8/17/2019 Chapter 3 Identity

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3. IDENTITY

 National identity is generally seen to be constructed by a shared history, language, culture, and

ethnic origin. In Britain, national or ethnic loyalties can be strong among the people in Britainwhose ancestors were not English.

For some people living in England who call themselves Scottish, Welsh or Irish, this loyalty

is little more than a matter of emotional attachment. But for others, it goes a bit further and they

may even oin one of the sporting and social clubs for !e"iles# from these nations. $hese clubs promote national fol% music, organi&e parties on special national days and foster a consciousness of 

doing things differently from the English. For people living in Scotland, Wales and NorthernIreland, the way that ethnic identity commonly e"presses itself varies. 'eople in Scotland haveconstant reminders of their distinctiveness. First, several important aspects of public life are

organi&ed separately, and differently, from the rest of Britain ( notably, education , law and

religion .Second , the Scottish way of spea%ing English is very distinctive. ) modern form of the

dialect %nown as Scots is spo%en in everyday life by most of the wor%ing classes in the lowlands. Ithas many features which are different from other forms of English and cannot usually be

understood by people who are not Scottish. $hird, there are many symbols of Scottishness which

are well * %nown throughout Britain.

$he people of Wales do not have as many reminders of their Welshness in everyday life. $heorgani&ation of public life is similar to that in England. Nor are there as many well ( %nown

symbols of Welshness. In addition, a large minority of the people in Wales probably do not consider 

themselves to be especially Welsh at all. In the nineteenth century large numbers of Scottish, Irishand English people went to find wor% there, and today many English people still ma%e their homes

in Wales or have holiday houses there. )s a result, a feeling of loyalty to Wales is often similar in

nature to the fairly wea% loyalties to particular geographical areas found throughout England.

)s for English identity, most people who describe themselves as English usually ma%e nodistinction in their minds between !English# and !British#. $here is plenty of evidence of this. For 

e"ample, at international football or rugby matches, when the players stand to attention to hear their 

national anthems, the Scottish, Irish and Welsh have their own songs, while the English one is ust!+od Save the ueen# ( the same as the British national anthem.

In comparison with most other places in the world, family identity is rather wea% in Britainespecially in England. -f course, the family unit is still the basic living arrangement for most people. But in Britain this definitely means the nuclear family. $here is little sense of e"tended

family identity, e"cept among some racial minorities. $his is reflected in the si&e and composition

of households. It is unusual for adults of different generations within the family to live together. $he

average number of people living in each household in Britain is lower than in most other Europeancountries.

istorians say that the class system has survived in Britain because of its fle"ibility. It has

always been possible to buy or marry or even wor% your way up, so that your children and their 

children belong to a higher social class than you do. )s a result, the class system has never beenswept away by a revolution and an awareness of class forms a maor part of most people/s sense of 

identity.

'eople in modern Britain are very conscious of class differences. $hey regard it as difficult

to become friends with some body from a different class. $his feeling has little to do with consciousloyalty, and nothing to do with a positive belief in the class system itself. 0ost people say they do

not approve of class divisions. Nor does it have very much to do with political or religious

affiliations. It results from the fact that the different classes have different sets of attitudes and dailyhabits. $ypically, they tend to eat different food at different times of day, they li%e to tal% about

different topics using different styles and accents of English, they enoy different pastimes and

sports, they have different values about what things in life are most important and different ideasabout the correct way to behave.