The north-south divide

If one looks at living standards and expectations in recent years, they clearly show that the south east, south, south west, East Anglia and the East Midlands tend to do much better than the peripheral areas. Over a century ago, the novelist Mrs Gaskell wrote a book entitled North and South, about a heroine from a soft southern village forced to move to the fictitious county of Darkshire, who confessed 'a detestation for all she had ever heard of the north of England, the manufacturers, the people, the wild and bleak country'. Mutual prejudice between a complacent population in the south and a proud but aggrieved one in the north persists. Precisely where the dividing line between north and south runs is a matter of opinion, but probably few would argue with a line from the Humber across to the Severn Estuary (the border between South Wales and England).

How can such diversities (geographical, cultural, economical, historical) between the two parts of the country be explained? Recollect the economical crisis of the 70s and the regime of Margaret Thatcher.

II. Identity and Stereotypes

1. Brain storming:

What things come to your mind when you think about Britain?

What are the world-known associations?

Can the stereotypes be true/false?

2. PROJECT WORK: Identities and attitudes:

Geographical identity

Family identity

The sense of superiority: being different form the world; how is it manifested in everyday life?

Class division

Conservatism: “real gentlemen and ladies”

Not-showing-off behaviour

Attitude to education and knowledge

Pets and gardens

“my house is my castle”

Attitude to traditions, symbols, holidays, cultural heritage, etc

SOURSES: 1. Britain (the country and its people: an introduction for learners of English), James O’Driscoll, Oxford University Press, chapters 1, 4, 5

Focus on Britain today (cultural studies for the language classroom), Clare Lavery, Prentice Hall Elt, chapter 1, 13 (p. 104)

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