Colley therefore may have been partly correct in arguing that an identity of Britishness was superimposed upon the people (though not necessarily for the reasons Colley states). However, even though the British public were largely responsible for developing the empireÊs ÂprogressÊ, it can be argued that they were doing so subconsciously and it was really only the upper classes and the government
who were aware of it. Whilst as Bernard Porter acknowledges, it is not possible to completely refute arguments that the British people were conscious imperialists, the evidence suggests that a large number of British people were indeed absent minded imperialists.
Bibliography
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism , London: Verso Books, 2006 Colley, Linda. Britons: Forging the Nation , Yale: Yale University Press, 2009 Hall, Catherine. Civilizing Subjects: Metropolis and Colony in the English Imagination Cambridge: Polity Press, 2002 Mackenzie, J. M. ÂIntroduction.Ê, in: J.M. Mackenzie. Imperialism and popular culture , Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1986, pp. 1-16. Porter, Bernard. The Absent-Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society, and Culture in Britain , Oxford: OUP, 2006 Stoddert Brian. Sport, Cultural Imperialism and the Colonial Response in the British Empire, in: Comparative Studies in Society and History Vol. 30, No. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 649-673
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