st centuries’.
The chapters collectively cover the band’s full oevre – albums, films, stage productions and collaborations – and demonstrate ‘how their work is suffused with political commentary on the past and present covering such themes as broad as queer identity, the HIV/AIDs epidemic, globalization and Brexit’.
Dr Dean’s chapter, ‘“Buying and selling your history”: navigating the ruins of neoliberalism with Tennant and Lowe', is about how the Pet Shop Boys’ back catalogue can be read as an account of the changing shape of neoliberal culture and society during and after Thatcher.
Full details of the book and Dr Dean’s chapter can be found on the Bloomsbury website.
