Class in Britain

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Cannadine's concern is to explain how generations of Britons have perceived their society and their place within it. He suggests that class may best be understood as a shorthand term for three different but abiding ways in which the British have visualised their social worlds and social identities: class as a seamless hierarchy of individual social relations; class as 'upper', 'middle' and 'lower'; and class as 'us' versus 'them'. Across the last three centuries, the resonance and appeal of these three different ways of viewing British society has ebbed and flowed. Class in Britain is a fascinating and powerful account of why this has been the case. In discussing how we see ourselves and how we see the society to which we belong, Cannadine lays particular emphasis on the role of politicians in shaping social identities in a modern democratic world.