(This blog was written with the assistance of ChatGPT. This
tool can assist authors who are already aware of the conceptual content they
want to write about, but lack the time and financial resources to be able to
produce a finished article. The intentions of the author are provided through a
series of prompts that guide the machine. The machine then draws upon its
extensive training literature to build the article based on a process of
pattern-matching. These new technologies enable white working class males a
means of constructing their own identities through writing blogs and publishing
them on social media platforms.)
Introduction
If nothing else, the current Trump presidency has shifted
the media spotlight onto white working-class male identities in the Anglo-Saxon
English speaking world. In England, this identity has undergone significant
transformation over the past two centuries, shaped by the tides of
industrialization, deindustrialization, class politics, cultural shifts, and
more recently, globalisation and identity politics.
However, the white working-class male identity in England has never
been static, it reflects the changing economic roles, political allegiances,
family structures, and cultural values of the nation throughout history. This blog will argue that the identity is not simply the product of
industrialisation or economic conditions. Rather, it emerges from a deep
historical sediment, layered with ideals, values, and social roles inherited
from England’s foundational cultural and legal institutions.
Arguably then, the evolution of this identity can be better
understood through three core historical pillars: Anglo-Saxon common law, which
emphasized local autonomy, kinship, and justice; Norman chivalry, which
introduced ideals of duty, loyalty, and martial honour; and the Protestant work
ethic, which stressed industriousness, thrift, and moral uprightness.
Anglo-Saxon Common Law: Roots of Localism and Communal
Masculinity (AD450 to 1066)
Before the Norman Conquest in 1066, Anglo-Saxon England was
governed not by centralised monarchic power, but by a system of customary law
deeply embedded in local communities. Common law during this period was
unwritten, customary, and based on collective decision-making in local courts
(hundred courts and moot courts), where free men – often the heads of
households or kin groups – took part in resolving disputes.
This participatory legal structure shaped early ideas of
male responsibility and honour. The white male subject was expected to defend
the community, uphold justice, and be accountable to peers. Honour was public;
shame and compensation were communal matters. Kinship and loyalty to the
"folk" (people) held primacy over allegiance to distant authority.
Though modern working-class life is far removed from these
early forms, the cultural memory of local autonomy, fairness, and mutual
responsibility has echoed through generations. In industrial and
post-industrial contexts, this translated into the solidarity of the workplace,
unionism, and a deep suspicion of elite interference or imposed authority. The
idea that a "real man" is someone who stands by his mates, speaks plainly,
and defends what’s right has roots in these ancient legal and moral codes.
Norman Chivalry: Honour, Service, and Hierarchical
Masculinity (1066 to 1517)
The Norman Conquest brought a dramatic shift: centralised
monarchy, feudal hierarchy, and a new warrior aristocracy. While chivalry as an
ethos initially belonged to knights and nobles, its core values – duty,
courage, loyalty, and honour – eventually permeated the broader culture,
influencing ideals of masculinity across the social spectrum.
For the working classes, particularly those in rural or
martial labour (e.g., yeomen, soldiers, sailors), chivalric masculinity
filtered down as a moral framework. A man was measured not only by his
strength, but by his loyalty to family, community, and crown. In service and
subordination, there was honour; this carried through to the militarised
identities of many working-class men who served in England’s various wars.
During the industrial era, a version of this chivalric ethic
re-emerged: the "respectable working man" who worked hard, provided
for his family, and remained loyal to his class and country. The soldier-worker
image – valorised especially during and after World Wars – echoed the medieval
knight’s sense of duty and sacrifice, albeit in radically different material
conditions.
Moreover, paternal authority, a hallmark of feudal and
chivalric culture, shaped domestic expectations. Working-class fathers often
saw themselves as protectors and moral guides of their households, with
strength and self-discipline held in high regard. This has fed into modern
cultural ideals of the "strong but silent" working-class man.
The Protestant Work Ethic: Industry, Morality, and Masculine
Self-Control (1517 to 1760)
The Protestant Reformation, particularly in its Calvinist
and Puritan variants, revolutionised English moral thought. The
"Protestant work ethic", as famously described by sociologist Max
Weber, promoted hard work, thrift, discipline, and moral rectitude as signs of
both religious virtue and social value. In England, particularly from the 17th
century onward, this ethic fused with capitalist development and laid the
foundation for modern labour ideals.
Although originally a bourgeois ideal, this ethic became
deeply embedded in working-class culture by the 19th century. As
industrialisation expanded, the working-class male was expected to be sober,
punctual, industrious, and morally upright. Respectability was not just about
economic survival but also about proving one's worth in a stratified society.
The Protestant ethic also discouraged idleness, emotional
expression, and hedonism – traits which were associated with failure or vice.
These ideals contributed to a gendered culture in which the male role was
defined by labour, discipline, and emotional restraint. Public emotion was seen
as weakness; dignity was found in endurance.
Even when working-class men deviated from this ethic –
through drinking, gambling, or rebellion – these acts often took on symbolic
meaning as resistance to an oppressive moral order. Still, the underlying
pressure to "be a man" by working hard and enduring hardship remained
a key element of identity.
Industrial Roots of the Working Class Identity (1760 to
1914)
The archetype of the white working-class male emerged during
the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. As England
industrialised, men from rural areas moved to urban centres like Manchester,
Birmingham, and Sheffield to work in factories, mines, docks, and steelworks.
Labour was physically demanding, dangerous, and often poorly paid, but it was a
cornerstone of masculinity: strength, endurance, and stoicism became defining
traits of male identity.
Work was central not only to economic survival but to social
identity. The man was typically the sole breadwinner, while women were
relegated to the domestic sphere. Class solidarity grew out of shared hardship
and unionised labour, and a sense of pride in skilled manual work was
prevalent. Politically, many working-class men aligned with the Labour movement
and trade unions, seeing themselves as part of a broader class struggle.
Wartime Masculinity and National Service (1914 to 1945)
World War I and II significantly shaped working-class
masculinity. Millions of men were conscripted, and military service reinforced
ideals of bravery, sacrifice, and nationalism. Returning soldiers were often
idealised as heroes, though many returned to poverty, unemployment, and trauma.
The post-WWI period saw the rise of the Labour Party as a political force,
supported heavily by the working-class vote, particularly after the
Representation of the People Act 1918 granted voting rights to many more working-class
men.
In this period, the white working-class male identity was
firmly linked to notions of duty, hard work, and national pride. National
Service, compulsory until 1960, further institutionalised these ideals for
post-war generations.
Post-War Consensus and Cultural Stability (1945 to 1967)
The period after World War II saw the rise of the welfare
state and an improved standard of living for much of the working class. Mass
council housing, nationalised industries, and the NHS contributed to a sense of
collective progress. Employment in heavy industry and manufacturing was still
dominant, and jobs were relatively stable.
The white working-class male in this era retained
traditional masculine traits: he was often the provider, physically tough, and
rooted in local community life, especially through the pub, football, and
family. Trade unions were powerful, and union membership was a source of pride
and identity. Popular culture – from "kitchen sink" dramas to music
halls and early rock-and-roll – often depicted or celebrated working-class
life.
Deindustrialisation and Identity Crisis (1967 to 1994)
The 'Summer of Love' in 1967, the economic shocks of the
1970s, followed by Margaret Thatcher's neoliberal policies in the 1980s, marked
a series of turning points. The closure of coal mines, steelworks, shipyards,
and other traditional industries devastated many working-class communities,
particularly in the North and Midlands. Unemployment soared, and long-standing
social structures began to collapse.
For many white working-class men, this period represented
not just economic decline but a profound identity crisis. With the erosion of
manufacturing jobs came the loss of pride, purpose, and community. The trade
union movement, once a bastion of collective masculinity, was significantly
weakened after events like the 1984–85 miners' strike. Traditional notions of
masculinity – built on labour, loyalty, and resilience – began to appear
outdated or under threat.
This period also saw the rise of new working-class
subcultures – skinheads, mods, punks – often as expressions of frustration,
resistance, or cultural displacement. In some cases, working-class men were
drawn to far-right politics or nationalist ideologies, partly in response to
perceived threats from Soviet Communism, radical feminism, homosexuality,
immigration and multiculturalism.
Cultural Marginalisation and Political Alienation (1994 to
2016)
By the 1990s and early 2000s, the white working-class male
was increasingly portrayed in the media as "left behind" or
culturally obsolete. With the decline of blue-collar work and the rise of the
service economy, many men found themselves in insecure, low-paid jobs, if
employed at all. Their traditional role as provider was undermined by economic
restructuring and shifts in gender roles.
Culturally, white working-class men became the subject of
satire, criticism, or moral panic – typified in the "lad culture" of
the 1990s or the "chav" stereotype of the 2000s. Films like
Trainspotting, The Full Monty, and Billy Elliot explored themes of masculinity,
unemployment, and social change. At the same time, many working-class
communities felt politically abandoned, particularly from 1994 to 2010 by New
Labour, which increasingly focused on middle-class voters and liberal
cosmopolitan values.
The result was a growing sense of political alienation and
cultural invisibility. Traditional institutions like unions, working men's
clubs, and local industries no longer provided the collective spaces where
identity was formed and reinforced.
Resurgence, Resentment, and Populism (2016 to Present)
In recent years, the white working-class male identity has
been invoked in political debates surrounding Brexit, immigration, and
nationalism. The 2016 Brexit vote, in which many working-class constituencies
voted Leave, was widely interpreted as a revolt by "left behind"
communities against metropolitan elites, austerity, and cultural
marginalisation.
This group has often been positioned – rightly or wrongly –
as hostile to progressive values, especially around race, gender, and sexual
identity. Some white working-class men have responded with resentment toward
perceived double standards in diversity and inclusion policies, feeling that
their grievances are overlooked or vilified.
At the same time, others have sought new expressions of
masculinity – whether through involvement in mental health movements, community
projects, or adapting to non-traditional work in care or service sectors.
Popular media has diversified representations of working-class masculinity,
showing greater emotional depth, vulnerability, and complexity – as seen in TV
shows like This Is England, Shameless, or Top Boy.
Summary and Conclusions
Today, the white working-class male identity in England
exists in tension: caught between nostalgia for lost certainties and the
pressures of a rapidly changing world. Economic precarity, educational
disadvantage, and declining life expectancy in some regions reflect ongoing
structural challenges. Simultaneously, conversations around masculinity are
evolving, with increasing scrutiny on mental health, gender roles, and toxic
behaviours.
In the 20th century, especially after the Second World War,
white working-class men could still find purpose through labour, family, and
national service – all structured by inherited ideas of honour, duty, and effort.
But with deindustrialisation in the late 20th century, the economic foundations
of male identity collapsed. Work no longer provided meaning, discipline gave
way to precarity, and traditional forms of authority (the union, the army, the
church, the family) declined in influence.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union there has been a growing
recognition of internal diversity within the working class. Not all white
working-class men share the same values or experiences; identities are shaped
by regional, generational, and personal factors. The old model of the strong,
silent, industrial breadwinner is giving way to more plural and fluid
understandings of what it means to be a working-class man in 21st-century
England.
The result has been a crisis of continuity. With no clear
economic role and diminishing cultural status, many working-class men have
found themselves cut off from historical identities that once grounded them.
Yet echoes of those traditions remain: in notions of fair play, in attachment
to localism and nationhood, in emotional restraint, in honour cultures, and in
the persistent belief that "a man’s worth is proven through work."
For example, the revival of right-wing populist parties across
Europe – particularly visible in Brexit politics in England – shows how
residual elements of Anglo-Saxon local justice (anti-elite sentiment),
chivalric loyalty (national pride), and Protestant morality (emphasis on
responsibility and effort) have continued to inform the way many white
working-class men understand themselves and their place in the world.
Thus, while these value systems may have adapted to changing
economic conditions, they have not disappeared. They continue to shape
expectations around work, duty, loyalty, emotional expression, and fairness.
Understanding this history is essential not only to explaining the present, but
to imagining inclusive and constructive paths forward for those whose
identities have been forged in the fires of both tradition and transformation.
These values are not just there to guide white working-class males, they are
there for all the people who choose to be guided by them.
While the current identity is often portrayed in narrow or
reductive terms – as reactive, stagnant, or obsolete - especially by outsiders,
a deeper historical view reveals a more complex and layered story. The ideals
shaping white working-class masculinity in England draw from long and
persistent cultural lineage - and what this lineage has drawn from, it has
shown it can learn from, and in many ways go on to replace.
As England continues to navigate questions of economic
inequality, political representation, and demographic conflict, among a
spectrum of identities, the evolution of our moral values remains central to
understanding the nation's past, present, and future. The pragmatic adaptation
of traditional values to current contingencies is at the foundational of a new
ideology and a new self-confidence; this should ultimately lead to a plethora
of new identities that are constructed for and by the English people.
Let’s us pray that these are less constrained by the
traditional hierarchies and surface tensions of race, gender and class than
they have been in the past!