Emma Barrett

Emma Barrett

Department of History
Honorary Research Fellow

Contact details

Email
e.s.barrett@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@Emma_Barrett7

I am an historian of modern Britain, with an interest in Thatcherism and the cultural history of finance. My book, ‘Survival Capitalism’ and the Big Bang: Culture, contingency and capital in the making of the 1980s financial revolution is published with Manchester University Press, February 2024.

As well as holding an honorary research fellowship in History, I am an Arts and Law Teaching Fellow at the Birmingham International Academy, University of Birmingham.

Qualifications

  • PhD (2020) University of Birmingham
  • MA (2016) University of Birmingham
  • BA (Hons) Cardiff University

Biography

I am an historian of modern Britain, with an interest in Thatcherism and the cultural history of finance. My book, ‘Survival Capitalism’ and the Big Bang: Culture, contingency and capital in the making of the 1980s financial revolution is published with Manchester University Press, February 2024.

As well as holding an honorary research fellowship in History, I am an Arts and Law Teaching Fellow at the Birmingham International Academy, University of Birmingham.

Teaching

  • The Making of the Contemporary World, PGTA, 2016-2020
  • Supervision of undergraduate research scholars working on the Douglas French Archive, 2017-2020
  • LF Law: A Critical Introduction to Law and Legal Skills, module lead, 2021 to present.

Research

  • My monograph, ‘Survival Capitalism’ and the Big Bang: Culture, contingency and capital in the making of the 1980s financial revolution - de-mystifies the perception of the inevitable march of market forces.
  • My current research on Gender and the City of London examines the experiences of women who worked in the City from the 1970s and addresses workplace inequalities.
  • Oral histories: I have conducted dozens of oral histories.
  • The Douglas French Archive: Acquisition of Westminster and City Programmes speeches and conference records, promoting research into the intersection between politics and finance from 1979.

Other research appointments

  • 2020-21 John Antcliffe By-Fellow, Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge.
  • 2021-22 Early Career Research Fellow, Women’s History Network.
  • 2021-2024 Visiting Research Fellow, Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London.

Publications

  • Barrett, E. ‘Survival Capitalism’ and the Big Bang, Manchester University Press, February 2024.
  • Barrett, E. ‘King Caz: Cazenove, Thatcherism, and the 1980s financial revolution’, Twentieth Century British History, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2019, pp. 108-131.
  • Barrett, E. Review of Amy Edwards, Are We Rich Yet? The Rise of Mass Investment Culture in Contemporary Britain (University of California Press, California, 2022) for Twentieth Century British History, Volume 34, Issue 3, September 2023, pp. 598–600.
  • Barrett, E. ‘Sex and the City: Gender and the City of London’, Women’s History Network Blog, 26 March 2022.
  • Barrett, E. Review of Philip Begley, The making of Thatcherism: The Conservative Party in opposition, 1974–79, (Manchester University Press, 2020), for Journal of Contemporary History, 56. 3, July 2021, pp. 836-838.
  • Barrett, E. ‘The Big Bang: A fairy tale in London’, MBS WordPress, 2016.
  • Barrett, E. ‘Power and Resistance: The PGR Long Read’, MBS WordPress, 2016.

Podcasts and webinars

  • Barrett, E, with Professor Tim Bale and Adrian Wooldridge, ‘The Aristocracy of Talent’, Mile End Institute podcast, October 2021.
  • Barrett, E. Chair, ‘Forty Years On: New Perspectives on the 1981 Budget’, Mile End Institute webinar, December 2021