Abstract
This paper considers the significance of class to English national identity. It takes onesystematic exposition of the argument that Englishness has been traditionally and intimately bound up with class: George Schopflin’s essay Englishness: citizenship, ethnicity and class, published in 2000. Schopflin thought that Englishness was distinctive in European terms by its class rather than its ethnic character and that this provided people with a very secure and very stable identity, though he did observe a more ethnicised form ofidentity emerging at the beginning of the new millennium. This is a strong definition ofEnglishness as class and the paper reassesses its claims in terms of recent research onidentity. It argues for a more nuanced understanding of the role of class but suggeststhat the modus vivendi of English class relations still distinguishes its identity withinEurope and the United Kingdom.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 394-408 |
Journal | Ethnicities |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 4 Aug 2012 |