课程：当代英国概况
第一章：开篇介绍
任课教师：郭岚
Objectives
• some general features of Britain
• to set the scene
Procedure
• Lecture by the teacher
• Presentation by Students
• Class discussion
• Assignment for the next chapter
Focal Questions
• What is the full name of the British state?
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•
•
•
•
What countries does it consist of?
What is the total population of the United
Kingdom? Where do most people live?
Do you think that most of the ethnic
minorities in Britain have different age
structures from that of the white
population? Why?
What do you think are the most
important factors in determining class?
How do you understand the status of
women in contemporary Britain?
What are some of the key changes over
the last fifty years in the UK?
A1 Geography
• The British Isles
• the group of islands off the
northwest coast of Europe
• Great Britain, Ireland and the many
smaller adjacent islands (16+)
• an archipelago, 315,134 km2
A1 Geography
continued
• Is the term "British Isles" acceptable?
• Irish state documents, Irish schoolbooks,
textbooks
• official British state documentation
• Alternatives：“Great Britain and
Ireland”, “British-Irish islands”, “UK and
Ireland”, “the British Isles and Ireland”,
“Islands of the North Atlantic”(IONA)
A1 Geography
continued
IONA ?– The
British Isles
A1
Geography
cont.
Chief of the State -- Queen
Elizabeth II
Questions (video clip):
• The geographical makeup of UK
• What is the London smog?
• How did the suburb come into being?
• Major house styles in the suburb
Answers to Questions:
• The Island of Great Britain + 1/6 of the
Island of Ireland
• Smoke released by the burning coal +
London’s natural fog (Charles Dickens)
• People getting away from the fog +
affordable mass transit
Answers to Questions: Cont.
• Major house styles in the suburb
• The Tudor style (mid-16th C.)
• The Elizabethan style (late 16th C.)
• The Queen Anne revival style (late
19th C.)
ENGLAND
• Population: 51 Million
• Language: English
• People: Anglo-Saxons, Scots, Welsh, Irish,
West Indians, Pakistanis, Indians, Chinese
• Religion: Church of England, Methodist,
Baptist, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh
• Capital City: London
ENGLAND
cont.
• artistic contributions in theatre ,
literature, and architecture.
• Staple food: Fish and Chips,
bacon, eggs, sausage, and mash
• astonishing regional variations in
accents
St. James Park, London
England
• Windsor Castle
•
cont.
Leeds Castle
Fish and Chips
• English staple food
• Population: 2.9 Million
WALES
–Capital city: Cardiff
–People: Celts, Anglo-Saxons
–Language: Welsh, English
–Religion: Nonconformist
Protestants, Anglicans, Catholics
WALES
cont.
• the survival of Welsh as a living
language
• Food: laverbread (seaweed, oatmeal
and bacon on toast), Rarebit (cheese
on toast with flavor of mustard and
beer)
Caerphilly Castle, South Wales
Beaumaris Castle, N. Wales
NORTHERN IRELAND
–Population: 1.6 Million
–Capital city: Belfast
–People: Irish
–Language: English, and Irish
–Religion: 95% Roman Catholic, 3.4%
Protestant in the Republic; 60%
Protestant, 40% Roman Catholic in
Northern Ireland
NORTHERN IRELAND
–the “jig” & Irish folk music
–Very festive
–meats like lamb, beef, and pork.
–Main meal: lunch , dinner 
cont.
Irish Townhouse
b&b
Irish Jig
SCOTLAND
–Population: 5.1 Million
–Capital city: Edinburgh
–People: Celts, Anglo-Saxons
–Language: English, Gaelic
–Religion: Presbyterian Church of
Scotland, other Presbyterian churches,
Anglicans, Catholics
SCOTLAND
cont.
–Greatest accomplishments: science,
literature, and philosophy
–Bagpipes
–Social gathering (ceilidh): folk stories
(past), drinking and dancing (today)
–game dishes: smoked salmon and
venison (deer)
Scottish
Dance
Castles of Scotland
A2
Population
2002 Census
UK
England
Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland
59,289,194
51,138,831
2,903,085
5,162,011
1,685,267
Sources:
Office for National Statistics, General Register Office for
Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency
Population Change
• 60,975,000 in mid-2007, an increase of
388,000 (0.6 per cent) on mid-2006
• an average annual growth of 0.5 per
cent since 2001
• natural change (births - deaths) and net
migration (long term migrants entering
the UK - those leaving the UK)
A2
Population Density
• UK average
• England
• Scotland
• Wales
• N. Ireland
• France
• US
243/km2
376/km2
65/km2
141/km2
122/km2
106/km2
27/km2
A3
Ethnic Groups
• Multicultural, multiethnic
• Why do immigrants come? P8
• Different age structures: P7
A3
Ethnic Groups
• Reasons for relatively poor performance of
ethnic minority children: (with the
exception of Asian children)
• Low IQ – e.g. West Indian children: a
lower IQ (the Swann report )
• Material deprivation – working class,
material disadvantage
A 3 Ethnic Groups
cont.
• Hidden curriculum – culturally and
linguistically biased against ethnic minority
groups
• Labelling – negative labels: self-fulfilling
prophecies
• Racism –diminishing self esteem
A3
Ethnic Groups
cont.
• In 1940, Pan Africanist Marcus Garvey
suffered a stroke — survived — an
obituary was published, describing him as
"broke, alone and unpopular“ — shocked
and suffered a second stroke and died —
fulfilling the obituary
• Harry Potter
A 3 Ethnic Groups
cont.
• The Chinese in Britain
• Estimated number: 250,000
• From Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia,
Vietnam, Hong Kong and mainland China
• Mainly in big cities like London,
Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool,
Newcastle and Glasgow, etc.
A3
Ethnic Groups
cont.
• ¾: in catering & catering-related
business
• Less discrimination: Law-abiding, no
business conflict with the local British,
seldom asking for financial assistance
A 4 Class
• Increasingly classless?
• Society is ordered in terms of class.
• Accent*, vocabulary*, job*, hobbies*
and types of relationship
A4
Class
cont.
• Social Classification in the 21st Century
• 1 A Large employers & higher
managerial occupations
• 1 B Higher professional occu.
•2
Lower professional occu.
•3
Intermediate occupations
9%
12%
17%
14%
A4
Class
cont.
• 4 Small employers & own account
workers
9%
• 5 Lower supervisors & craft & related
occupations
10%
• 6 Semi-routine occu.
21%
• 7 Routine occu
8%
A4
Class
cont.
• Working class: 25%. Compare: 51% in
1955 (1CM/Guardian)
• Middle class: 35%. Compare: 28% in
1986 (Mail on Sunday)
• 85%: Britain is a class-based society
• 69%: top jobs – the privileged few
(NOP/Sunday Express)
A 5.
The National Identity
A5
Devolution
cont.
• Britishness ?
• In England: 17% — allegiance to
England, (British Social
Attitudes/Guardian);
• 66% of teenagers —English, not British
• In Wales, 79%: Welsh
• In Scotland, 82%: Scottish (Sunday
Times).
National Identity—Would you
describe yourself as British?
• England (48%) , Scotland (27%) , Wales (35%)
• a list: English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, British and
•
•
•
•
Other
50%: either English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish, 31%:
British only, 13% British and either English,
Scottish, Welsh or Irish. 4%: 'other' , 1%: other
combinations
Older people: 36% (aged 65+)—British, 47-52%
(aged 55-)
People in London: 19%—'other‘, 2 to 5% per cent
in other areas of England, Scotland or Wales
Source: Living in Britain, Office for National
Statistics
References
• British Studies Web Pages
• Dalton, A. ‘Apparent’ Paradoxes in British
Culture & its Literature
• http//www. Woodlands-junior. Kent.
Sch/uk. Html
• http//huaren.org/diaspora/europe/britain/
doc/0395-01.html
• http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.as
p?id=278