Britishness since 1870What does it mean to be British? It is now recognized that being British is not innate, static or permanent, but that national identities within Britain are constantly constructed and reconstructed. Britishness since 1870 examines this definition and redefinition of the British national identity since the 1870s. Paul Ward argues that British national identity is a resilient force, and looks at how Britishness has adapted to changing circumstances. Taking a thematic approach, Britishness since 1870 examines the forces that have contributed to a sense of Britishness, and considers how Britishness has been mediated by other identities such as class, gender, region, ethnicity and the sense of belonging to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 25
... loyalty to the nation and state was loyalty also to both monarch and Empire: We drew Union Jacks, hung classrooms with flags of the dominions and gazed with pride as they pointed out those massed areas of red on the world map. "This ...
... loyalties of the aristocracy at one end of society and the organised working class at the other and looked instead to nation and Empire for a sense of collectivity. l6 The advantage of this approach is that it does see responses to ...
... loyalty to the monarchy, which encouraged the sense of being part of the nation. Such scenes were then reproduced in the cinema. South Riding (1938), a feature film about improving the housing conditions of Yorkshire, ends with the ...
... loyalty. The impact of even indirect contact with royalty could be profound. During the First World War, Mrs E. M. Bilbrough described the impact of receiving a letter from Queen Alexandra in recognition of her husband having raised a ...
... loyalty because opportunities arose more often to celebrate royalty and, in turn, to have one's efforts validated. In 1953, for example, there were protests that only London's schoolchildren would be given the opportunity to watch ...
Contents
14 | |
18 | |
22 | |
28 | |
31 | |
37 | |
38 | |
39 | |
Countervailing currents | 96 |
The First World War | 98 |
Between the wars | 100 |
British Fascism and Communism | 101 |
Patriotism and politics in the peoples war | 105 |
The politics of European identity | 108 |
A new way of being British ethnicity and Britishness | 113 |
Continuities and varieties before 1945 | 116 |
Women in Ireland Scotland and Wales | 42 |
The impact of the Great War | 44 |
Gender and Britishness in the Second World War | 47 |
Gender race and home in postwar Britain | 50 |
Rural urban and regional Britishness | 54 |
Finding the core of the nation | 55 |
Regional identities | 66 |
Spare time | 73 |
Sport nation and Empire | 74 |
Sport and nation in Scotland Wales and Ireland | 76 |
Regional and local identities in British sport | 80 |
Race sport and identity | 82 |
Discordant voices | 84 |
Going on holiday | 85 |
Resisting the Americanisation of culture | 89 |
Politicians parties and national identity | 93 |
The Second World War and the national community | 123 |
Numbers and the other in affluent Britain | 125 |
the politics of exclusion | 127 |
Black and Asian identities in the UK | 135 |
Outer Britain | 141 |
Holding together or pulling apart? | 142 |
Wales | 143 |
Scotland | 149 |
Ireland and Northern Ireland | 157 |
The end of Britain? | 168 |
Conclusion | 170 |
Notes | 174 |
Bibliography | 211 |
Index | 229 |