In the latter half of the twentieth century, historians came to consider “politics” to mean more than simply the formal institutions and apparatus of government, run by a small minority of wealthy, educated elite men. The word has been adopted by historians of different genres as synonymous with power, or agency, and the scope for “political” activity has been widened to incorporate a variety of everyday events and ordinary people.

These collected essays explore the quotidian experience of politics in the form of popular politics, religion and popular culture. The contributors...