The decline of the mining industry and the debate about Britishness of the 1990s and early 2000s

• Published in: Contemporary British history Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 121 - 141
• Main Author: Ebke, Almuth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis Ltd 02.01.2018
• Subjects: Coal; Coal industry; Discourse; Discourse analysis; Labor parties; Mining industry; Narration; Narratives; National identity; Political attitudes; Politics; Popular culture; Renewal; Social change; Social reality; Thatcherism
• ISSN: 1361-9462; 1743-7997
• DOI: 10.1080/13619462.2017.1408542

This article examines in what sense the decline of the coal industry contributed to the emergence of a debate about the genesis, shape und future of 'Britishness' in the 1990s and early 2000s. Taking a discourse-analytical approach, it argues that the decline of the coal industry contributed to bringing about the debate in two ways: firstly, by feeding into popular narratives of national decline and renewal, it helped to provide the debate's intellectual background. Secondly, the political cleavages of the 1980s and 1990s between Old Labour, Thatcherism and New Labour elevated the coal industry to a contested symbol for a way of life and a political orientation. These differing interpretations, in return, were associated with a particularly British social reality, a self-conception of the British nation that was embedded in the London-centric political and cultural discourse. Changes to this self-narration required an explanation, which various contributions to the discussion of 'Britishness' in politics and popular culture sought to provide in the 1990s and early 2000s.