National identities are only one among the many identities that people can hold”, (Clarke,2009, p212).
The key question this statement is asking is how people perceive themselves and how others perceive them as British. This highlights the main area of this assignment, what is Britishness and who is perceived as British? And also to what extent does British culture have ‘shared values’, ideas and ways of life in today’s society and is it better to talk of many cultures when discussing British culture.
To be British implies sharing a place of residence, a place to call your country; it’s not entirely about being born in Britain or even the British flag. Many people argue that being British has its own characteristics in comparison to being French or Italian etc. , and this is true. Although residents of Britain will all have different personalities and identities according to their background, their Britishness will distinguish that they are British people and this forms the basis of a national identity and explains British culture.
If you were to ask residents of Britain to describe themselves, they will do so in many different ways, and will always reference back to family and friends, all of which play a part in defining a British identity. Identities are socially constructed throughout life and each individual will have their own unique identity so therefore not every person in Britain will have the same mundane identity. Therefore to identify an overall national identity, Britain over time has grew to become a very modern and diverse society and also the political desire to define what Britishness is today (Clarke, 2009, p209-214).
The Term Paper on Advertising and Identity through Consumer Culture
Never before in the history of the modern world has advertising become so prevalent, ubiquitous, and an “undeniable essential” to a modern man’s everyday life than that of our century. Advertising images of all sorts, now flood public spaces: from billboards with eroticized images to the blinding electronic billboard, down to the “comfort ads” which oddly stares back in the rest rooms of malls. ...
In the United Kingdom, national identity and citizenship do not always mean the same thing”, this information is provided by the Home office, (Home office cited in Clarke, 2009, p210).
This statement gives a contemporary view of the British identity and helps define what exactly Britishness is. This statement then goes on and talks about how people from different countries in Great Britain describe themselves in comparison to British people. An example of this is the Scottish and Welsh state they have a Scottish and Welsh nationality but a British citizenship.
Whereas people from Northern Ireland tend to describe their identity depending on which political party they support and also their cultural allegiances, as they may choose to state they are Irish, British or even both. In comparison to British people will tend to state they have a British identity and citizenship, not half and half like people from other parts of Great Britain. Alternatively, the social scientist Vron Ware stated that “Britain is a composite nation, a patchwork of anomalies, mistakes and inconsistencies.
It has a standing army but not a football team. ” (Vron Ware cited in Clarke, 2009 p210).
It then goes on to saying how Britain has an unequal global order and copies off other countries such as Europe and United States by history and geography. This statement is very different from the above statement from the Home Office. This statement works off the idea that to be British you have to support a certain football team and have a certain language, but this isn’t always correct, people who live in Britain are British.
Many people in Britain will have different cultures which include different rituals etc, to other individuals also being British. Both statements have common issues running through them, but both are very different also. The Home Office document mainly talks about how a British citizenship can be separate from a national identity, meaning that a person can live in Britain but have an African citizenship as that is their place of birth etc.
The Term Paper on Balance Of Power Britain France British
Why Did British Diplomacy And Defence Policy Come To Be Linked With Understandings To France And Rus The chain of events which brought Europe to the brink of war in 1914 is very complicated. Historians have constantly argued over whether conflict was inevitable and tried to attribute the blame for the conflict of World War I. The possibility of war had existed for some time prior to 1914 as huge ...
Having a national identity is only one identity in which a person may hold, for instance a person may be very religious and hold a strong catholic identity. As stated above, to be British and have a British identity means you live in Britain, but as an individual you can also have many identities and many people in Britain will have, as society nowadays is very diverse. Moving on from the above, Britishness as stated is a place of residency, but along with that an individual’s identity in that residence will be hugely diverse.
For instance, if you were a resident in Ireland, they tend to all have in common the same artistic or aesthetic cultural products such as Irish music and art and so on. Whereas in Britain, they isn’t a common cultural product, as each individual has a different identity whether this be down to religion or characteristics, and because of this, this is why many people state that when talking about Britishness, you should talk of cultures, not a culture of its own, this is what social scientists call ‘high culture’ (Clarke, 2009 p219).
The other meaning of culture is treating culture as part of everyday life which includes the habits, practices and values of the life we live in Britain. Many cultural theorists and the historian Raymond Williams (1958) described being ‘selective tradition’ as celebrating works and traditions set by your citizenship such as in Britain, residents should celebrate works done by Shakespeare and so on. Both meanings of culture as seen above are very different, some residents can be either, it is their choice and in this diverse society will choose to do so. Britishness is defined not on ethnic or exclusive grounds…” (Blunkett, 2004 p4, cited in Clarke, 2009 p221).
Blunkett explains how Britishness is shared through values and diversity. Another statement which also explains Britishness in terms of shared values is explained by Phillips (2007) for example “…Britishness, lies in a way of living together characterised by tolerance, egalitarianism, respect for dignity of the individual and a powerful tradition of dissent” (Phillips, 2007, p42 cited in Clarke 2009, p222-223).
The Term Paper on Popular Culture in Britain at the Beginning of the 1960’s
In this essay, while completing the task of describing popular culture in the early 1960's, I hope to cover four main aspects; pop music, radio, television, film, fashion and changes in society.The term popular culture means a contemporary lifestyle and items that are well-known and generally accepted, it is a cultural pattern that are widespread within a population. A popular culture was being ...
Both of these statements explain how everyday life in Britain as a resident is diverse in terms of living and also that residents respect the law and also each other’s personal identity. Obviously both statements can be argued against such as crime rates etc and how migration of new residents have a main cause of British culture not being British culture no more as stated by Seimon Glynn, Chairman of Gwynedd County council’s housing committee in an interview he revealed that with new migrants entering Britain is ‘It makes us even poorer and it is absolutely no use to the community’ (cited in Clarke, 2009 p167).
But in unison this is how Britishness is perceived to others. Both Plunkett and Phillips main argument is that Britishness is open to people of all backgrounds and not being constructed against by their ethnicity or exclusive grounds. In Britain residents live in an imagined community as Benedict Anderson (1983) stated, he believes that nations have to be constructed with a set of connections or affinities between the members of the nation and the invention of a shared history that links them.
Anderson (1983) uses the word ‘we’ to describe Britishness and how ‘we’ interact with each other in society, as speaking of Britain as a whole, gives an imagined view that Britishness is shared and that ‘we’ share the same identity and culture. But in reality, to be British you do not have to have the same identity or cultural views to have the same citizenship. To summarise the above points, it is obvious that Britishness has changed from Shakespeare times to now massively.
Britishness is now very diverse in terms of culture and views in many areas such as political and ethnicity. To describe British culture, you can selectively use certain topics such as arts and literature but it isn’t a way of life so not every resident will have the same values but residents of Britain will all share the same behaviour traits and follow the same laws and so on. Also, residents in Britain will have a British identity and also underlying identities in regards to their practices, religion and so on.
The Research paper on United Kingdom and Modern British Culture
Each contributor looks at the language through which culture is formed and expressed, at the political and institutional trends that shape culture and at the role of culture in daily life. This interesting and informative account of modern British culture embraces controversy and debate and never loses sight of the fact that Britain and Britishness must always be understood in relation to the ...
Along with a person’s identity, you also have citizenship. To be British doesn’t mean you have to share the same taste in music and enjoy the same activities, to be British is a place of residency and to follow the same rules set by the country to be a part of it. Therefore, when talking of the British culture, is it better to talk of cultures? This is will be debated for a very long time, as every resident living in Britain has shared values and residency.
