THE WEEK

Are you an Anywhere – or a Somewhere? David Goodhart, the former editor of Prospect magazine, thinks that old distinctions of class and economic interest in Britain are “increasingly overlaid” by a larger one; between people who see the world from Anywhere, and people who see it from Somewhere. Anywheres now dominate our culture, says Goodhart in a new book. They tend to do well at school, move to a residential university, and then to a career in the professions that might take them to London or abroad for a bit. “Such people have portable, ‘achieved’ identities, based on educational and career success”, and they’re generally comfortable with new places and people. Somewheres are more rooted and “usually have ‘ascribed’ identities – Scottish farmer, workingclass Geordie, Cornish housewife – based on group belonging and particular places”.

Anywheres, says Goodhart, “have counted for too much in the past 25 years” – and populism, in its many shapes and forms, has arisen “as a counterbalance to their dominance throughout the developed world”. The Anywhere ideology – or “progressive individualism” – places a high value on autonomy, mobility and novelty, and much less on tradition and “national social contracts” (faith, flag and family). Of course, few of us belong completely to either group. Goodhart moves mainly in Anywhere circles, but often feels an outsider when the talk turns to politics.

Jolyon Connell I know just what he means, which probably makes me a Somewhere at heart.