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Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by: Kate Fox List Price: £8.99 City Travel Guides Price: £6.29 You Save: £2.70 (30%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 301 EAN: 9780340818862 ISBN: 0340818867 Label: Hodder & Stoughton Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton Number Of Pages: 432 Publication Date: April 11, 2005 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Studio: Hodder & Stoughton Sales Rank: 542 Related Items:
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Editorial Review: The Times: ‘Amusing . . . entertaining.' Review: ‘She has not only compiled a comprehensive list of English qualities, she has examined them in depth and wondered how we came to acquire them. Her book is a delightful read.’ (The Sunday Times ) ‘I loved the section on mobile-phone etiquette. Shrewd . . . I liked the chapter on English humour. This is an entertaining, clever book. Do read it and then pass it on.’ (Daily Telegraph ) ‘Amusing . . . entertaining.’ (The Times ) ‘Watching the English . . . will make you laugh out loud (“Oh God. I do that!”) and cringe simultaneously (“Oh God. I do that as well.”). This is a hilarious book which just shows us for what we are . . . beautifully-observed. It is a wonderful read for both the English and those who look at us and wonder why we do what we do. Now they’ll know.’ (Birmingham Post ) ‘Fascinating reading.’ (Oxford Times ) 'An absolutely brilliant examination of English culture and how foreigners take as complete mystery the things we take for granted.' (Jennifer Saunders, The Times ) 'If you like this kind of anthropology (and I do) there is a wealth of it to enjoy in this book. Her observations are acute...fortunately she doesn't write like an anthropologist but like an English woman -with amusement, not solemnity, able to laugh at herself as well as us.' (Daily Mail ) Jennifer Saunders, The Times: 'An absolutely brilliant examination of English culture and how foreigners take as complete mystery the things we take for granted.' New Statesman: 'Wry...accessible...anthropologically revealing. Readers...will sink comfortably into Fox's world.' Product Description: In WATCHING THE ENGLISH anthropologist Kate Fox takes a revealing look at the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people. She puts the English national character under her anthropological microscope, and finds a strange and fascinating culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and byzantine codes of behaviour. The rules of weather-speak. The ironic-gnome rule. The reflex apology rule. The paranoid-pantomime rule. Class indicators and class anxiety tests. The money-talk taboo and many more . . . Through a mixture of anthropological analysis and her own unorthodox experiments (using herself as a reluctant guinea-pig), Kate Fox discovers what these unwritten behaviour codes tell us about Englishness. Synopsis: In "Watching The English" anthropologist Kate Fox takes a revealing look at the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people. She puts the English national character under her anthropological microscope, and finds a strange and fascinating culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and byzantine codes of behaviour. The rules of weather-speak. The ironic-gnome rule. The reflex apology rule. The paranoid-pantomime rule. Class indicators and class anxiety tests. The money-talk taboo and many more ...Through a mixture of anthropological analysis and her own unorthodox experiments (using herself as a reluctant guinea-pig), Kate Fox discovers what these unwritten behaviour codes tell us about Englishness. About the Author: Kate Fox, a social anthropologist, is Co-Director of the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford. Her work involves monitoring and assessing global sociocultural trends, and has included research, publications and broadcasts on many aspects of human behaviour including: social aspects of drinking, sex differences, flirting, body image, pub culture, gossip, eating, health issues, taboos, horseracing, mobile phones, email, stress, drugs, crime, violence and disorder. 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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