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Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by: Kate Fox |
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Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 301 EAN: 9780340818855 ISBN: 0340818859 Label: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd Number Of Pages: 424 Publication Date: April 26, 2004 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd Studio: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd Sales Rank: 246988 Related Items:
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Editorial Review: Daily Express: Simply a small masterpiece. Mark our words, Miss Fox is the next big thing Times Literary Supplement: Kate Fox consistently reveals us to ourselves. She is meticulous, illuminating and very funny indeed Daily Telegraph: She has the most extraordinary facility for extracting information without seeming to pry. New Statesman: 'Wry...accessible...anthropologically revealing. Readers...will sink comfortably into Fox's world.' Book Description: How does THE NAKED APE behave when he's dressed? The quirks and habits of the English laid bare. Synopsis: In Watching The English anthropologist Kate Fox takes a revealing look at the quirks and habits of the English people. From the most famous national traits through to the most bizarre reflex reactions, she holds a mirror up to the English national character and finds a complex tribe, riddled with unspoken rules and unique codes of behaviour. Watching The English covers drinking, eating, shopping, driving, flirting, fighting, apologising and many more - all the things that make up a country world-renowned for its quirkiness. Through a mixture of anthropological analysis, observation and her own unusual experiments, Kate Fox shows how the peculiar idea of 'Englishness' has shaped itself over the years. Watching The English is written with an insider's knowledge but from an outsider's perspective. Combining anthropology with a dry wit and a writer's eye for detail, the behaviour of the English will never look the same again. About the Author: Kate Fox, a social anthropologist, is co-Director of the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, where she has worked on a number of projects with Desmond Morris and Peter North. Her work has included research, publications and broadcasts on many aspects of human behaviour including social aspects of drinking, flirting, body image, pub behaviour, gossip and violence. She is also a respected international consultant on the prevention and management of violence. She is frequently in the media as a commentator on numerous aspects of social anthropology. Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Accurate but poor presentationI think this is the most accurate book on English culture that I have read for a while. The main draw-back is the small dense font and academic style of the book. For non-natives I think this book would be too daunting to tackle. Rating: - Fox gets 'Margaret Mead' award from gothsThis can be a helpful book for foreigners living in the UK who struggle with simple things like getting served in pubs because the etiquette here is often subtly different. Kate Fox does a good job at explaining the how and why of all that. In places Watching the English is brilliantly insightful, but most of the points are laboured. I feel the book ought to have been about 1/3 as long. It is very funny in places, but by far the funniest is that the author was 'Margaret Mead'-ed by the goths she spoke to. They cleverly told her hilarious rubbish ("You have to grow your hair long when you're a goth - people know you haven't been a goth very long if you have short hair"!), she believed it was an accurate portrayal of ... Read More: Rating:  - Understanding ourselvesI recommend this book to anyone coming to England who wants to understand the locals and their strange behaviour. This book is a treasure. before I went to live in Africa I studied some social anthropology and how to prepare for culture shock. Here is the social anthropology of the English. It is acutely observed, fascinating and funny. I shall not forget the ironic gnome, the social differences in front and back gardens, how we apologise when others are in the wrong or the place we never queue. Most of us are seen as social climbers but the real upper and lower classes know their places and are secure in them. Rating:  - UnbearableI have never been compelled to review anything before, but this really is utter dross and people need to be warned to steer clear of it, unless perhaps you enjoy a spot of casual bigotry, Daily Mail reading or similar activities. A hideous mish-mash of 'pop anthropology' and aspiration to genuine academia is best summarised by a footnote which refers to a paper that the author herself wrote, which in the context of a supposed light read seems rather pretentious, except don't worry: 'the paper is 'alot less pompous than the title makes it sound'. Well thanks for that little disclaimer, I would now rush out and find it, were I not already totally convinced of your pomposity thanks to reading the rest of Watching the English. The book ... Read More: Rating: - Fantastic - incredibly observant view of the englishIn Watching the English, Kate Fox (an anthropologist) describes her detailed research into the behaviour of the english, using clear rules as a basis for living and seemingly making everything fit. Her research includes walking into people in the train station (and finding that they apologise to her), jumping queues to get a reaction, making conversation in pubs, and a lot of analysis on class distinction. I found the book fantastic to read, easy to follow, and at times very accurate. I found myself coming across certain "observations" which were either true or myself or of people I know. I didn't necessarily agree with all the observations (notably about class separation) but regardless of that I found it to be an excellent read. ... Read More: |
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