Religious and political identity

In comparison with some other European countries, and with the one notable exception of Northern Ireland, neither religion nor politics is an important part of people's social identity in modern Britain. This is partly because the two do not, as they do in some other countries, go together in any significant way. Of course, there are many people who regard themselves as belonging to this or that church or party. Some people among the minority who are regular churchgoers and the very small minority who are active members of political parties feel this sense of belonging strongly and deeply. It may form a very important part of their own idea of themselves as individuals. But even for these people it plays little part in determining other aspects of their lives such as where they work, which trade union they belong to, who their friends are or who they would like their neighbours to be. For the vast majority of parents in the country (some ethnic groups excepted), the religion or voting habits of their future son-in-law’s or daughter-in-law’s family are of only passing interest and rarely the major cause of objection to the proposed marriage.

Identity in Northern Ireland

In this part of the UK, the pattern of identity and loyalty outlined above does not apply. Here, ethnicity, family, politics and religion are all inter-related, and social class has a comparatively minor role in establishing identity. Northern Ireland is a polarized society where most people are torn into, and stay in, one or other of the two communities for the whole of their lives.

On one side of the divide are people whose ancestors came from lowland Scotland or England. They are self-consciously Protestant and want Northern Ireland to remain in the UK. On the other side are people whose ancestors were native Irish. They are self-consciously Catholic and would like Northern Ireland to become part of the Irish Republic.

Although the two communities live side-by-side, their lives are almost entirely segregated. They live in different housing estates, listen to different radio and television programmes, register with different doctors, have prescriptions made up by chemists of their own denominations, march to commemorate different anniversaries and read different newspapers. Their children go to different schools, so that those who go on to university often find themselves mixing with people from the ‘other’ community for the first time in their lives. For the majority who do not go to university, merely talking to somebody from the other community is a rare event.

In this atmosphere, marrying a member of the other community is traditionally regarded with horror, and has sometimes even resulted in the deaths of the Romeos and Juliets concerned (as punishment for the ‘betrayal’ of their people). The extremes of these hard-line attitudes are gradually softening. It should also be noted that they apply to a much lesser extent among the middle-classes. It is illustrative of this that while in football, a mainly working-class sport. Northern Ireland and the Republic have separate teams, in rugby, a more middle-class sport, there is only one team for the whole of Ireland, in which Protestants from the north play alongside Catholics from the south with no sign of disharmony whatsoever.

2. Match the word expressions with their meanings:

1. emotional attachment a. the person’s identification with this

or that faith

2. distinctive b. reason of disagreement

3. to make home c. unfavourable

4. mother-tongue d. the idea of membership of a

particular community, society or

class

5. to imply life long responsibility e. to form; to comprise

6. to make up f. sentimental affection

7. to have nothing to do with g. rigid views

8. to approve of h. peculiar

9. religious affiliations i. to presuppose long- lasting

obligations

10. to result from j. to settle down

11. negative connotation k. to have nothing in common

12. sense of belonging l. to express positive judgements of

something

13. cause of objection m. native language

14. hard-line attitudes n. to originate from

2. Now work out the meaning of the following words:

1. Identity

2. Loyalty

3. Distinctiveness

4. Scottishness; Welshness

2. Now be ready to discuss the questions:

1. How does ethnic identity commonly express itself in Scotland, Wales,

Northern Ireland?

2. How is the family identity reflected in Britain?

3. What is class identity based on?

4. What is interesting about class structure in Britain?

5. How did the word ‘posh’ appear in English language?

What does it mean?

6. Is religious and political identity important in Northern Britain?

7. What communities do the people of Northern Ireland belong to?

8. How does the ethnic, family and political segregation express itself in

Northern Ireland?

8. What factors that create a person’s sense of identity do you consider the

most important?

8. Do the social classes in our country differentiate themselves, in the same

way as they do in Britain? Do language, accent, clothes, money, habits

and attitudes play the same role in our country?

2. Decide which pair of adjectives in the list below best describes the style of the article you’ve read. You may choose other adjectives of your own if you prefer. Give examples to illustrate your choice:

popular and journalistic

fairly literary and polished

exaggerated and dramatic

light-hearted and conversational

serious and reflective

2. Speak on the given topics:

1. Geographical identity

2. Men and women in Britain

3. Being British

4. English Accents and Dialects