Teaching Comparative

Class and politics in Britain

It's good to remember that class is still an important part of British political culture.

And it's often difficult for American students to understand, since nearly all of them are convinced that social class differences in the USA are totally irrelevant and that they are all middle class.

Sarah Lyall's article in the New York Times could be a good stimulus for a discussion of the role of social class in British politics. By the way, the intro to the article reflects the powerful interest that Brits have in the personal lives of the royals.

Ask students to find out about the social class backgrounds of the last half dozen prime ministers and leaders of the loyal opposition. Then compare, for instance John Major's biography with Tony Blair's and corollate those personal histories with the men's politics. To be comparative, you could do the same thing with leaders from other multi-party countries (Mexico, Nigeria, and the USA).

Why Can’t the English Just Give Up That Class Folderol?

"We will probably never know. But the reports last week that Prince William and his girlfriend, Kate Middleton, broke up in part because of her mother’s so-called middle-class behavior, including using the word toilet for bathroom, are a vivid reminder that class issues still bubble vexingly beneath the surface of British life...

"What is significant is that even in new, egalitarian Britain, everyone seemed so mesmerized by accounts of it, so ready to believe in the return of the class war that had supposedly ended in a truce years ago...

"John Major was talking about a 'classless society' when vying for the prime ministership back in 1990. 'We are all middle-class now,' Tony Blair declared soon after becoming prime minister...

"The House of Lords is now filled... with trade unionists, self-made millionaires and political apparatchiks of both sexes appointed by the prime minister. The BBC announcers no longer read the news in dinner jackets...

"The Tory leader, David Cameron, has tried to present himself as Regular Dave, playing down his privileged, Etonian, black-tie-wearing background...

"But while overtly caring about class is itself considered déclassé, many people still do care, or at least notice...

"But Britons still readily identify themselves as members of different social classes. Most people, while professing that it does not matter to them and that it is all a bit silly, still have their own rules for what constitutes the lower class, generally defined as any class lower than one’s own...

"Few people not to the manner born get it right, at least not the first generation around. It is still gauche to be seen making the effort, to appear 'ambitious'..."

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Labels: civil society, demographics, UK

posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:19 AM