A chav stereotype, with a Burberry cap and bling.

Chav, ( /ˈtʃæv/ CHAV, also CHAVER) is a pejorative epithet commonly used, chiefly in the United Kingdom, to belittle.^[1] The term indicates a derogatory stereotype created in the British mass media to refer to working class youth subculture in England.^[2] The fashion is derived from American Hip hop. Those so termed tend to have a dislike of Goths and Emos as well as other 'alternative' subcultures.^[3]

Etymology[link]

The term has its origins in the Romani word chavi, meaning "child"^[4] (or "chavo", meaning "boy",^[5] or "chavvy", meaning "youth"^[6][7]). The derivative chavette has been used to refer to females.^[8] The adjectives "chavish" and "chavtastic" have been used in relation to items designed for or suitable for use by chavs.^[9]

The word in its current pejorative usage is recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary as first published in a Usenet forum in 1998 and first use in a newspaper in 2002.^[10]

Stereotype[link]

The stereotype of a Chav includes wearing branded designer sportswear.^[11] Stereotypical attire might be accompanied by some form of gold jewelery otherwise termed 'bling'.^[12]

In a case where a teenage woman was barred from her own home under the terms of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order in 2005, some British national newspapers branded her "the real-life Vicky Pollard" with Daily Star running headlines reading "Good riddance to chav scum: real life Vicky Pollard evicted". ^[13] A 2006 survey by YouGov suggested 70% of TV industry professionals believed that Vicky Pollard was an accurate reflection of white working class youth.^[10] Also in 2006 Prince William of Wales, future King of England and his younger brother Prince Harry had dressed up as Chavs resulting in headlines in The Sun naming him 'Future Bling of England'. The article stated "William has a great sense of humour and went to a lot of trouble thinking up what to wear."^[12]

One former Police Officer who worked at the City of London Police as a Special Constable in 2004 and later another Force as a paid full time officer in the United Kingdom ^[14] published a book in 2010 entitled 'Stab Proof Scarecrows' that stated Chav was an abbreviation for 'Council Housed and Violent',^[15] however this is a backronym.^[7]

The Guardian in 2011 identified issues stemming from the use of the terms "hoodies" and "chav" within the mass media which had to led to age discrimination as a result of mass media created stereotypes .^[2]

Characterisation in the media[link]

Response to the stereotype has ranged from amusement to criticism that it is a new manifestation of classism.^[16]

By 2004, the word was used in national newspapers and common parlance in the UK. Susie Dent's Larpers and Shroomers: The Language Report, published by the Oxford University Press, designated it as the "word of the year"^[17] in 2004.^[18]

The Welsh rap group, Goldie Lookin Chain, have been described as both embodying and satirising the "chav" aesthetic, though the group themselves deny any such agenda, simply making a mockery of the subject.^[19]

In the BBC TV series Doctor Who, Episode New Earth, 15 April 2006, the character Lady Cassandra is transplanted into Rose Tyler's body (Billie Piper). When Cassandra sees herself in a mirror, she exclaims "Oh my God...I'm a chav!".^[20]

Characters described as "chavs" have occurred in a number of British television programmes. The character, clothing, attitude and musical interests of Lauren Cooper and her friends in the BBC comedy series The Catherine Tate Show have been associated with the chav stereotype.^[21] The comedy series Little Britain features a character with some similarities, Vicky Pollard.^[22]

In the British television series Misfits, the character of Kelly Bailey is presented as a stereotypical "chav".^[23] Lauren Socha, the actress who portrays Kelly, has described the character as being "a bit chavvy".^[24] The Times has referred to the character as "[a] chavvish girl",^[25] and the character has been said to possess a "chav accent".^[26]

Commercial effect[link]

Burberry claimed in 2007 that the widespread fashion in the UK of wearing its brand of Check was being supplied by counterfeit versions of the clothing and that Britain accounted for less than 10% of the brands sales^[27] In response to the rise in popularity of the Burberry brand Christopher Bailey, who has responsible for the company’s overall image including all advertising, corporate art direction, store design and visuals as well as the design of all Burberry collections and product lines said in 2008 'I'm proud we had such a democratic appeal' ^[28]

The large supermarket chain Asda has attempted to trademark the word "chav" for a new line of confectionery. A spokeswoman said: "With slogans from characters in shows such as Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show providing us with more and more contemporary slang, our Whatever sweets – now nicknamed chav hearts – have become very popular with kids and grown-ups alike. We thought we needed to give them some respect and have decided to trademark our sweets."^[29]

Criticism of the stereotype[link]

Graffiti art with a self-deprecating theme "Chav City"

A BBC TV documentary suggested that "chav" culture is an evolution of previous working-class youth subcultures associated with particular commercial clothing styles, such as mods, skinheads and casuals.^[30]

The widespread use of the "chav" stereotype has come in for some criticism.^[31] Some argue^[32] that it amounts to simple snobbery and élitism.^[16] Critics of the term have argued that its users are "neo-snobs",^[33] and that its increasing popularity raises questions about how British society deals with social mobility and class.^[34] In a February 2005 article in The Times, Julie Burchill argued that use of the word is a form of "social racism", and that such "sneering" reveals more about the shortcomings of the "chav-haters" than those of their supposed victims.^[35] The writer John Harris argued along similar lines in a 2007 article in The Guardian.^[36]

The Fabian Society have stated that the term is deeply offensive and that it is "sneering and patronising" to a largely voiceless group. The term has been defined by tabloid headlines. It is language used to belittle. On describing those who use the term the society stated "we all know their old serviette/napkin, lounge/living room, settee/sofa tricks. But this is something new. This is middle class hatred of the white working class, pure and simple." The Fabian Society have been highly critical of the BBC in using the term in broadcasts.^[34][1] The term was reported in The Guardian in 2011 as 'class abuse by people asserting superiority'.^[37]

A Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords on the Equality and Human Rights Commission Meral Hussein-Ece, Baroness Hussein-Ece in 2011 tweeted: "Help. Trapped in a queue in chav land. Woman behind me explaining latest EastEnders plot to mate while eating largest bun I've ever seen." The Baroness responded to the criticism of her tweet by stating she had not meant it in a derogatory manner.^[37]

The rapper Ben Drew otherwise known as Plan B made a public statement on his website in March 2012 to oppose the use the word 'chav', describing the term "a derogatory phrase no different to the ones concerning race or sex". Speaking on BBC Radio 1Xtra he said "When you attack someone for the way they talk, the way they dress, the music they listen to or their lack of education and you do it publicly you make them alienated".^[38]

See also[link]

• Folk devil
• Scallie
• Hooligan
• NEET
• Social structure of Britain

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Keith Hayward and Majid Yar (2006). "The "chav" phenomenon: Consumption, media and the construction of a new underclass". Crime, Media, Culture 2 (1): 9–28. DOI:10.1177/1741659006061708. 
• Jones, Owen (2011) Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class ISBN 978-1844676965

Articles[link]

• Larcombe, Duncan (2006-04-10). "Future bling of England". The Sun Online (London). http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006160428,00.html. Retrieved 2007-03-06. 
• Ward, David (2004-10-09). "Get hip to Chav as this year's wizard word". The Guardian (London: Guardian Unlimited). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1330487,00.html. Retrieved 2007-03-06. 
• Jackson, Melissa (2005-01-10). "Music to deter yobs by". BBC News Magazine (bbc.co.uk). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4154711.stm. Retrieved 2007-03-06. 
• "End Of 'Hooligan' Cap". Sky News. 2004-09-10. http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13218423,00.html. Retrieved 2007-03-06. 
• Lewis, Jemima (2004-02-01). "In defence of snobbery". London: Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3602136/In-defence-of-snobbery.html. Retrieved 2007-03-06. 
• Harris, John (2007-03-06). "So now we've finally got our very own 'white trash'". The Guardian (London: Guardian Unlimited). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2027432,00.html. Retrieved 2007-03-06. 
• Wheeler, Brian (2005-06-30). "Leave chavs alone, say MPs". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4077626.stm. 
• Patrick, Guy (2007-05-24). "Chav a merry Xmas, Roo". The Sun (London). http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005570777,00.html. 
• Davis, Johnny (2006-04-15). "Lady Sovereign: The country's fourth biggest chav". London: The Independent. http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article357152.ece. 
• Byrnes, Sholto (2005-09-11). "Say cheese! Camilla and the Queen of Chav enjoy two right royal weddings". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/say-cheese-camilla-and-the-queen-of-chav-enjoy-two-right-royal-weddings-506400.html. 
• Smith, Alison (2005-06-14). "Media student 'expert on chavs'". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4091478.stm. 
• McVeigh, Karen (19 October 2004). "Doff your caps to the chavs ...they're THE word of 2004". Scotsman.com. Archived from the original on 2008-01-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20080107084710/http://news.scotsman.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=2573225. Retrieved 2009-09-21. (retrieved at WayBack Machine)
• Price, Simon (11 April 2004). "Faux peasants, a faux fascist and five to watch out for...". London: independent.co.uk. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/goldie-lookin-chain-bierkeller-bristol-vincent-gallo-royal-festival-hall-london-the-departure-333-club-london-559734.html. Retrieved 2009-09-20. 
• Liddle, Rod (October 22, 2006). "Regrets, they’ve had a few – mainly over not having more sex – Give God His share, Dawkins". London: The Sunday Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article608970.ece. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
• Pearlman, Natasha (2006-10-06). "The Chav Rich List". London: Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=409087&in_page_id=1773. Retrieved 2010-02-21. 
• Tweedie, Neil (2004-12-13). "Cheltenham ladies and the chavs". London: Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/3347913/Cheltenham-ladies-and-the-chavs.html. 
• Tweedie, Neil (2005-08-10). "Don't be a plank. Read this and get really clueful". London: The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1495888/Dont-be-a-plank.-Read-this-and-get-really-clueful.html. Retrieved 2006-09-02. 
• Kwintner, Adrian (13 September 2006). "Burberry drives tuk-tuk off road". Brighton & Hove Argus. http://www.theargus.co.uk/search/display.var.915225.0.burberry_drives_tuktuk_off_road.php. Retrieved 18 September 2006. 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chavs

• Tweedie, Neil (2005-10-12). "Check out the height of ferret fashion. Burberry has". London: The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1500438/Check-out-the-height-of-ferret-fashion.-Burberry-has.html. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
• "The £16m woman takes on Burberry". London: The Times. 2005-10-16. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9065-1827255,00.html. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
• "'Asbo' and 'chav' make dictionary". BBC News. 2005-06-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4074760.stm. Retrieved 2006-09-02. 

Video[link]

• Plan B. Youth, music and London at TEDxObserver.

Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Kyle at Radio Festival 2010
Born	(1965-07-07) 7 July 1965 (age 46) Reading, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Other names	Jezza
Education	University of Surrey
Occupation	Broadcaster
Years active	1996–present
Employer	ITV
Known for	The Jeremy Kyle Show
Spouse	Kirsty Rowley (m. 1989–1991) «start: (1989)–end+1: (1992)»"Marriage: Kirsty Rowley to Jeremy Kyle" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jeremy_Kyle) (divorced) Carla Germaine (m. 2003) «start: (2003)»"Marriage: Carla Germaine to Jeremy Kyle" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Jeremy_Kyle)
Children	3 daughters, 1 son

Jeremy Kyle (born 7 July 1965)^[1] is an English radio and television presenter, best known for his British daytime television chat show on ITV, The Jeremy Kyle Show. Kyle is also the host of an American talk show of the same name which premiered on 19 September 2011.

Radio career[link]

From 1986-95, Kyle worked as a salesman for life insurance, recruitment, and radio advertising.^[2] He then became a radio presenter and after a brief stint at Orchard FM in Taunton and Leicester Sound in Leicester, he was signed by Kent's Invicta FM in 1996. In 1997, he joined BRMB in Birmingham, presenting the shows Late & Live and Jezza's Jukebox.^[3][4]

In 2000, Kyle moved to the Century FM network, taking this format with him. The show was called Jezza's Confessions. It was broadcast between 9pm and 1am. He won a Sony Award for Late & Live in 2001.^[2] On 1 July 2002, he made his first broadcast on Virgin Radio, presenting Jezza's Virgin Confessions every weekday from 8pm to midnight. In mid-2003, he broadcast the show from 9pm to 1am every weekday, and in January 2004 the show went out from 10pm to 1am, Sunday to Thursday. He left Virgin Radio in June 2004. From 5 September 2004, Kyle presented the Confessions show on London's Capital FM. The new programme aired Sunday to Thursday from 10pm to 1am with live calls on relationship issues of all kinds. Capital Confessions came to an end on 22 December 2005 to make way for The Jeremy Kyle Show, a similar show which ran from January 2006 to December 2006.

In late 2007, Kyle began a new show (The Jeremy Kyle Show), broadcasting across Gcap Media's One Network, of which Orchard FM, Invicta FM and BRMB, his previous employers, are a part. The programme differed from his previous shows in that he interviewed celebrities. Kyle also began broadcasting a new programme, on Essex FM, in November 2007.

Kyle joined Talksport on 21 September 2008 to present a lunchtime sports show every Sunday called The Jeremy Kyle Sunday Sports Show.

As a result of Talksport's Premiership coverage on a Sunday, Kyle's show was cancelled, and he left the station.^[5]

TV career[link]

In 2005 Kyle moved his format to ITV, with a programme also entitled The Jeremy Kyle Show. Here Kyle has reached his widest audience to date. His often aggressive manner with guests has been the source of both popularity and criticism. He is seemingly unafraid of reprisal from his guests, believing that speaking his mind is better than holding his peace. Guests sometimes take offence at Kyle's comments, one guest even attempting to throw a chair at him, whilst another threw an envelope at the back of his head, but he often justifies his criticism by claiming that he only wants to help them. Kyle recently claimed on air that his show was watched by 1.8 million viewers, a very high figure for a daytime chat show.

In September 2007, Judge Alan Berg described The Jeremy Kyle Show as trash which existed to "titillate bored members of the public with nothing better to do". He went on to say "It seems to me that the purpose of this show is to affect a morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people whose lives are in turmoil" and added that it was "human bear-baiting".^[6] The judge so characterised it "after [a] husband was provoked into headbutting [his] wife's lover in front of [Kyle's] studio audience".^[7]

In February 2008, The Jeremy Kyle Show was again criticised in court after a man who found out during the recording of a show that he was not the father of his wife's baby later pointed an air rifle at her.^[8]

Other shows Kyle is involved with include Kyle's Academy, a ten-part series for ITV1 daytime which first aired on 18 June 2007.^[8] A team of experts (so-called life coaches and psychotherapists), headed by Kyle take five people and work with them over an intensive fortnight to help them on the road to a happier more fulfilled life. Kyle has also presented Half Ton Hospital, a show about morbidly obese people in the United States. In December 2009 he played himself in ITV1's comedy-drama The Fattest Man in Britain.

On 19 April 2011, Kyle began presenting a new documentary series called Military Driving School, where he visited the Defence School Of Transport in Yorkshire, following a group of new recruits as they undergo training as front line military drivers. He is the presenter of the ITV1 show High Stakes, which began on 11 October 2011. Billed as a game of "knowledge, risk, and tension," the show involves participants answering questions and stepping on the correct six squares on a grid in order to avoid trap numbers.^[9]

Writing career[link]

Kyle writes a column for Pick Me Up, a women's weekly magazine published by IPC.^[10] In his column, titled Jeremy Kyle Says..., Kyle adopts a frank style in responding to readers' problems that closely resembles the approach he takes on The Jeremy Kyle Show.

In 2009 Kyle wrote his first book, 'I'm Only Being Honest', about Britain's social problems and his views on how to solve them including recounts of his past and personal life.^[11]

Personal life[link]

Kyle was born in Reading, Berkshire.^[1] His father was an accountant and personal secretary to the Queen Mother.^[12] He attended the independent Reading Blue Coat School in Sonning, Berkshire^[2] and studied history and sociology at the University of Surrey.^[13]

He met his first wife, Kirsty Rowley, in 1988, when he was a recruitment consultant in an agency in Bristol.^[14] They became a couple within a fortnight, and were engaged within two months. They married in Almondsbury near Bristol seven months later, in July 1989. Their daughter, Harriet, was born in June 1990. The marriage ended just five months after the birth, in November 1990. His ex-wife has since claimed that Kyle had carefully concealed a destructive and expensive gambling habit from her over the course of their marriage.^[14]

He met former model Carla Germaine in 1999, while he was presenting on a BRMB radio show, and Germaine entered the controversial Two Strangers and a Wedding contest hosted by the station.^[15]

As the winner of the bride part of the contest, her prize was to marry the selected groom, Greg Cordell. Their marriage lasted only three months, after claims that Greg had an affair just days after their honeymoon, and she subsequently married Kyle in 2002.^[15][16][17] They have two daughters and a son together.

Kyle is a supporter of West Ham United.^[18] He suffers from obsessive–compulsive disorder and has stated that he "licks his mobile phone to make sure it's clean", as stated in his book "I'm Only Being Honest".^[19]

Kyle has described his opinion on "Broken Britain":

I think it starts with the breakdown of the family unit. Society should invest more in our kids. There should be community centres and youth clubs. And our benefits system – it's the greatest in the modern world. But there are loopholes and people taking advantage.^[12]

In October 2010, Kyle appeared at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. He chaired "Getting Britain Back To Work" alongside George Osborne.^[20]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Jeremy Kyle Show at itv.com