Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The British Middle Class

In recent 40 years, the number of Britons who regard themselves as middle class has inreeased by 44% in Great Britain, but there is still half of population think they belong to working class. Because a huge gap of wealth is between these two classes. It is worth £104,000. The distinctions incarnate in financial areas, such as savings, investments and property assets. Howerer, by 2020, working class will be overtaken by middle class. Maybe it is a large development of the British society.

In traditional view, the measurements of social class are family background, education and job. But nowadays some new ones have joined, like savings, investments and property indicators. All of them are important for social classes. A new type of social class seems to appear-- Muddle Class. For instance,ROBs (Rich Ordinary Britons) own the wealth that is in the top fifth of the population, but they are still regarded as working class.

In my opinion, the differences between working class and middle class are puzzled. More and more Britons are hard to say which class they belong to, but it is clear that middle class will be the first class of population.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Employment in BritainⅠ

In China, employment relates to the daily lives of 1.3 billion of population. It is one of the most important social problems that ought to be considered by government. Because over 70% of the whole population are farmers. A great number of people are hard to find jobs. Employment now is better than before,but it is still a common problem.

With the development of economics, many farmers who live in countryside go to eastern China to look for better jobs to support their whole family. In the big cities in east, many corporations need a great deal of labor force. It causes a common social phenomenon that young people go to big cities, such as Shanghai, to look for jobs, and their parentes stay at home to take care of their children. They may be blue-collar workers.

The universities and colleges in China have extended their students year by year, so it is more difficult to find a satisfactory job because of too many graduates every year and lack of experience. Most of graduates want to be one of white-collars, but there are not enough opportunities. of course, family background and education background both are important when you want to find a good job.

Exploring British newspaper Ⅱ

In United Kingdom,there are so two different types of newspapers:te national and local newapaper and tabloid newspaper, such as The Times and The Sun. The Times usually reports political and ecnonmic news while The Sun often writes gossip news and sex scandals. According to the sales of them, tabloid seem to be more popular.

On the other hand, different newspaper always cover the same news, but they usually appear in different position. A piece of similar news may be reported in the 1st page of The Independent with a large picture, it also could appear in the 3rd or 4th page of The Daily Telegraph only by words. The differences depend on the view point, stress and tradition of each newapaper.

Monday, March 10, 2008

What is St David's Day

St David's Day is celebrated in Wales on 1 March, which is in order to commemorate Saint David, or Dewi Sant. He is the patron saint of Wales who lived in the 6th century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain.

St David is not only known in the Welsh language, but also in English. In addition, March 1st has become the national day of Wales. On that day, some children dress in their national costume, which consists of a tall black hat, white frilled cap and long dress. Many local people wear a yellow daffodil on their collars.

References:http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/nationalday.html#david

Employment in Britain

In Great Britain, employment is a common topic in people's daily life, just like other parts of the world. Each company or organisation needs human resource to support their business, especially big ones. They always have their own human resource department in order to train their employees. In addition, there are some social groups that help graduate students to find jobs.

In fact, different people are chosen by different types of jobs. Education background is an important ingredient. If you have a high education, you are easy to be one of white-collar workers, such as a dentist or a barrister. On the contrary, people who have a lower education usually find blue-collar jobs. In that case, people who has similar level of jobs and education background often live closely.

On the other hand, employers need to consider if the conditions of people suit for the jobs, such as age, gender, and experiences. For instance, there is few women who are accepted to be a driver. Of course, employees also ought to think whether they are fit for the jobs or not.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Exploring British Newspaper

Newspaper might be a primary media form before television dominates leisure time. It spreads news and information every day. In the early 1950s, the total of national daily newspapers was almost 17 million. Reading newspapers has become a habit and an important part of people's lives.

In the United Kingdom, newspapers can be sorted into two different types. The first one is the national newspaper and local newspaper, such as The Times. It is the first newspaper in the world which is published in 1785. It includes almost everything: economy, politics, sports and so on. The other one is tabloid that has smaller broadsheets and always using a large picture instead of words. For example, The Sun. It is the most popular newspaper in UK.

Otherwise, different newspaper have different political position. The Mirror support left-wing while The Sun sever right-wing. But now, there may be a little change. The Times usually keep neutral.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Health Issues in Britain

Health is an emotive and political topic. In Great Britain, National Health Service (NHS) was established by government in 1948. Therefrom, local people could get free medical care. Compared with the period at the beginning of this organization, people today are much less likely to die in infancy and die from several diseases, such as tuberculosis, influenza, variola and paludism.

However, different social classes lead to different level of health care. The low social class usually have a poor medical care. They had to go to public hospitals and alway need to wait. The high class have their own personal doctors as a rule. Hence, they always enjoy the best medical care. Maybe it is unequal.