It is not uncommon to hear, if you are in favour of more PSHE education for teenage boys, that highlighting incel culture, and the dangers of the far-right, risks demonising white working-class boys. Sam Fender argued this point in an interview in February, arguing that discussing white privilege can push young working-class men into the arms of Andrew Tate.
It’s undeniable that class is not taken into account as much as it needs to be when discussing issues of inequality and privilege. However, within the statement cautioning us from pushing working-class boys into the arms of Tate, is the underlying belief that, if you are from a working class background, you are more disposed to believe these bigoted views, which is untrue.
I went to a grammar school where the vast majority of students were middle-class, and whilst my year group was largely too old to be roped in by Tate, I do remember hearing teachers saying that the younger years were absolutely obsessed with him. You do not have to be working class or white to be wooed by Tate’s brand of misogyny.
What we see with claims that white working-class boys are inherently more receptive to this sort of messaging is classist in it of itself, and is part of a broader belief in our culture that the drivers of bigoted and xenophobic movements – which Tate has dipped his toes into – are fat, bald football hooligans from council estates in Essex.
In actual fact, these movements are driven by those from the most elite positions in our society. From Winchester College educated aristocrat, Oswald Mosley, to Dulwich College educated, Nigel Farage, we can see those that promote hate are often at the highest echelons of our society, not the lowest.
“Andrew Tate on ‘Anything Goes With James English’ in 2021” by Anything Goes With James English is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
