Class, Race, Identity

Presentation on Marwick’s “British Society since 1945”

The Others:Katja Sauer, Juliane TimmTill Ovenbeck

Thatcher’s cabinet

• Upper class cabinet

• Britain was no classless society; the cabinet was classless only in the sense that all of its members came from the upper, or upper-middle class

Race

• 1991: ethnic origin was included in population census for the first time

• Blacks were worst off considering long term unemployment > 15,8%

• Blacks were mostly unskilled workers• Many Indians worked as professionals => Integration of ethnic minorities into the

major sectors of the labour market

• 1988-93: racist attacks doubled

• BNP won local seat in London

• stronger anti- racist legislation on demand of population

• Britain as a multi-racial society illustrated by membership of the different churches

• religion no longer dominates and controls society

Riots

• country of confrontation, demonstrations and riots

• decaying urban areas

• riots of 1990

• peaceful demonstration ended in ‘horror scenario’

Disaffection from government

• 1994: lowest statistics for strikes ever since records began in 1891

• 6 month ambulance strike (1989-90)• Signalmen strike: sporadic actions over two

month (summer1994)• both strikes by skilled and responsible

members of the community => separation of government and society

Disaffection from government

– showed in two important ways (middle class involved)

• campaigns against road-building program (occupation of sites)

• Animal right campaigns at seaports and airports (obstruction of livestock transports)

British values in the 90s

• persistence of secular Anglicanism

• continuing growth of tolerance

• community spirit

• retaining traditions in regard to education, state benefits, authority, crime

Leisure activities

• government allows children in pubs and at race-courses

• major trend: home-based leisure activities– borrowing of videos, satellite TV

=>video addicts

– book sales rose, use of public libraries

Drug statistics

drug dealing and drug-consumption increases

• 1989: one eleven-year-old out of ten

• 1995: one eleven-year-old out of five

• criminal gangs linked to crimes of all types

more than 300 Mio. Pounds were spent on drug-consumption in 1993

Arts & Architecture

• Channel Tunnel R. I. B. A. B. of the Year award for London terminal for channel Tunnel trains

• London Skyline: 800-foot Canary WharfNational Opera House commercial success at the Royal National

Theatre

Movies: “ Made in Britain”

• film industry “up” in the nineties• only 3.7% of films shown in Britain, were

actually made in Britain• success: The Crying Game, Much Ado

About Nothing, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shallow Grave

• Broadcast Act 1990, replacement of Independent Broadcasting Authority

Sexual Attitudes and Behaviour

• lowering of the age at which first sexual intercourse occurs

• the ideal of monogamy in decline

• number of single-parent families increased

⇒divorces increased

⇒marriages decreased

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)

• became an issue for the heterosexual majority

• 1994: rise of 9% of reported cases within one year (taking 1993/94 rise of 44%)

• March 1994: 21,718 HIV infections

• Attitude towards sex is characterized by pragmatism, commonsense, tolerance and a certain respect for traditional monogamous ideals

Nationality and Identity

• issue of public concern:– reason: proposal for devolution of Scotland and Wales

and regional assemblies for parts of Britain

• Scots: strongest sense of a separate national identity

• English: strongest sense of British identity• regional identity: identification with their city or

region • North – South division of England

Britishness

• obligation to civic virtues, acceptance of traditional hierarchies, disrespect for the centralized state

• self-image: tolerance, restraint and fairness towards the minority

Northern Ireland conflict

• Irish Protestants see themselves as British whereas the British regard them as un-British (intolerance towards minorities)

• Mitchell Report: delivered on January 24th 1996– no decommissioning in advance (British) or after (Sinn

Fein) all party-talks but during the talks

• February 4th 1996: bomb exploded at Canary Wharf in London => end of IRA ceasefire

Europe• structural trends (population movements, patterns

of trade, leisure activities, holidays, European football competition) were pulling Britain closer to the continent and away from former ties of language and family with the English-speaking areas of the wider world

• 1994:– opening of the Channel Tunnel (physical link)– inauguration of the National Lottery (standard in

Europe for a long time)

• mistrust of European bureaucracy =>mistrust of Europe as a whole

• Was Britain to become more and more like America, privileging private interest over public good, callous towards the poor, treating the arts as price-tagged consumables?

• Or was Britain to rediscover its own generous traditions, melding them with continental concepts of citizenship and social (or Christian) democracy, and sharing a European perception of the arts as essential to a civilized society?

• May, 1st 1997:

Tony Blair (Labour) won

the general election (43.2%)

=>melding with continental concepts

Nationalists2.5%

43.2%30.7%

16.8% 6.8%

Fill in the appropriate term

• The most __________and most detached element was the Northern Ireland Unionist leadership.

• Britain had responsibility for preventing militants from the communities from totally drenching the providence in _____________and violence.

• The British Government appeared confident that progress was being made, but if it was now prepared to believe in the permanence of the______________, it was too late.

abrasive

bloodshed

ceasefire

• The decision to ____________ one of the independent television's most distinguished companies, Thames, and grant the franchise to Carlton, which simply continued the most successful Thames programmes without itself creating anything of any distinction, was widely criticized.

• Two events of 1994 were of great symbolic importance: the opening of the Channel Tunnel provided a totally new physical link, and the _____________ of the National Lottery meant that Britain now had a national pastime which had been standard in continental countries back into the midst of time.

disfranchise

inauguration

• Tony Blair’s New Labor won a ______________ .

• On April 1990 the Observer front page carried a photograph of a shirtless demonstrator in front of a blazing building, with the headline: Scores hurt, buildings blaze in _________ riots.

• All the polls ___________ a substantial Labour victory.

• But the Welsh, the Scots, or even the English, they are un-British in the fervour of their commitment, in their confidence in their own _________________ , in their religious bigotry and in their conspicuous lack of essential ingredients of the British self-image as held in Britain itself, tolerance, restraint, and fairness towards the minority.

• A _______ is a native of Liverpool.

• Victorian ____________ restrictions

Landslide victory

Poll tax

predicted

righteousness

Scousershibboleth

• 1) abrasive• tending to hurt other people’s feelings, harsh and

offensive• 2) bloodshed• killing or wounding of people• 3) ceasefire• a temporary period of peace between enemies• 4) disenfranchised• to take away rights from sb., esp. right to vote for

a representative in parliament• 5)inaugaration• to make the beginning of an organization or a

project, to introduce anew public official or leader at a special ceremony.

• 6) landslide victory• a very large majority of voters for one party in an election• 7) poll tax• a tax to be paid at the same rate by every person or every

adult in the community• 8) predicted• to say in advance that sth. will happen, to forecast• 9) righteousness• doing, thinking etc. what is morally right• 10) Scousers• native of Liverpool• 11) shibboleth• an old idea, principle or phrase that is no longer regarded

by many as important or relevant

1. We have already talked about “class” before. If you look at this chapter what trends

can you see ?• No great changes in the situation

• still inequality in income and living conditions

2. What was the reason for the increase in

racist attacks between 1988 and 1993 ?

• high tension, exploited by the BNP

• inadequate housing

• increasing fundamentalism of certain Muslim groups

• high youth unemployment

3. What values were closest to the heart of a majority of the British people in the 1990s?”. This is one of Marwick’s

questions – so, what were the values and why is it important

for us to talk about them?

• persistence of secular Anglicanism

• growth of tolerance

• growth of community spirit

• Negative: harsh conciliation of traditional values

• values are important for the community

• tolerance is becoming more important

4. “If the government had to choose it should…?” Name one of the suggestions

given in the table and explain what it means. (p.400)

• reduce taxes and spend less on health, education and social benefits

• keep taxes and spending at the same level as now• increase taxes and spend more on health,

education and social benefits– more and more people voted for the last suggestion in

1993, whereas most of them voted for the second suggestion in 1983

– people are unsatisfied with their health and educational system

5. Explain the relation between recession and depression.

• “People get depressed because they can’t get a job, or their businesses collapse, or their houses get repossessed”

• economic recession and its consequences

=> frustrated population

6.What did the Broadcasting Act of 1990 led to and what was the result in the world of

media?

• led to the replacement of the Independent Broadcasting Authority

• disfranchisement of British television

• competitive television stations

• defined the formalities for broadcasting in the new decade.

7. What was the major motivation behind the idea of a National Survey of Sexual attitudes and lifestyle? What were its problems and

results?AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)• group to find a remedy for AIDS was formed in

1986• approval of the department of Health was

established, but no release of the government funds

• Thatcher vetoed the project (no official statement)• Wellcome Trust (privately funded) took over

financing (900.000 pounds)

8. How do British people see themselves?

(national identity)

• strongest sense of separate national identity: Scots

• still admit some British identity

• strongest sense of British identity: English

• Welsh feel equally British than Welsh

9. What was the Mitchell Report and what were its intentions?

• delivered January 24th 1996

• no decommissioning in advance (British) or after (Sinn Fein) all party-talks but during the talks

10. Marwick talks about national identity and values. Which factors could pose a threat to

British values?

• privileging private interest over public good

• treating the arts as price-tagged

• getting closer to Europe

Match the words on the left with an appropriate term on the right

IRA

Hooliganism

Authority

British National Party

Tony Blair

Nationalists

Labour

church membership

national identity

Sinn Fein

racist

1990