'Chav': The emergence of a new Identity by James K. Walker
Continued...
taught in schools and it was generally presumed they would want to
assimilate into British culture. However widespread discrimination
in housing and employment and anxieties about their presence rendered
this an uneasy transition which took many forms, notably the Nottingham
race riots of 1958 and later in Enoch Powell's infamous 'rivers of
blood' speech (1968). Various forms of anti-discrimination legislation
and restrictive immigration policies by successive governments addressed
these fears.
Slowly, as second and third generations were born, a more culturally
diverse and plural society emerged which began to recognise and respect
difference and just as importantly similarity. This came to be understood
through a variety of liberal terms: multiracial, multi-ethnic, multicultural
etc. The emerging vocabulary, at various times, has created 'crises'
of both hegemony and national identity:
To call Britain multicultural…was to imply that whites were
just one group among many, that they did not enjoy a historically
or politically privileged status, that the ethnic minorities were
central to British identity. (Parekh, 1997:176)
This as we know from history has taken its most antagonistic form
in the Thatcher years which to briefly summarise assumed that for
a society to have unity its members must share a national culture
and common customs, myths, ceremonies, and symbols which help to
reproduce this specific identity rather than the more amenable common
values and concerns. As Britain has developed a more accommodative
multiculturalism in which appropriate adjustments and provisions
are made for minority cultural needs, residual racist ideologies
have become more subdued. Typically this has involved legislative
procedures such as positive discrimination, making such prejudices
harder to maintain when placed in face to face interaction.
Ignoring the simplicity of my historical account I believe these
processes have had two effects. Firstly middle class white people
have become cautious of pointing out negative elements of minority
cultures through fear of being labelled racist and secondly it has
led to a retrospective nostalgia for an imaginary homogenous national
identity such as John Major's lamenting of 'warm beer', 'cricket
lawns' and friendly neighbourhoods. It is for this reason that I
believe the chav has suddenly received so much attention as this
'type' acts as an interface through which these harboured anxieties
can be played. By criticising 'white trash' and the values which
this 'type' stands for allows for an inverted attack on multiculturalism.
The 'bitches, guns, ho's and homophobia' of 50 cents lyrics, the
hooded tops which conceal faces and allow 'criminals' to go unseen
are largely elements drawn from black ghetto culture which is criticised
as such. Similarly 'named and shamed' chav celebrities such as Brian
Harvey are criticised for over embracing black culture ('R and B'),
the suggestion is that they have forgotten who they 'really' are
and instead have taken on the false identity
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