THE CONCEPT OF «ENGLISHNESS» AS A COMPONENT OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Abstract

The article analyzes the concept of Englishness in the scientific studies of foreign and domestic researchers. Englishness is defined as a component of national identity. The concept of Englishness is studied from different approaches. At the social level, the intellectuals are responsible for the forms of Englishness embodiment, as they organize society in a ’modern’ way. The ethno-cultural approach forms the first ideas about the nature of the national, which are defined as primordial, so the organicist approach to the problems of the national forms the idea that the nation and national identity are phenomena given to the people “by nature”, they depend on the existence of the nation-state. The concept of national identity thus becomes the main component of the ethno-cultural approach. The modernist approach was developed in the mid-twentieth century. It emphasizes the political nature of the national, asserts that nations arise under certain social conditions and disappear over time, the era of nation-states is over, and changes in historical conditions lead to the transformation of nation-states into a cosmopolitan common state. The 80s and 90s of the twentieth century saw the emergence of the postmodern concept of the national, which, unlike the politically-centered approach of the previous theory, is culture-centered, and the nation is interpreted as an “invented” or “imaginary” concept. At the same time, it is not the desire to create a holistic concept of the nation that is important, but the study of various forms of marginalization and hybridization that characterize the modern “post-national” era. National communities are characterized by the following features: they engage in joint activities, which consist of interpreting differences, forming borders, searching for traditions, creating communities, and constructing interests. “Englishness” is separated from the concept of nationalism; its study touches upon the socio-cultural sphere; this type of research examines the peculiarities of national behavior and way of thinking.