Essex man (also known as
Mondeo Man) is a
stereotypicalA stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups, or types of individuals.The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups, based on some prior...
figure which was popularised in 1990s
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. "Essex man" as a political figure is an example of a type of
median voterThe median voter theory, also known as the median voter theorem and the median voter model, is a famous voting model positing that in a majority election, if voter policy preferences can be represented as a point along a single dimension, if all voters vote deterministically for the politician that...
and was used to help explain the electoral successes of
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
in the previous decade. A consumer of luxury goods and products, "Essex man" and his tastes are often parodied. He may be considered a somewhat coarser and more down-market version of the American "
yuppieYuppie is a 1980s and early 1990s term for financially secure, upper-middle class young people in their 20s and early 30s...
."
Although the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
is sometimes considered the "natural choice" for the
working classWorking class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in lower tier jobs as measured by skill, education, and compensation....
, there has traditionally been a group within that class who have voted
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
, who are distinct from the "Essex man" phenomenon.
After
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, there was considerable social change in south-east England.
Essex man (also known as
Mondeo Man) is a
stereotypicalA stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups, or types of individuals.The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups, based on some prior...
figure which was popularised in 1990s
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. "Essex man" as a political figure is an example of a type of
median voterThe median voter theory, also known as the median voter theorem and the median voter model, is a famous voting model positing that in a majority election, if voter policy preferences can be represented as a point along a single dimension, if all voters vote deterministically for the politician that...
and was used to help explain the electoral successes of
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
in the previous decade. A consumer of luxury goods and products, "Essex man" and his tastes are often parodied. He may be considered a somewhat coarser and more down-market version of the American "
yuppieYuppie is a 1980s and early 1990s term for financially secure, upper-middle class young people in their 20s and early 30s...
."
Background
Although the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
is sometimes considered the "natural choice" for the
working classWorking class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in lower tier jobs as measured by skill, education, and compensation....
, there has traditionally been a group within that class who have voted
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
, who are distinct from the "Essex man" phenomenon.
After
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, there was considerable social change in south-east England. Working class families were encouraged to leave the war-damaged slums in
inner LondonInner London is the name for the group of London boroughs which form the interior part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. The area was first officially defined in 1965 and for purposes such as statistics, the definition has changed over time. The terms Inner London and Central...
and move to newly-built council-owned properties in the
suburbSuburbs are defined in various different ways around the world. They can be the residential areas of a large city, or separate residential communities within commuting distance of a city. Some suburbs have a degree of political autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city...
s and "
new townA new town, planned community or planned city is a city, town, or community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion.Navi Mumbai, a planned city near Indian city...
s" in the
home countiesThe "Home counties" refers to the counties that border or surround London, England but not including the United Kingdom's capital city itself. There is no exact definition of the term and the composition of the 'home counties' is sometimes a matter of debate....
, including
BasildonBasildon is a town located in the Basildon District of the county of Essex, England.It lies east of central London and south of the county town of Chelmsford...
and
HarlowHarlow is a former new town and now a borough town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley. The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt...
in
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
.
With the decline of manufacture and skilled manual work in the 1980s, this group increasingly looked to
middle classThe middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema. In Weberian socio-economic terms they are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the...
professions for employment or became self-employed. Their children enjoyed housing,
educationEducation in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual...
and employment opportunities far removed from the experiences of their parents.
Thatcherism
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post....
's policies from 1979 to 1990 included lower taxation, control of inflation and sale of council housing stock at subsidised prices. These policies (in particular, the
right to buy schemeThe Right to buy scheme is a policy in the United Kingdom which gives tenants of council housing the right to buy the home they are living in. Currently there is also a right to acquire for the tenants of housing associations...
) are thought to have caused many people who had traditionally voted Labour to switch their allegiance in the
1979The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 and is regarded as a pivotal point in 20th century British politics. The Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher defeated James Callaghan's incumbent Labour government in what would prove to be the first of four consecutive general...
,
1983The 1983 UK general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945.The opposition vote split almost evenly between the SDP/Liberal Alliance and Labour...
and
1987 electionsThe United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987 and was the third consecutive victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher...
.
Owing to the similarities between the politics of Thatcher's Britain and
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
's America, the contemporary term "
Reagan DemocratReagan Democrat is an American political term used by political analysts to denote traditionally Democratic voters, especially white working-class Northerners, who defected from their party to support Republican President Ronald Reagan in both the 1980 and 1984 elections. It is also used to refer...
" is roughly analogous to "Essex man".
In culture
The
Oxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language...
(OED) lists the earliest reference to the Essex man as one from 7 October 1990 in the (conservative)
Sunday TelegraphThe Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately, with a different editorial staff....
, although this unmistakable reference is found months earlier in the 26 January 1990 issue of
Campaign: "Representative
[David AmessDavid Anthony Andrew Amess is a British politician. He is the current Conservative Member of Parliament for Southend West.-Early life:...
] of new Essex man, working-class, father electrician, right-wing, keen hanger, noisily rambunctious, no subtlety". Portraits of Essex man include
Harry EnfieldHenry "Harry" Richard Enfield is a BAFTA winning British comedian, actor and writer, as well as working small-time as a director.- Early life :...
's
Loadsamoney; alternative names include
Mondeo man (based on company car ownership).
See also
- Basildon constituency
Basildon is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
- Essex girl
"Essex girl" is a pejorative term used in the United Kingdom, to imply someone is a stereotypically promiscuous, blonde, unintelligent woman from Essex. It was widely used, gaining popularity during the 1980s and 1990s. One reason for the origin of the term may be Essex's geographical proximity to...
- Worcester woman
"Worcester woman" is a political term used by polling companies in the United Kingdom. It profiles or describes a type of median voter, a white collar professional who worries about quality of life issues....
- Reagan Democrat
Reagan Democrat is an American political term used by political analysts to denote traditionally Democratic voters, especially white working-class Northerners, who defected from their party to support Republican President Ronald Reagan in both the 1980 and 1984 elections. It is also used to refer...