Watching the English
The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour
Published on 23. October 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
592 pages
978-1-4447-8520-3 (ISBN)
Description
'Brilliant and hilarious' GRAYSON PERRY
'Absolutely brilliant' JENNIFER SAUNDERS, THE TIMES
'A delightful read' SUNDAY TIMES
'An entertaining, clever book' TELEGRAPH
The international bestseller and unofficial guidebook to the English national character by anthropologist Kate Fox.
Have you ever been unable to explain the idiosyncrasies of English humour, bizarre mobile-phone etiquette, or the endless obsession with class? In this classic bestselling book, social anthropologist Kate Fox puts a nation under a microscope. The result is a biting, affectionate, insightful and often hilarious look at the English in all our glory.
Based on extensive field-research, experiments and observations, Fox deciphers a strange and fascinating culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and bizarre codes of behaviour. She uncovers the roots of English self-mockery and demystifies peculiar cultural features such as 'weather-speak', class anxiety tests, the paranoid pantomime rule and the apology reflex. If you're English, this book will help you understand yourself and your fellow countrymen in a new way. And if you aren't English, you'll finally understand why we talk about the weather so much.
A worldwide bestseller, translated into multiple languages, and a set text for university anthropology courses, Watching the English is a timeless classic on the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people.
'Absolutely brilliant' JENNIFER SAUNDERS, THE TIMES
'A delightful read' SUNDAY TIMES
'An entertaining, clever book' TELEGRAPH
The international bestseller and unofficial guidebook to the English national character by anthropologist Kate Fox.
Have you ever been unable to explain the idiosyncrasies of English humour, bizarre mobile-phone etiquette, or the endless obsession with class? In this classic bestselling book, social anthropologist Kate Fox puts a nation under a microscope. The result is a biting, affectionate, insightful and often hilarious look at the English in all our glory.
Based on extensive field-research, experiments and observations, Fox deciphers a strange and fascinating culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and bizarre codes of behaviour. She uncovers the roots of English self-mockery and demystifies peculiar cultural features such as 'weather-speak', class anxiety tests, the paranoid pantomime rule and the apology reflex. If you're English, this book will help you understand yourself and your fellow countrymen in a new way. And if you aren't English, you'll finally understand why we talk about the weather so much.
A worldwide bestseller, translated into multiple languages, and a set text for university anthropology courses, Watching the English is a timeless classic on the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people.
Reviews / Votes
An absolutely brilliant examination of English culture and how foreigners take as complete mystery the things we take for granted. * The Times * 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. * 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. * Telegraph * Kate Fox's brilliant idea is to treat the British as another tribe...where she's particularly astute is in examining the exact pattern of cliches. Any study of the English must cover our class obsession, and Fox deals with the subject thoroughly. * Harry Mount, author of How England Made the English * 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 * Brilliant and hilarious I read it cover to cover in a few days . . . very sharp and witty prose. It really is funny - the sort of humour that makes you laugh out loud on your own! * Vice * She is the only popular UK anthropologist of substance since the 1970s. She's a witty and eloquent writer whose accessible book reads as a scholarly classification of our shared codes of behaviour and an affectionate homage to our foibles. * Metro * It is consistently the most popular text I teach, not only because it's a hilarious page-turner but also because Fox offers truly insightful glimpses into what a sophisticated anthropological mindset can reveal about human cultural life . . . Watching the English embodies the anthropological credo of making the strange familiar and the familiar strange. An absolutely brilliant examination of English culture and how foreigners take as complete mystery the things we take for granted. -- Jennifer Saunders * The Times * 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. * 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. * Telegraph * 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 * Brilliant and hilarious -- Grayson Perry I read it cover to cover in a few days . . . very sharp and witty prose. It really is funny - the sort of humour that makes you laugh out loud on your own! -- Martin Parr * Vice * She is the only popular UK anthropologist of substance since the 1970s. -- Jeremy MacClancy, Professor of Anthropology, Oxford Brookes University She's a witty and eloquent writer whose accessible book reads as a scholarly classification of our shared codes of behaviour and an affectionate homage to our foibles. * Metro * It is consistently the most popular text I teach, not only because it's a hilarious page-turner but also because Fox offers truly insightful glimpses into what a sophisticated anthropological mindset can reveal about human cultural life . . . Watching the English embodies the anthropological credo of making the strange familiar and the familiar strange. -- Bianca Dahl, Professor of Anthropology, University of TorontoMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 148 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
402 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4447-8520-3 (9781444785203)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
04/2025
Hodder & Stoughton
€16.50
Available immediately
Person
Kate Fox, a social anthropologist, is Co-Director of the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford and a Fellow of the Institute for Cultural Research. Kate's other books include The Racing Tribe: Watching the Horsewatchers and Drinking and Public Disorder (co-author with Dr Peter Marsh). Kate is regularly invited to speak at the major literary festivals, as well as guest lectures and seminars at universities, institutes, embassies, trade and professional conferences in the UK and overseas. She gave the Christmas Lecture at the Royal Geographical Society, and won a debate against Boris Johnson for Intelligence Squared, among other high-profile engagements. Kate has also been a regular columnist for Psychologies magazine. Kate is married to the neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, CBE.