Discuss The Features Of Britishness.

        The clearest pointers to the lack of any single ‘British’ identity are the regional differences in Britain, particularly Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Emyr Williams (1989, p47) says that “…at the level of the civil society the historic ethnic composition of Britain has provided a basis for Welsh, English, Irish and Scottish nationalism.” The traditional dominance of the Labour/Liberal parties in Wales and Scotland suggests that a class aspect is linked to these separate regional identities: both of these countries also have their own national parties, for example Plaid Cymru, which are successful in some regions but less so in others - setting them apart from Britain as a whole. (Although the Conservative party could possibly be seen as the nationalist party of England, with the mainstay of it’s support being in the home counties.) The work of the Welsh nationalists has resulted in still further clarification of the separate Welsh identity – S4C, the Welsh television station; bilingual roadsigns; the Welsh Tourist Board; and other Welsh institutions leading up to the establishment of the Welsh National Assembly – Scotland too now has it’s own parliament. Northern Ireland also has it’s own parliament, when the government decides it can be trusted to run itself, but Northern Ireland is possibly Britain’s biggest identity crisis: Ulster, an predominantly Protestant region, is separated from the Catholic Eire, yet a third of Ulster is in Eire, and in some parts of northern Ulster, Catholics outnumber Protestants. The fighting over Northern Ireland is particularly bitter, and yet Ulster has never set forward any desire to be a separate state on its own – “On each side the desire is for the territory to continue to be, or to become, part of a larger nation.” (Cox, 1989, p37) Cox goes on to describe the Northern Irish as “…neurotically undecided as to what they actually are.” Showing that not only identification with an identity other than a supposed ‘British’ identity, but identification with no identity at all, can be divisive. The varied identities or lack thereof throughout the British Isles show that no such thing as ‘Britishness’ exists.

        Religion is the most divisive subject in the world, let alone in Britain - look at Israel/Palestine for example – and in Britain too it contributes to the creation of many different social, and cultural, identities. Cox (1989, p39) says “…in Ulster…the religion of Protestantism exists in the context of Catholicism, and is marked by fear and loathing of it.” As previously mentioned, in Northern Ireland there have been established two separate religious identities, openly in conflict with one another. McAuley (1996, p43) describes the Protestants of Northern Ireland as people “…with whom the self-identity of being Irish does not fit comfortably, if at all.” Hickman (1996, p197) goes so far as to say of the Catholic church “It was the existence of the neighbouring ‘popish Irish’ as well as an internal ‘papist’ enemy which underpinned national unity between England, Wales and Scotland.” Suggesting that the kingdom of Great Britain came about through mutual hatred of Catholics is perhaps taking religious intolerance too far, but it’s true that, since Henry VIII reformed the church, Catholicism has had scant grip on England, Wales or Scotland: England, unsurprisingly, is dominated by Protestantism, while Wales and Scotland also run a good line in non-conformist, unorthodox religions. Even in these groups of nations and religions, though, there are further factions and identities: minority religions are growing in Britain, particularly in towns and cities – according to statistics listed by Lakey (1998, p186) two-thirds of Indian immigrants live in either Greater London of in the West Midlands – creating further diversity, and the establishment of other national identities within Britain. The different identities created by religion in Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, combined with the ever growing numbers of minority religions such as Islam which are not considered to be British religions, demonstrates that in religious terms there is not such a thing as ‘Britishness’.

        The last point is on how Britons project an image, and how other people perceive them. Other people’s perceptions are as much a part of a places identity as those of the inhabitants, and yet there is not just one single ‘caricature’ of Britishness: Americans often perceive Britons as upper class or posh, while the inhabitants of Spanish coastal resorts might see them as fat, lazy lager-louts. Many European countries see the English as thugs, based on the performance of English fans at football matches. In literature, British identity is portrayed in different ways: the middle class man described by Graham Greene (1999, p9) as having “…retired from the bank two years before with an adequate pension and a silver handshake.” is not the same man Philip Larkin (1990, p208) says of “I work all day, and get half drunk at night”. In film, the unemployed men shown in The Full Monty bear scant resemblance to any character John Cleese or Hugh Grant has ever played. Thus, in terms of Britain's projected and perceived images, there is so much variety that there cannot be said to be one main form of ‘Britishness’.

        In conclusion, this essay believes that such a thing as a ‘British’ identity does not exist. There are many different identities within the British Isles, based particularly on class, region and religion. There is not even a single caricature of ‘Britishness’ – Britons may be perceived as aristocratic snobs in one part of the world, and as violent hooligans in another. Even encompassing all by saying that anyone who resides in Britain is British leaves no room for those whose great-grandparents moved abroad to the empire a century or more ago, yet who still call themselves British. Presented with such a wide range of identities, the notion of a single type of ‘Britishness’ falls apart.

Bibliography:

Cox, H. (1989), ‘On being An Ulster Protestant’, in Evans, N. (Ed), National Identity In The British Isles, Coleg Harlech, pp35-45

Greene, G. (1999), Travels With My Aunt, Vintage, p9

Hickman, M. J. (1996), ‘Incorporating and Denationalising the Irish in England: The Role of the Catholic Church’, in O’Sullivan, P. (Ed), Religion And Identity, Leicester University Press, pp196-216

Lakey, J. (1998), ‘Neighbourhoods and Housing – Patterns of Settlement’, in (Ed) Ethnic Minorities in Britain, Policy Studies Institute, pp184-7

Larkin, P. (1990) ‘Aubade’, in Collected Poems, The Marvell Press/Faber and Faber, pp208-9

Mackintosh, M. and Mooney, G. (2000), ‘Identity, inequality and social class’, in Woodward, K. (Ed), Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Nation, Routledge, pp79-114

McAuley, J. W. (1996), ‘Under An Orange Banner: Reflections on the Northern Protestant Experiences of Emigration’, in O’Sullivan, P. (Ed), Religion And Identity, Leicester University Press, pp43-69

Williams, E. (1989), ‘The Dynamic of Welsh Identity’, in Evans, N. (Ed), National Identity In The British Isles, Coleg Harlech, pp46-59

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