A History of Private Life - A History of Private Life: Discussion

Tom Sutcliffe chairs a discussion with historian Amanda Vickery, Simon Jenkins of the National Trust, anthropologist Daniel Miller and sociologist Elizabeth Silva. Responding to Amanda Vickery's new series about the history of private life, they debate the meaning of home today. Together they look at the concerns which have dominated life inside the home for hundreds of years. Why are tussles over who rules the roost a persistent theme? Are modern homes increasingly atomised, separated from local communities and housing an army of home-workers and divorcing couples unable to afford to sell their houses? Or are they predominantly a safe refuge from which householders can show off their exquisite taste and treasured possessions, while leading harmonious and socially integrated lives? The panel examine which of these and many other views might shape how historians of the future will view the private lives we lead at the beginning of the 21st century.