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Watching the English:  The Hidden Rules of  English Behaviour

by Kate Fox

Hodder & Stoughton $260

Social researcher Kate Fox has watched the English with great enthusiasm, but has become entangled along the way. A book that should be interesting has turned out pretty dry. Without doubt an ambitious undertaking, part  of the book's problem is  that it doesn't know whether to be for boffins or coffee tables.

Anyone expecting an in-depth breakdown  of why or how character traits form will be disappointed. Certainly the book seems to start off this way, tackling the subject of 'weather talk' and identifying it as an inoffensive icebreaker rather than the sign of a weather-obsessed bunch of bores. But much of the analysis wanes, as the root intent becomes harder to establish. The book is full of familiar observations. If it succeeds in doing anything, it's in bringing all these stereotypes together. What it actually adds to the field of behavioural science is far less clear.

Endlessly self-referential, the author never wastes an opportunity to take credit for the most negligible insight. Fox's offbeat personality has clearly been pushed to the fore by the publishers to negate the otherwise academic tone of the subject. Unfortunately, a little too much.

This is not to say Fox doesn't have something worth telling. The book analyses and discusses all forms of English behaviour, from the etiquette  and table manners  male/female relations  and  the role of alcohol  in the English psyche.

Fox can pique the interest. The use of broadsheet newspapers on the underground as a barrier signal, and the idea that if an Englishman isn't religious he regards himself as 'C of E', are  amusing and telling observations.

Sometimes, however, even the author's general assertions are questionable. 'It is often said that English waiters and other service staff are surly, lazy and incompetent,' she writes.    Says who? The poor standards of GPs in Britain and the carelessness of its bus drivers may be beyond contest, but you  rarely hear waiters singled out for abuse.

Fox sums up:  'I'm sorry, but I don't really know why the English are the way we are. I can pronounce the English to be a bit autistic or agoraphobic (or bi-polar for that matter), or just socially challenged  without knowing the causes of these disorders. Psychiatrists do it all the time, so I don't see why self-appointed national ethno-shrinks should not have the same privilege.'

And there it is. The book, having set itself  up as a rigorous study, based on something approaching a clinical methodology, time and again says, 'oops, not sure, really'.

Fox is clearly fascinated with her work, the minutiae of behaviour, and the subject brims with possibilities.  There are sure to be people who'll go through this book laughing at quirks they recognise, but others are likely to find it  as interesting as talking about the weather.



Watching the English:  The Hidden Rules of  English Behaviour