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Perceptions of Britishness

Perceptions of Britishness Abstract. The aim of this paper is to contribute to scholarly debate about the nature of national identity by exploring a set of empirical data relating to the complex case of Britishness. The paper considers, with reference to the findings of field‐work conducted within a Pakistani community in London, what can be learnt about Britishness from the attitudes of young British Pakistanis. It is apparent that for such young people British national identity does not have a fixed content: their remarks draw attention to several different ‘boundaries of Britishness’ which operate in the popular imagination of people in Britain. These include the civic boundary, according to which citizenship is the primary criterion of nationality; the ‘racial’ boundary which defines as British those individuals believed to have British ancestry or ‘blood’; and the cultural boundary, according to which Britishness is a matter of the culture, values or lifestyle to which one adheres. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nations and Nationalism Wiley

Perceptions of Britishness

Jacobson, Jessica
Nations and Nationalism , Volume 3 (2) – Jul 1, 1997
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References (5)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
ISSN
1354-5078
eISSN
1469-8129
DOI
10.1111/j.1354-5078.1997.00181.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to contribute to scholarly debate about the nature of national identity by exploring a set of empirical data relating to the complex case of Britishness. The paper considers, with reference to the findings of field‐work conducted within a Pakistani community in London, what can be learnt about Britishness from the attitudes of young British Pakistanis. It is apparent that for such young people British national identity does not have a fixed content: their remarks draw attention to several different ‘boundaries of Britishness’ which operate in the popular imagination of people in Britain. These include the civic boundary, according to which citizenship is the primary criterion of nationality; the ‘racial’ boundary which defines as British those individuals believed to have British ancestry or ‘blood’; and the cultural boundary, according to which Britishness is a matter of the culture, values or lifestyle to which one adheres.

Journal

Nations and Nationalism – Wiley

Published: Jul 1, 1997

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