Why are there more uncertainties about identities in the UK today?

Question

I am particularly interested in the period from the WWII to the present day. Any examples you can provide to demonstrate this diversity would also help.

Answer 1

1) British Skepticism
I think the British people have become more skeptical about certain parts of their culture which provide strong national identity. Especially the parts which are not advantageous or limiting. A good example of such a tradition is the decline in Church attendance. Brition is considered a Christian country, though many Britons would not consider themselves practising Christians by social identity.

Other traditional aspects of British culture such as 'fish and chips' seem also to be in decline. This may generally be due to economic and political reasons, where the second generation of a family that owned such an outlet were wealthy enough or had more opportunity to persue a better means as a career.

2) The changing role of global Britian
The world changed dramatically after the Second World War and this had a profound impact on Britain. From being one of the largest colonialist in the world, after the Second World War, Britain freed its' colonies (creating the commonwealth). The result of this was a profound pysychological effect which can still be seen today. From being one of the most powerful countries in the world, it was suddenly left in a weaker position. The British formly being able to claim to be one of the greatest empires in history, now faced a dilema in how to identify themselves socially.

3. Dissemation of class
After the Second World War, the class system, which was a strong factor in social identity, also disintigrated. Possible arguments for this were that every demograhic had to pull together during the Scond World War and social reforms introducing greater opportunities in health care and education in the consequcutive years of the Harold Wilson (1916-1995) administration were introduced.

4. How right wing activity has effected limitations on national identity
Other factors, especially examples of national pride or jingalism have been limited on due to right wing nationalist activity. Not being able to fly the Union flag is a common complaint of some Britons. This is due to nature different groups 'hijacking' the British social identity, where some symbols are not associated with the country itself but with radical extremist groups.

5. Diversity in Britain
After the Second World War, there was a bigger migration which was encouraged from the commonwealth. The consequential debate which continues, is how do people who are not ethnically British fit into the society. And perspectives range dramatically. There is a point of view that different ethnic festivals and cultures have been emphasized to the point that British culture has been neglected. However, another point of view would encourage diversity, especially in food (since before the 1940s, British cusine was not amazingly exciting), music, sports, employment and philosophy, have been widely opened due to the fact that many people have entered Britain.

For those who have lived a considerable time abroad or in another culture, it is quite easy to see that Britain has a strong identity. The people are not as warm as some of the South American countries and not as bouncy as some of the North Americans. And there are marked differences that do set Britain apart from the rest of the world. There aren't that many cultures that complain about the weather everyday.

Sorry I couldn't go into more detail and cover some of the more important elements, however I hope this has been of some use, or at least helped you look at this issue from a different angle. The spell check on yahoo either took too long or wasn't working properly so please excuse any typos.

Answer 2

I don't really know what you mean . Is it that you're saying why is there less of a certain identity of the uk as a whole as in like a culture or do you mean why are people less certain of their own identity. If you mean the first then i think it's because since the second world war there has been a lot of immigration to the country so obvisly there is an input on british culture from different countries. So instead of just the one identity that people might have had before the world war there are many different identites and many different subcultures because britain's quite multicultural. If you mean the second then i think it's because there are so many subcultures in the uk today that people don't really know where they fit in or possibly fit in to many subcultures and so are unsure about thier identity. For example are they a Pakistani person or are they British, should I act like my friends or act like my parents or grandparents who were brought up in a different country. The Uk isn't really like america in the sense that everyone is just american i think we have a lot more subcultures here and so a lot more uncertainty about where we fit in.