British pride in their history has collapsed over the past decade. 86% of people in the British Isles looked back with satisfaction in 2013, up from 64% in the last annual survey of British social attitudes. THE surprising drop of 22 points in the thermometer of patriotism has caused a crossfire of opposing opinions in the last week. What is really happening in the country beneath the fallacious facade of Brexit?
For some, the poll is simply a reflection of the growing diversity and changes being experienced in British identity, with 19% of the population being non-white. For others, we are seeing the cumulative effect of ideology woke up in schools, universities and institutions, despite the 14 years of successive Conservative governments.
Interestingly, the English continue to have a very high level of pride when it comes to boasting about the artistic and literary achievements (79.3%) and sporting merits (77%) of their compatriots. The decline is, however, even more evident in the evaluation of their country’s contribution to democracy (53%), political influence in the world (47%) or economic results (44%).
«We are in front of the portrait of a country that is redefining itself and the change we are witnessing could be influenced by the increasing diversity of the population», he certifies. Gillian PriorDeputy Director of NatCen, the research institute that has been analysing the social attitudes of the English since 1983.
«There are two very different ways of understanding British identity,» warn the authors of the survey. «One is a multicultural vision of society that accepts the cultural diversity that waves of immigration have brought since the post-war period. The other is that of a proud country that resisted the Norman invasion and that treasures a cultural and historical heritage that it is worth preserving.»
«THE decision to leave the European Union “It may lead one to believe that the second vision is the one more deeply rooted in public opinion,” concludes the British Social Attitudes study. “However, what seems to have happened in the last decade is that British identity has acquired a civic and inclusive aspect.
The poll result was reviled by the conservative press as «depressing» and as «the product of the rise of left-wing circles who for years have hammered at our own history until it has suffered this damned wreck» (Philip Johnston in The Telegraph newspaper).
«We have witnessed a Marxist usurpation by people who hate this country,» concludes the MP and leader of the Reform in the United KingdomNigel Farage, following the poll and speaking to the ultra-conservative channel GB News. «From primary school to university, the education establishment has rejoiced in railing against the UK’s past.»
Alex Scholes, another researcher on the survey of 5,600 Britons, acknowledges that the free fall of «historical pride» could be linked to the open debate over slavery and the role of the British Empire in recent years.
Scholes points out, however, that the changing attitude towards history also reflects “the rise of civic ideas about what it means to be British, as opposed to the ethnic idea of a nationalism tied to birth, ancestry and Christian faith.”
Nobody will say it: Eight years after Brexit, UK residents have a ‘less exclusive’ view of what it means to be Britishhave developed a much more critical attitude towards their political class and are even «less likely to show a sense of superiority over the rest of the world».
