Is London really a representation of British culture?

When we think of the term "British Culture", what is the first thing that comes to our minds? Usually we think about living in London, drinking Tea, being a little posh, celebrating the Queen as well as the Beatles and having a quite sarcastic and unique sense of humor. At least that’s what comes to my mind. But is London really the representation of British culture nowadays?

First of all, there are some aspects to be untangled in order to being able to answer this question.

Is Britain the same as England? 

The term 'Britain' refers not only to England, but also includes Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland which are whole different countries, have whole different cultures and therefore can not be represented in the capital of another country.

But as many people immediately think of England when hearing the term Britain, they may think that London at least represents english culture. But even that is probably not affirmed by most of the english people. We’ll see why.

What is British culture?

To start with, we should identify what british culture really is in order to look for a “capital” where this culture is represented.

British culture is a term which is not that easy to define in a country of countries. Also, cultural differences within the countries have to be considered: While cities tend to be more multicultural, in rural areas tradition may be a more important issue than diversity.

But generally speaking it can be stated that British culture overall is influenced by its important history and in most areas still holds on to many traditions, as the Monarchy. But as we all know, culture is adapting and changing throughout time and is always in motion. Therefore, Britain is very diverse and full of Identities from different backgrounds contributing to the magnificent spectre of its dynamic culture nowadays. It can be said that tradition is still an important part of Britain and contributes to what it is today, but other aspects like literature, music, cinema, art, theater, television and cuisine are highly influenced by other countries like India or the United States. That’s what makes Britain and its culture so unique.

Can a city represent a culture?

When thinking about the capital of for example french culture most people will probably say it's Paris, as well as almost everyone would consider Berlin as the capital of german culture. But isn’t that stated a little hasty? I think not every French and German thinks that the capital is the representation of their culture. And you know how they say that capitals are usually not even the prettiest or most authentic cities of the country.

In general, cities can represent some features of a countries culture, but definitely not the complexity of it. There are some cultural aspects in things like architecture, the way a city is designed or a certain atmosphere which is created by the people of a culture interacting, but one city itself is not capable of representing the complexity and diversity of a culture.

Is London the representation of British culture?

My roommate is from London, so I asked her whether she thinks London is a representation of British culture. The first thing she mentioned was that London is a British stereotype rather than a representation of it’s actual culture. The posh tea houses, the Buckingham Palace, the Big Ben, all that is typical of what others, mostly foreigners think about Britain, therefore it attracts the most tourists. But obviously in every stereotype lies some truth, otherwise it would not have occurred.

As it was said before, it's difficult to pick one particular city to represent the countries culture.

The most important aspect that disproves the possibility to determine London, the capital as a representation of the whole culture are the cultural differences, not only within Britain, but within England itself. The biggest difference in culture in England is the North-South-Divide. An example for that would be Yorkshire, which according to the English is totally different than London. Talking with people from the South of England, they emphasize the differences between Northerners and Southerners, not only in the way of speaking, but also in daily habits like having a meal. One example is that in the North of England a typical "english" habit is to have their main meal on Sundays at lunchtime, while in the South it's the typical "Sunday dinner"

Another fact which differs the capital from the rest of England is that London is much more multicultural than most of the other parts of Britain. It’s rather a mix of cultures contributing to a new unique culture which as a result is only represented in London, but not in other parts of Britain.

To conclude ...

There definitely is some kind of representation in London and because it’s the only side of Britain people really see due to tourism and the media, it is so popular and seen as the British culture. But it’s not the main, and definitely not the only cultural representation of this broad culture.

As a result, London could be stated as a representation of a generalized culture, but due to the diversity within the culture itself it's not appropriate to talk about London as the main representation of British culture. Of course, all british people have some similarities especially from a foreigners point of view, but looking deeper into a culture there are a lot of differences which should not be overlooked in order to understand the culture.

by Laura Siegel (EPD  11)