1111 2 3 4 5 British Civilization 6 7 8 9 10111 1 2 3 4 5 6 British Civilization provides a comprehensive introduction to a wide range 7111 of aspects of contemporary Britain, including its country and people, poli- 8 tics and government, education, the economy, the media, arts and religion. 9 The fifth edition of this highly praised textbook has been comprehensively 20 updated and revised. It includes: 1 2 G a concise chronology of the most significant events in British history 3 G fully revised illustrations to portray contemporary British life. 4 G exercises and questions to stimulate classroom discussion 5 G updated coverage of British politics to include the 2001 general elec- 6 tion and Blair’s second term 7 G new material on devolution and on Wales, Scotland and Ireland more 8 generally 9 G insights into the attitudes of British people today towards important 3011 issues 1 G updated guide to further reading, including key web site addresses to 2 assist research 3 4 John Oakland is Senior Lecturer in English at the Norwegian University of 5 Science and Technology. He is author of Contemporary Britain: A Survey 6 with Texts (Routledge, 2001), A Dictionary of British Institutions 7 (Routledge, 1993) and, with David Mauk, of American Civilization (3rd 8 edition, Routledge, 2002). 9 4011 1 2 3111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4011 1 2 3111 1111 2 3 4 5 British Civilization 6 7 8 9 An introduction 10111 1 2 FIFTH EDITION 3 4 5 6 7 8 I John Oakland 9 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3011 1 2 3 4 5 6 TL E D 7 U G 8 O E R 9 • • T 4011 a p y u lo ro r G 1 & Francis 2 London and New York 3111 First published in 1989 Second edition 1991 Third edition 1995 Fourth edition 1998 Fifth edition published in 2002 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. © 1989, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2002 John Oakland All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data has been applied for ISBN 0-203-36159-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-37416-9 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–415–26149–X (hbk) ISBN 0–415–26150–3 (pbk) 1111 2 3 4 5 Contents 6 7 8 9 10111 1 2 3 4 List of plates ix 5 List of figures xi 6 List of tables xii 7 Preface and acknowledgements xiii 8 Chronology of significant dates in British history xiv 9 20 Introduction 1 1 Exercises 7 2 Further reading 8 3 Websites 8 4 5 1 The country 9 6 7 Geographical identities 10 8 Physical features and climate 11 9 Agriculture, fisheries and forestry 19 3011 Energy resources 22 1 Transport and communications 25 2 Attitudes to the environment 30 3 Exercises 34 4 Further reading 34 5 Websites 34 6 7 2 The people 37 8 Early settlement to AD 1066 38 9 Growth and immigration to the twentieth century 41 4011 Immigration from 1900 45 1 Population movements from 1900 49 2 Attitudes to national, regional and local identities 51 3111 vi Contents 1111 Exercises 56 2 Further reading 56 3 Websites 57 4 5 3 Politics and government 59 6 Political history 60 7 The political framework 65 8 Constitution and monarchy 69 9 UK Parliament: role, legislation and elections 74 10111 The party-political system 81 1 UK government 85 2 UK parliamentary control of government 89 3 Attitudes to politics 90 4 Exercises 91 5 Further reading 92 6 Websites 92 7 8 4 International relations 93 9 Foreign and defence policy 94 20 Empire and Commonwealth 98 1 The European Union (EU) 101 2 Irish Republic and Northern Ireland 106 3 Exercises 110 4 Further reading 111 5 Websites 111 6 7 5 The legal system 113 8 9 Legal history 114 3011 Sources of British law 116 1 The court system in England and Wales 118 2 Civil and criminal proceedings 122 3 Law and order 128 4 The legal profession 132 5 Attitudes to law and order 136 6 Exercises 137 7 Further reading 138 8 Websites 138 9 6 The economy 139 4011 1 Economic history 140 2 The modern economy: policies, structure and performance 141 3111 Social class, the workforce and employment 148 Contents vii Financial institutions 152 1111 Industrial and commercial institutions 157 2 Consumer protection 161 3 Attitudes to the economy 161 4 Exercises 163 5 Further reading 163 6 Websites 164 7 8 7 Social services 165 9 10111 Social services history 167 1 Changing family and demographic structures 169 2 Social Security 171 3 The National Health Service (NHS) 173 4 The personal social services 177 5 Housing 179 6 Attitudes to the social services 185 7 Exercises 186 8 Further reading 186 9 Websites 187 20 1 8 Education 189 2 School history 191 3 The state school system 195 4 The independent (fee-paying) school sector 198 5 School organization and examinations 200 6 Higher education 204 7 Other higher education collaeges 207 8 Further, adult and lifelong education 208 9 Attitudes to education 209 3011 Exercises 210 1 Further reading 211 2 Websites 211 3 4 5 9 The media 213 6 The print media 214 7 The broadcasting media 222 8 Media ownership and freedom of expression 229 9 Attitudes to the media 232 4011 Exercises 233 1 Further reading 234 2 Websites 234 3111 viii Contents 1111 10 Religion 235 2 3 Religious history 236 4 The Christian tradition 240 5 The Roman Catholic Church 245 6 The non-Christian tradition 248 7 Other non-Christian religions 249 8 Co-operation among the churches 252 9 Religion in schools 252 10111 Religious membership and observance 253 1 Attitudes to religion and morality 254 2 Exercises 257 3 Further reading 257 4 Websites 257 5 6 11 Leisure, sports and the arts 259 7 Leisure activities 260 8 Sports 266 9 The arts 271 20 Attitudes to leisure, sports and the arts 276 1 Exercises 277 2 Further reading 278 3 278 4 5 Index 279 6 7 8 9 3011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4011 1 2 3111 1111 2 3 4 5 Plates 6 7 8 9 10111 1 2 3 4 5 6 1.1 Welsh countryside 17 7 1.2 Barley fields in Devon, England 20 8 1.3 The Tate Modern art gallery 23 9 1.4 A London bus 26 20 1.5 Waterloo International railway terminal, London 27 1 1.6 Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant, Windscale 33 2 2.1 Women at work in a McVitie’s food factory 44 3 2.2 A Scottish fling 53 4 2.3 Notting Hill Carnival 55 5 3.1 Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London 67 6 3.2 The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh 68 7 3.3 Houses of Parliament 75 8 3.4 Prime Minister Tony Blair meets with his new cabinet 87 9 4.1 Prime Minister Tony Blair with US President 3011 George W. Bush at the G8 summit in July 2001 96 1 4.2 Prince Charles on walkabout in Saskatchewan, Canada, 2 in April 2001 99 3 4.3 The European Parliament in Brussels 104 4 5.1 Inside a magistrates’ court 119 5 5.2 The Old Bailey, London 120 6 5.3 The Royal Courts of Justice, London 123 7 5.4 British riot police in action in London 132 8 5.5 Outside a barrister’s chambers in Middle Temple, London 134 9 6.1 Textile factory, Inverness, Scotland 145 4011 6.2 Rover car plant, Oxfordshire 149 1 6.3 An open-plan office 151 2 6.4 Lloyd’s of London 155 3111 x Plates 1111 6.5 Canary Wharf, London 156 2 7.1 A hospital nurse 175 3 7.2 A detached house 180 4 7.3 A semi-detached house in Finchley, North London 180 5 7.4 A terrace of houses 181 6 7.5 A council estate in Thamesmead, London 183 7 7.6 Homeless 184 8 8.1 A multi-ethnic class in a primary school 196 9 8.2 Girls in the classroom at Cheltenham Ladies College, 10111 a private school 199 1 8.3 Children in the playground of an inner-city primary school 201 2 8.4 A science class in progress 203 3 8.5 Students walking through the grounds of Hertford College, 4 Oxford 205 5 9.1 Daily Express Newspaper building, Blackfriars, London 217 6 9.2 Newspaper headlines 219 7 9.3 Paparazzi at a royal event 231 8 10.1 Anglican village church, Northamptonshire 241 9 10.2 Westminster Abbey 243 20 10.3 At prayer: Roman Catholic mass 245 1 10.4 Jewish bar mitzvah boy reading out of the Torah 249 2 10.5 Regent’s Park Mosque, Central London 250 3 10.6 A Hindu wedding in Leicester 251 4 11.1 A working men’s club 261 5 11.2 An English pub, Nottingham 264 6 11.3 British holidaymakers in Gran Canaria in the 7 Canary Islands 265 8 11.4 Manchester United fans at a football match between 9 their team and Tottenham Hotspur 267 3011 11.6 A football match: Liverpool versus Tottenham Hotspur 268 1 11.6 Cricket in the city, Kennington estate, London 269 2 11.7 Cricket in the country, Kent 270 3 11.8 People leaving an Odeon cinema 274 4 5 6 7 8 9 4011 1 2 3111 1111 2 3 4 5 Figures 6 7 8 9 10111 1 2 3 4 5 6 1.1 The British-Irish Isles 13 7 1.2 Highland and lowland Britain 15 8 1.3 The British regions and energy sources 24 9 3.1 The political framework 66 20 3.2 The House of Commons 76 1 3.3 From bill to UK Act of Parliament 79 2 4.1 The European Union, 2001 103 3 5.1 Civil and criminal courts in England and Wales 117 4 5.2 A typical magistrates’ court in action 125 5 5.3 A typical crown court in action 126 6 5.4 Criminal procedure 127 7 6.1 Inflation rate, 1960–2001 147 8 6.2 Unemployment rate, 1960–2001 152 9 8.1 The current state school system 197 3011 8.2 The independent school sector 198 1 9.1 The structure of British