ABSTRACT
The historical context of Marenbon's pamphlet English Our English, published by the Tory think-tank the Centre for Policy Studies, is important to an understanding of its aims and arguments. The piece is best seen as a contribution to the new-right thinking on language and education which emerged in the 1980s. The historical situation is significant since it was a period of crisis across a number of related spheres with the cultural and political being the most important for our concerns. Over a wide range of practices the new right has sought to extend its influence by attacking the post-war consensus and attempting to foster new forms of activity and belief. Throughout this process language has been significant in two ways. First, at the level of vocabulary crucial changes have been wrought. One example of this has been the wrenching of the word 'community' from the political left. Formerly a word which suggested, at least in one sense, forms of social relationship which were not those organised by the state, it has now shifted its meaning. Over the past decade or so it has been used frequently precisely in order to refer to practices of the state which have required a favourable gloss. Instances of such use are: 'release into the community' (for mental patients); 'care in the community' (for the old and sick); 'community service' (for young offenders); and even 'the community charge' (otherwise known as the poll tax). The other way in which language has been used by the new right is once again in the fostering of forms of social and cultural identity by referring to particular forms of the language. This is, as can be noted in the extracts collected in this book, not just a return to Victorian values, but also an attempt to return to those of the eighteenth century.
