Thinking across domains: Class, nation and racism in England and Britain

As Aughey comments in his paper in this issue, there was, until relatively recently, an assumption in UK political life that ‘class and distribution’ politics were ‘normal’ and ‘nationalist’ politics abnormal. Only Northern Ireland had nationalist politics grounded in religious and ethnic identities, and directed towards different views of nation and statehood. This was, so to speak, a deviation. We may now have to accept that the politics of ‘nation’ and ‘nationhood’ are here to stay in the UK – even if we cannot be sure how much questions of devolution and independence trouble the general public in any or all constituent parts of the UK. One way in which we might address this question is to address both concepts – class and nation – simultaneously and in relation to each other, alongside the closely related questions of the ‘ethnic majority’ and ‘whiteness’. This has been the task that we set ourselves in the seminar and papers that laid the foundation for this special issue. It is not entirely clear that in, for example, Scotland and England, the politics of nation have replaced the politics of class and distribution. There are some reasons for thinking that this is not altogether the case. One such reason is that the most developed devolved politics – in Scotland – have not been notably ‘nationalistic’ in the sense of a primary cultural or ethnic valorisation of the nation, even though there is recognition and celebration of a distinctive Scottish cultural tradition. But as long as the Scottish National Party styles itself as a progressive and ‘civic’ party that lays claim to having a better view of a future self-governing Scotland than could be found by continued dependence on Westminster governance, then it remains a non-ethnic national party. Some of the political questions on which it has distinguished itself from Westminster are indeed ‘class and distributive’ ones, including care for the elderly and student tuition fees. At the same time the effect on politics in England is not wholly clear. There are press references to these Ethnicities 12(4) 385–393 ! The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1468796812448016 etn.sagepub.com