Social Anthropological Reflections on British Society - Essay Example

A social anthropological perspective on modern British society I. Introduction Hendry (1999, p. 2) viewed social anthropology as an “interest in different ways people have of looking at the world they live in”. The so-called “different ways” do not refer to individual idiosyncrasies but to the “different views of the world learned as people grow in different societies or within different groups which make up one large society” (Hendry 1999, p. 2). According to Hendry (1999, p. 2-3), there is almost an unlimited variety of worldviews for anthropologists to look at such that every social anthropologist can have something to specialize on. Hendry (1999, p. 3) also pointed out that most social anthropologies gain special knowledge by simply living in the society of their choice. However, the social anthropologists who specialize in a particular society live not in that society not in terms of only days or weeks but in terms of years (Hendry 1999. p. 3). Social anthropologists typically even establish a home in their society of specialization because “the idea is to find out exactly what it is like to be a member of the society in question, and they operate on the assumption that the best way to do this is to live with them and share their lives” (Hendry 1999, p. 3). Given a society on which he or she specializes on, a social anthropologist “participates in the routines of everyday life, perhaps trying out the activities of a number of different members of the society, practising their customs, taking part in their rites, and observing as far as possible their most intimate ceremonies” (Hendry 1999, p. 3). Hendry even dangerous elaborates, “If the people take hallucinogenic drugs, so might the anthropologist” (1999, p. 3). If the people he or she studies get up early, the social anthropologist must also get up early (Hendry 1999, p. 3). Language is important for the social anthropologist because people and societies attach different meanings to words, phrases, or sentences. The United States and the United Kingdom speak the English language but other than the specifics on how certain words are spelled and sentences may be constructed, the two countries can associate specific meanings to certain words in the English language. In the same manner, Hendry pointed out that when teenagers complain that their parents do not understand, they are also referring to language because even in a specific society, the way language is used may be different across generations (Hendry 1999, p. 3-4). The way a particular language is used differs across generations, occupations, and classes (Hendry 1999, p. 3-4). For a mountain of reasons, I cannot claim to have a deep knowledge of British society. I will therefore attempt to describe certain facets of British society from the literature, which I believe contributes towards a social anthropological understanding of British society. If I commit an error on the social anthropological description, I trust that only by continuing my living in that society can I understand British Society better from a social anthropological perspective. I wish to point out though that in other countries, I have read somewhere that social anthropology is known as cultural anthropology but, unfortunately, I failed to take note of the material to be able to make a proper citation. However, the link between British social anthropology and cultural anthropology is discuss as well by Spencer (2000). II. Social anthropological reflections on British society For Bryant (2009, p. 6), it is useful to remember that non-whites compose around 14.7% of the population of England and around 41.6% of London. Thus, for Bryant, is it useful to view British society in terms of multiculturalism (Bryant 2009, p. 6). Yet, at the same time, Bryant (2009, p. 6) pointed that viewing British society in term of multiculturalism encourages separateness when the need is to emphasise common values. Nevertheless, Bryant expressed agreement that multiculturalism is something that cannot be ignored especially as there is a population in British society of “young Muslims who rejected Britishness” (2009, p. 7). Thus, the work of Bryant (2009) highlights that a social anthropological assessment of British society can be more complicated than usual: we must recognize that the phenomenon of multiculturalism not only in British society but also in many societies as well. Bryant (2009, p. 7) propose that we recognize the multicultural diversity of Britain, especially of London, not just as something that has to be accommodated but also as a huge asset (Bryant 2009, p. 7). Nevertheless, London’s word-in-one-city character is untypical of Britain as a whole and, yet, Britain is benefiting from this (Bryant 2009, p. 7). Bryant (2009, p. 6) points out though that the British idea of duty as the virtue reinforces Britain neighbourliness and enshrines the idea of public realm and public service. Ware (2009, p. 8) reported that young white Britons, particularly in England, are a loss to explain “what is distinctive about their national culture” and that it is more “worrying that they hold negative perceptions of what it means to be white,” a condition referred by Ware as “identify fragility”. According to Ware (2009, p. 8), “research indicate that many young adults are overwhelmingly indifferent to the whole concept of national identity outside the arena of competitive sport”. According to Ware (2009, p. 8), “evidence also suggest that the concept of global citizenship is increasingly attractive to a generation that is at ease in a virtual world where activism, social networking and entertainment have no respect for national borders”. Ware (2009, p. 8) also emphasised that any initiative to address British collective identify must also address racism and demands a reckoning of the history of the United Kingdom as a former global power. For instance, according to Ware (2009, p. 8), one who is an outsider to British society had described, “Britishness is the idea the world is shaped with you at the centre”. Ware (2009, p. 8) elaborated that for the woman who is outsider to British society, to be British is to have the “feeling that you are better than anyone else”. On the other hand, Marsland (1995) argued that we could speak of distinctly British values and mindset. One such British mindset is the idea that freedom means “the capacity of individual men and women to make rational decisions as autonomous moral agents about their own best interests” (Marsland 1995, p. 2). For Marsland (2009, p. 2), the following are distinctly British but they are at the same time British contributions to the world constitutional government, parliamentary democracy, tolerance, honesty, enterprise, and scientific curiosity. Thus, from Marsland’s argument, being British means embracing these values but the values have also been promoted to the “outside” world. For Marsland, citing Rand (1994), another trait that is distinct British and that is being promoted to the “outside world” is that work is not essentially nor even primarily an an instrument to material livelihood but is “rather man’s normal and natural mode and arena of individual creativity, self-expression, and competitive achievement”. Marsland (1995, p. 2) also emphasized that protection of the family and commitment to hard work are two distinct British values but they have also become the crucial parameters worldwide. Further, Marsland (1995, p. 2) elaborated that the British core values of work ethic, family, commitment, self-reliance, honest, enterprising initiative, curiosity, and tolerance “are in their synergetic combination in British culture”. The elite of British Society, just like the elites everywhere, can have their own values, rituals, customs, and behaviour. The work of Landres (1997, p. 161) documents that the elites of British society values white shirts, white tie for men, black ribbon for women, and attires that can be considered as “proper” in academic exercises. The explanation of this is simple: British society has practised the custom for more than 800 years (Landres 1997, p. 161). At the same time, the meanings attached to the custom is that when students are dressed well or “proper”, they acquire the “fullest identify” of being students or university students (Landres 1997, p. 161). Another customs that can be observed are as follows: finalists in examinations can wear a whire, pink, and red carnation (Landres 1997, p. 161-162). According to Landres (1997, p. 162), inquiries will reveal “that the white carnation is won by a finalist sitting his or her first exam, the pink one is worn for subsequent exams up to and including the penultimate one, and the red carnation is worn by a finalist sitting his or her last exam”. Hence, the colours of the carnation are associated with meanings and these meanings are not immediately clear to those who are outside of the British Society. III. Usefulness of social anthropology for overseas students in viewing British society Based on the foregoing discussion, we can make two important insights. First, British position as a colonial power enabled Britain to export its more positive human qualities to the outside world and, thus, what we thought as universal positive qualities to emulate had been originally British even if some of the world’s cultures also have qualities in them that look on to the positive values as values to adopt or emulate. Second, Britain like many other countries values family and work. Thus, to love the family and value work constitute as core British values for all overseas students to recognize, value, and adopt. Loving their families and adopting a good work ethic would enable overseas students to share British values and enable them to integrate themselves deep into British society. In my opinion, learning these constitute an important argument on the relevance of social anthropology. Knowledge of social anthropology would overseas students to integrate better into British society so that the indigenous British would consider them as not too different from them thereby enhancing the participation of non-British in the emerging multi-cultural character of London and the rest of the United Kingdom. IV. Conclusion The conclusion of this work is that despite the multiculturalism that is emerging in British society, we can still identify social items in British society that are British. At the same time, there are British social items that have achieved a universal status or that they had been universally adopted or adopted globally as values to adhere live by. For example, one of these is work ethic. In other words, some of the values that the world tries to emulate today were originally British values. For overseas students, social anthropology is important so they can integrate themselves better in societies that they choose to study. Knowledge of social anthropology of the British Society would also enable overseas students to interpret more meanings that are associated with the lives of the British as they live their lives. References Bryant, C., 2009. The British question. British Politics Review, 4 (3), 6-7. Hendry, J., 1999. An introduction to social anthropology. London: Palgrave. Landres, J., 1997. Ritual and civil society: The case of British elites. JASO, 28 (2), 161-175. Marsland, D., 1995. In defence of British values: Freedom, the work ethic, and the family. Political Notes, 111, 1-4. Spencer, J., 2000. British Social Anthropology: A retrospective. Annual Review of Anthropology, 29, 1-24. Ware, V., 1999. Chasing Britishness: A post-colonial project. British Politics Review, 4 (3), 8. Read More