Did the class system hold Britain back, eventually costing her the title of world leader?
Probably not – although it grieves me as a working class Brit to say so. In some ways, the class system encouraged Britain to become a world power. Its upper class men were educated (at least in Victorian England) to be leaders. Further, because of the system of primogeniture (meaning the eldest son inherited everything) meant there were many younger sons trained to lead who ran the colonies – often with very little back up. Britain lost its pre-eminence fighting two World Wars – the second almost single handed for two years – which meant it was heavily financially indebted to the Americans. After the war, it is true that those running British industry failed to realise the need to modernise and up date (even if the money had been available) which meant that its goods became less and less attractive. However, perhaps this was inevitable. With the rise of consumerism it was much cheaper for the Americans to innovate with their enormous home market which was available to Britain. The que
