1) What is the characteristic of the social classification of British people?
Social classes in Britain can be divided in three different groups: the working class, the middle-class, and high-class people. There are clear differences among the people from these groups which range from daily habits, the food they eat, topics of conversation, pastimes, sports, to values and demeanor.
However, the one factor that actually brings these social classes apart is accent. The high-class people's accent is called Received Pronunciation and is considered to be the standard accent of the UK. The lower classes use a varying number of regional non-standard accents.
2) Which of the two houses is the most important? What's the difference between the American Congress and the British Parliament?
Since 1911 the House of Commons holds more power than the House of Lords. The Lords lost its power due to a king's retaliation against them when they rejected a bill about financial matters that wasn't meant to be their job (traditionally the Commons were in charge of bills regarding financial matters). Therefore the king let it be known that the members of the House of Lords either agreed to a bill which would limit their powers or else the king would appoint hundreds of new members to vote for their bills. The Lords preferred to have their powers limited rather than to have hundreds of new peers to deal with. That's how the Lords relinquished its power.
As for the differences between the British Parliament and the American Congress, what I've noticed from the notes is that:
From the year 43 to 410 the Romans occupied Britannia. They left very little infrastructure behind, but they did exert an enduring influence over a big part of the Celt population (later called Britons) which may be what triggered the emergence of two distinct branches of the Celtic languages.
Then it came the Germanic invasions, which lasted a lot much longer. The first one was carried out in the fifth century by the Angles and the Saxons, and the south-east of the country was soon part of their kingdom. By the end of the sixth century their way of life predominated in nearly all of present-day England, especially in the countryside where they had a greater influence. Another Germanic invasion was executed in the eighth century by invaders from Scandinavia known as Vikings, and via armed conflict the north and east of the country was all they were able to conquer.
In the year 1066 the Normans invaded and became the rulers of England. When the Norman soldiers settled down they founded a hierarchy-based feudal system coming all the way down from the peasants (which here the English speaking Saxons), the Normandy French-speaking lords, the great nobles, to the almighty king. In terms of the politics, in the next 250 years after the invasion the Anglo-Norman kingdom extended to parts of Ireland and to the entire territory of Wales. Only Scotland did manage to remain independent but was occasionally forced to fight for it. At the level of culture though, it was the language of the Anglo-Saxons (English) and not French the one that prevailed.
4) What's the importance of religion in the UK?
With the obvious exception of Northern Ireland, most of The United Kingdom is nowadays very open and unprejudiced toward religion. Although between 40 to 60% of British people believe in God, there's absolute freedom to profess disbelief in God or in any religion.
Furthermore, in spite of fact that most British believe in god, they don't actually commit their daily lives to practicing their beliefs the church way. By this I mean that a very small minority attend mass regularly and most of them have only gone to religious services a few times in their lives. Half don't even know what Easter celebrates, and on the top of all that a survey in 2006 states that 80% of the British think that religion does more harm than good.
Finally, religion doesn't even have implications in people's sense of identity. As I said above they're for the most part indifferent of who you support or what you worship. Not even in a proposal of marriage or friendship does religion have in important role.
5) What are the two types of British newspapers? Explain the main characteristics
6) What is the open university?
This is about distance education. When the open university started in 1969 its courses were taught through television, radio and especially written material. These days, of course, it uses the internet. Students send their work to tutors and attend some courses in the summer.
7) What american consumers like?
Americans are particularly fond of comfort, cleanliness, novelty and convenience.
It's believed that their love for comfort has to do with the hardships they had to go through during the tough frontier times. Perhaps the pioneers thought they'd had enough of a tough lifestyle and at some point they wanted their lives to be easier.
Cleanliness might come from the Puritans, a Protestant church group whose members stressed the need to cleanse the body of dirt and of all evil tendencies. The saying "cleanliness is next to godliness" reflects how Americans feel about having not only their bodies clean, but also their clothes, their houses, their cars, and even their pets.
Novelty might come from their pride in their inventiveness. They like to see changes in cars, clothing, and products for the home. Advertisements encourage people to get rid of old stuff, and replace them with new things, regardless of whether the old stuff still works or not.
Finally, convenience is what makes them purchase labor-saving devices such as dishwashers, food processors, microwave ovens, etc. Their desire for convenience also created the concept of fast-food, the take-out services and even prepacked food ready to cook.
8) Who is Alexis de Tocqueville?
Alexis de Tocqueville was a French historian who was especially drawn to the American democracy, society, idiosyncrasy, etc. He went to the United States in 1831 and wrote a remarkable book called Democracy in America, which is a classic study of the American way of life. He described not only the democratic system of government and how it operated, but also its effect on how Americans think, feel and act.
9) Which are the degrees obtained in the universities of USA and Britain
Since 1911 the House of Commons holds more power than the House of Lords. The Lords lost its power due to a king's retaliation against them when they rejected a bill about financial matters that wasn't meant to be their job (traditionally the Commons were in charge of bills regarding financial matters). Therefore the king let it be known that the members of the House of Lords either agreed to a bill which would limit their powers or else the king would appoint hundreds of new members to vote for their bills. The Lords preferred to have their powers limited rather than to have hundreds of new peers to deal with. That's how the Lords relinquished its power.
As for the differences between the British Parliament and the American Congress, what I've noticed from the notes is that:
- In the British Parliament the House of Lords is party-independent, while in the American Congress one or the two houses can be controlled by a political party.
- In Britain the Lords are appointed through the traditionalist life peering system, while in the U.S. members of both houses are elected.
- In the British Parliament the House of Lords doesn't have real power to stop a bill. In the American Congress a bill must pass both houses to advance to the next stage.
From the year 43 to 410 the Romans occupied Britannia. They left very little infrastructure behind, but they did exert an enduring influence over a big part of the Celt population (later called Britons) which may be what triggered the emergence of two distinct branches of the Celtic languages.
Then it came the Germanic invasions, which lasted a lot much longer. The first one was carried out in the fifth century by the Angles and the Saxons, and the south-east of the country was soon part of their kingdom. By the end of the sixth century their way of life predominated in nearly all of present-day England, especially in the countryside where they had a greater influence. Another Germanic invasion was executed in the eighth century by invaders from Scandinavia known as Vikings, and via armed conflict the north and east of the country was all they were able to conquer.
In the year 1066 the Normans invaded and became the rulers of England. When the Norman soldiers settled down they founded a hierarchy-based feudal system coming all the way down from the peasants (which here the English speaking Saxons), the Normandy French-speaking lords, the great nobles, to the almighty king. In terms of the politics, in the next 250 years after the invasion the Anglo-Norman kingdom extended to parts of Ireland and to the entire territory of Wales. Only Scotland did manage to remain independent but was occasionally forced to fight for it. At the level of culture though, it was the language of the Anglo-Saxons (English) and not French the one that prevailed.
4) What's the importance of religion in the UK?
With the obvious exception of Northern Ireland, most of The United Kingdom is nowadays very open and unprejudiced toward religion. Although between 40 to 60% of British people believe in God, there's absolute freedom to profess disbelief in God or in any religion.
Furthermore, in spite of fact that most British believe in god, they don't actually commit their daily lives to practicing their beliefs the church way. By this I mean that a very small minority attend mass regularly and most of them have only gone to religious services a few times in their lives. Half don't even know what Easter celebrates, and on the top of all that a survey in 2006 states that 80% of the British think that religion does more harm than good.
Finally, religion doesn't even have implications in people's sense of identity. As I said above they're for the most part indifferent of who you support or what you worship. Not even in a proposal of marriage or friendship does religion have in important role.
5) What are the two types of British newspapers? Explain the main characteristics
There are two types of newspapers, the popular papers and the quality papers. The popular ones sell to a much larger readership, are more sensationalist, and mostly focus on sex and scandal. They also contain a lot of pictures, larger headlines and a simple style of English. The quality ones are geared towards the more educated readers and develop serious story news.
These two types can also be distinguished as tabloids and spreadsheet, but this doesn't fit reality anymore because in the last decade some of the serious papers have adopted the tabloid format because it's much easier to handle.
6) What is the open university?
This is about distance education. When the open university started in 1969 its courses were taught through television, radio and especially written material. These days, of course, it uses the internet. Students send their work to tutors and attend some courses in the summer.
7) What american consumers like?
Americans are particularly fond of comfort, cleanliness, novelty and convenience.
It's believed that their love for comfort has to do with the hardships they had to go through during the tough frontier times. Perhaps the pioneers thought they'd had enough of a tough lifestyle and at some point they wanted their lives to be easier.
Cleanliness might come from the Puritans, a Protestant church group whose members stressed the need to cleanse the body of dirt and of all evil tendencies. The saying "cleanliness is next to godliness" reflects how Americans feel about having not only their bodies clean, but also their clothes, their houses, their cars, and even their pets.
Novelty might come from their pride in their inventiveness. They like to see changes in cars, clothing, and products for the home. Advertisements encourage people to get rid of old stuff, and replace them with new things, regardless of whether the old stuff still works or not.
Finally, convenience is what makes them purchase labor-saving devices such as dishwashers, food processors, microwave ovens, etc. Their desire for convenience also created the concept of fast-food, the take-out services and even prepacked food ready to cook.
8) Who is Alexis de Tocqueville?
Alexis de Tocqueville was a French historian who was especially drawn to the American democracy, society, idiosyncrasy, etc. He went to the United States in 1831 and wrote a remarkable book called Democracy in America, which is a classic study of the American way of life. He described not only the democratic system of government and how it operated, but also its effect on how Americans think, feel and act.
9) Which are the degrees obtained in the universities of USA and Britain
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