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Sociologists in Australia often talk about a politics of fear, or of moral panic, in order to explain the apparent awkwardness of a situation where leftwing intellectuals cannot come to grips with a rightwing political moment. This article addresses the question of dominant images of Australia through the 20th century as a part of the dominant leftwing historiography, which has now been replaced by a rightwing political narrative. The central theoretical and historical issue here is the problem of populism, and its shift from left to right. This leads to a discussion of the politics of fear and uncertainty, and how to begin to think about them, and to questions of the role of sociologists in all this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In social science the 'national' has been studied extensively, but comparatively little attention has been given to the 'un-national'. The article takes up this challenge in an Australian context. Drawing on the work of Raymond Williams, investigation is centred around the keyword 'UnAustralian'. Participants in focus groups were asked to nominate and account for what they thought of as 'UnAustralian' people, places, values, activities, groups and organizations. Analysis of the data revealed that two factors underpinned an attribution: incivility and foreign influence. Contemporary uses revolve around outcomes from globalization and can be contrasted with the centrality of class politics to deployments of the concept in the first part of the 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]