Driscoll, Britain, CH4 Identity p 1

How do British people identify themselves? Who do they feel they are? Everybody has an image of themselves, but the things that make up this image can vary. For exampie, in some parts of the world, it is very important that you are a member of a particular Family; in other parts of the world, it might be morę important that you come firom a particular place; in others, that you belong to a certain social class. This chapter explores the loyalties and senses of identity most typic-ally felt by British people.

Etiinic identity: the native British

National (‘ethnic’) loyalties canbestrong among the people in Britain whose ancestors were not English (see chapter i). For some people living in England who cali themselves Scottish, Welsh or Irish, this loyalty is little morę than a matter of emotional attachment. But for others, it goes a bit further and they may even join one of the sporting and social clubs for ‘exiles’ from these nations. These clubs promote national folk musie, orgąnize parties on special national days and foster a consciousness of doing things differently from the English. For people living in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the way that ethnic identity commonly expresses itself varies. People in Scotland have constant reminders of their distinctiveness. First, several important aspects of public life are organized separately, and differently, from the rest of Britain - notably, education, law and religion. Second, the Scottish way of speaking English is very distinctive. A modern form of the dialect known as Scots (see chapter 2) is spoken in everyday life by most of the working classes in the lowlands. It has many features which are different frorn other forms of English and cannot usually be understood by people who are not Scottish. Third, there are many symbols of Scottishness which are well-known throughout Britain (see chapter 1) .

However, the feeling of being Scottish is not that simple (o Wh<u does it mean to be Scottish?). This is partly because of the historical cultural split between highland and lowland Scotland (sce chapter 2). A genu inely Scottish Gaelic sense of cultural identity is, in modern tirttes, felt only by a few tens of thousąnds of people. in some of the western isles of Scotland and the adjoining mainland. These people speak Scottish Gaelic (which they cali ‘Gallic’) as a first language.