Imprint
- Hodder & Stoughton
- Hodder & Stoughton
- Hodder & Stoughton
Prose: non-fiction, Social & cultural history, Cultural studies, Popular culture
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Imprint
Hodder & Stoughton
- Paperback Dec 9, 2014 | 9781444785203 | RRP $27.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 22, 2020 | 9781529349757 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 24, 2014 | 9781444785197 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00 -
Imprint
Hodder & Stoughton
- Paperback Dec 9, 2014 | 9781444785203 | RRP $27.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 22, 2020 | 9781529349757 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 24, 2014 | 9781444785197 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00 -
Imprint
Hodder & Stoughton
- Paperback Dec 9, 2014 | 9781444785203 | RRP $27.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 22, 2020 | 9781529349757 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 24, 2014 | 9781444785197 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00
'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.
More books by Kate Fox
Praise for Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour
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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
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An absolutely brilliant examination of English culture and how foreigners take as complete mystery the things we take for granted. - The Times
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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
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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
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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
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Brilliant and hilarious
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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
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She is the only popular UK anthropologist of substance since the 1970s.
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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
Kate Fox
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. She is also a bestselling author of popular social science.
Her work involves monitoring and assessing global sociocultural trends, and has included research, publications, lectures, consultancy work and broadcasts on many aspects of human behaviour, including: drinking, risk-taking, beauty and body image, flirting and courtship, crying, patriotism, pub behaviour and pub culture, horseracing, social class, mobile phones, the internet, online social media, menopausal women, cars and driving, gossip, taboos, violence and disorder, attitudes to work, coming of age in the 21st century, motherhood, shopping, individualism, the effects of health scares, the psychology of smell and the meaning of chips.
Her most recent book is the major popular bestseller Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour. This book has sold over half a million copies, and is translated into many languages including Chinese, Russian, Polish, Korean and Thai.
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, etc. 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. She is frequently quoted in the Press and interviewed on radio and television. Kate has also been a regular columnist for Psychologies magazine.
Kate is married to the neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, CBE.
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