Talk:Essex man

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Origin[edit]

What is the origin of the phrase "Essex Man"? I seem to recall it being coined in a feature article in the Daily Telegraph, possibly in advance of the 1992 election. Not that I read the Torygraph, but it became a buzzword very quickly. --rbrwr ˆ 18:52, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I assume it was intended to be a play on terms like Java man and Peking man.
—wwoods 02:22, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I have come across the term "Essex lad". Sounds like the same thing. // Liftarn

Essex boy[edit]

the term 'essex man' is virtually un-used in modern english slang. The term 'essex boy' is far more common and has a different meaning to what the article suggests. For example the typical 'essex boy' has no interest in politics unlike this article suggests. It also misses out some crucial aspects of the 'essex boy' stereotype. For example the infamous love of fast cars and the 'boy racer' image, also the stereotypical view of being cheeky, being a 'ladies man', excessive drinking and drunken violence. There also needs to be a section explaining that this is an unfortunate stereotype and in most cases is simply an untrue portrayal of a county that currently has the lowest crime rate in the UK.

To conclude: the name of the article must be changed and most of its content. OR a new article must be written under the hedding 'essex boy'.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:Jayjay1 (talk • contribs) 10:48, July 22, 2006.

The article should be retained as it was definitely used in the media with the meaning ascribed to it here in this article. "Essex boy", I agree, has a separate meaning and they are two different terms, so perhaps a separate article would be best.--Johnbull 13:40, 22 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The Essex boy description in the first comment is typical of underclass people, and I don't think there is much difference between underclass young men in Essex compared to those in other parts of England. Essex varies a great deal, from large towns to countryside and from poor, underclass-dominated council estates to wealthy suburbs. Its crime rate is significantly lower than average, but not the lowest. Dyfed-Powys has the lowest crime rate in the UK. Jim Michael (talk) 00:13, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Similar to Reagan Democrats?[edit]

Is this really the case? "Essex man" these days seems to be mainly a cultural term referring to stereotypes of people from Essex, rather than a political term. (I can't recall hearing the term used much if at all to refer to, say, Andrew Rosindell's electoral successes.) There was talk about the phenomenon in 1992 (Basildon was seen as the symbolic seat in that year's general election) but it felt more like discussing an existing well defined group in society. "Working class Conservatives" seems to be used far more as an equivalent for RDs. Timrollpickering 09:38, 21 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The difference is "working class conservatives" have always existed and have a meaning far beyond the current, whereas the "Essex man" describes a group who experienced social change (owning property, decline of skilled manual labour market) and changed their political allegiance. Andrew Rosindell's appeal has little to do with this effect. He appeals to the far right and is able to absorb votes that would otherwise go to the BNP.

I do think the article needs a copyedit to describe the circumstances that caused the effect and its impact. I'll give it a go. MRSC 07:23, 27 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think they are similar to Reagan Democrats because the RD were white working-class voters who traditionally voted Democrat but switched to Republican because they favoured tax cuts and Reagan's robust foreign policy and felt alienated by the contemporary Democrat party. "Essex man" is used to describe almost exactly the same phenomenon: white working-class traditional Labour voters who switched to Thatcher's Conservative party over tax and council houses and a feeling that Labour had moved to the "loony left". The difference with "working class Conservative" is that previous w/c support was seen by political scientists as being based on deference—that is, that the upper-classes were best fit to govern, whilst "Essex man" has more to do with economic improvement.--Johnbull 19:11, 27 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What does it mean?[edit]

The opening paragraph of this article says:

Essex man is a political term and stereotype popular in the United Kingdom. The term came to prominence during the 1990s to explain, in part, the electoral successes of Margaret Thatcher in the previous decade. The term went on to have wider cultural significance and become the subject of parody.

But what does "Essex man" actually mean? Tim Pierce (talk) 15:27, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Essex man vs Mondeo man[edit]

The section on Blair's Sedgefield anecdote doesn't even hint at the much more obvious reason why the car analogy is preferable for a national party political campaign: Sedgefield and Essex are approximately 240 miles apart. To put the shoe on the other foot, does anyone think an Essex resident would care a hoot about a political campaign by Blair centred around "Sedgefield man" or "County Durham man"? 31.185.45.187 (talk) 20:37, 23 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]