Freedom from ‘Britain’: A Comment on Recent Elite-Sponsored Political Cultural Identities
| Published date | 01 February 2007 |
| Date | 01 February 2007 |
| Author | Peter Preston |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-856x.2007.00265.x |
| Subject Matter | Controversy |
Freedom from ‘Britain’: A Comment
on Recent Elite-Sponsored Political
Cultural Identities
Peter Preston
The issue of identity has been widely discussed both in recent social science and in the public sphere;
race, ethnicity, gender and nation have all been extensively discussed. A common thread has been
the rejection of essentialist arguments that attempt to fix identities in extra-social phenomena in
favour of an appreciation of their thoroughgoing social constructedness. Given these sophisticated
understandings, how are we to account for the unexpected and seemingly atavistic reassertion of the
enduring value of ‘Britishness’ among sections of the United Kingdom elite? Recent public discus-
sion suggests that the Whitehall/Westminster elite have become uneasy about the burgeoning
political-cultural diversity of the United Kingdom. However,an elite-specified identity is unlikely to
have any purchase among a diverse sophisticated population.
The issue of identity has been widely discussed both in recent social science and in
the public sphere; race, ethnicity, gender and nation have all been extensively
discussed. A common thread has been the rejection of essentialist arguments which
attempt to ground identities in extra-social phenomena in favour of an appreciation
of their thoroughgoing social constructedness; identities are understood to be
ineluctably relational, created and recreated in routine social practice. Given these
sophisticated understandings, how are we to account for the unexpected, intellec-
tually impoverished and seemingly atavistic reassertion of the enduring value of
‘Britishness’ among sections of the United Kingdom elite?
Recent public discussion suggests that the Whitehall/Westminster elite have
become uneasy about the burgeoning political-cultural diversity of the United
Kingdom. The anxiety can be glimpsed in several areas of debate: the Iraq war,
where the critical popular response to the debacle has discomfited the elite;1
Europe, where intra-elite manoeuvring has issued in an evidently unsustainable
hostility;2and (relatedly) in transatlantic relations, where elite allegiance to
Washington has drawn increasing criticism.3But, while there may or may not be
a problem with diversity, one solution presently canvassed,4the refurbishment of
an elite-specified master status—‘Britain’ and ‘Britishness’—is futile; the popula-
tion is too diverse and sophisticated to acquiesce in such a crude misrepresenta-
tion of their multiple identities. Political-cultural identity is established through a
subtle exchange between the private self and the demands/opportunities of the
public sphere; it is a way of reading enfolding structures so as to locate and orient
action. Taking identity seriously creates a complicated picture. The country is
home to many linguistic, economic, social and cultural groups and grasping the
nature of identity within this diverse domestic scene requires understanding the
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-856x.2007.00265.x BJPIR: 2007 VOL 9, 158–164
© 2007 The Author. Journal compilation © 2007 Political Studies Association
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