3. Britain and the usa: a social profile.
a) Britain’s total population, distribution of the population, ethnic composition, the class system.
The British of today are the result of wave after wave of conquest, displacement, migration and mixing. It is reflected in their national character and languages. Everybody from the UK is British, but be careful: only people from England are English. People from Wales think of themselves as Welsh; people from Scotland as Scottish; and people from Northern Ireland as either British or Irish.
The total population of the UK is over 60 million people. The UK is inhabited by the English who constitute about 77% of the total population, the Scots (8%), the Welsh (about 4.5%), and the Irish — constituting 2.8% of the total population Among other nationalities inhabiting the UK there are Gaels, Jews, Poles, Germans, Frenchmen, Italians as well as migrants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and African countries. People have been coming to Britain for centuries: some to get a better life, some to escape natural disasters, some as political or religious refugees. The greatest wave of immigration was in the 1950s and 1960s. The number of people asking to settle in Britain is rising but since 1971 it has reduced the number of people (coming from outside Europe) which it allows to stay.
Is Britain a cosmopolitan society? It really depends on where you go. In some British cities you can meet people of many different nationalities. Most members of ethnic minorities live in the South-East. In Greater London, they represent 20 per cent of the population. However, there are large areas of Britain untouched by immigration. In Scotland, Wales, the north and south-west of England only 1% of the population belongs to an ethnic minority. Many people in Britain, in spite of anti-racist laws, blame unemployment and poor housing on immigrants. But a lot of members of ethnic minorities overcome prejudice and achieve distinction in the media, in sport, in commerce and in public life.
Britain has always been a densely populated country. According to the latest full census taken in 2003 the population density in Britain is 255 per sq. km. England is the most thickly peopled part. Scotland is one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe.
Britain is a highly urbanized country, 89% of its population live in cities and towns, and only 11% are rural inhabitants.
Every country in the world has a class system. But in some way, for some reason, the question of class seems to have a special meaning for the British. This is reflected in their image abroad. Hollywood films have featured lots of upper-class Englishmen, always snobbish and usually cruel or stupid. The whole world knows the stereotype of the English gentleman or lord, often with a monocle and tweed jacket, sipping whisky and reading The Times. A vast proportion of British humour is based on the interaction between upper and working classes.
Undoubtedly Britain is a class conscious society. The Royal Family and aristocratic families are treated with deference. Although such people add up to very small numbers of the population, they set the tone for the rest of the class structure.
Most people are classified according to their work occupations, falling into two broad groups: the middle class (or white-collar workers) and the working class (or blue-collar workers). The working class is rapidly declining. Since the 1950s there has been a massive growth of the middle class which embraces a range of people from senior civil servants, judges, senior medical specialists to clerical workers.
The upper class survives from one generation to another. It is characterised by three things: property, networks and power. The core of the class is probably only between 25,000 and 50,000 people, but they control key areas of capital in the national economy.
The strangest feature of class in Britain is that it is not entirely dependent on money. In certain circumstances one can be high class and poor, or low class and rich. It is so because the class system is also based on something historical which does not exactly match present conditions. The two really important indicators of class are education and accent. Whereas most ordinary people have regional accents, the upper classes speak in exactly the same way from the south-east of England to the north-west of Scotland. The explanation is the schools they go to. The higher the class, the more the accent resembles that of the royal family. Members of the upper class share a very specific identity. The sons all go to public schools, usually the more famous ones.
Official statistics treat class as a strictly economic distinction which is based on a six-point scale of employment types:
A — Upper middle class (e.g. top managers, doctors, lawyers)
B — Middle class (e.g. middle managers, teachers)
C1 — Lower middle class (e.g. office workers)
C2 — Skilled working class (e.g. electricians, car mechanics)
D — Unskilled working class (e.g.farm or building labourers)
E — Residual (e.g. unemployed)
The weakest group economically are retired people, single women and people belonging to ethnic minorities. Pension age is 65 for males and 60 for females.
b) Religion and beliefs in Britain.
T
he
overwhelming majority of the residents of Britain belong to the
Protestants, the rest forming the Catholic and Presbyterian
minorities. Today there is complete freedom of practice, regardless
of religion or sect. But it was not always so. Until the mid-19th
century those who did not belong to the Church of England, the
official, “established”, or state church, were barred from some
public offices. The state Church still plays a powerful role in
national life in spite of the relatively small numbers of people who
are its active members.
There are two state Churches in Britain: the Church of England, or Anglican Church, and the Church of Scotland, or the Presbyterian Church. Even today a catholic may not become king or queen. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the leader of the Church of England. There are other Christian Churches — the Free, or Nonconformist Churches. They are distinguished by having no bishops or episcopacy and they all admit both men and women to their ministry. The main ones among them are: the Methodist Union; the Baptists; the United Reformed Church and the Salvation Army. In addition there are smaller groups and sects.
The Church of Scotland, unlike the Church of England, is subject neither to the Crown nor to Parliament, and takes pride in its independence from state authority. The Church of Scotland is more democratic.
There is quite a strong Roman Catholic community. The Roman Catholic Church returned to Britain in 1850. Since then it has grown rapidly with about 5.7 million members. Among other religions the oldest is Judaism. British Jews have the 2nd largest community in Western Europe. There are also recently established religious groups: Hindus, Buddhism, Muslims and Sikhs. The fast-growing Muslim community comprises about 2% of the total population);
Religion is an intensely personal matter. According to the 2001 Census nearly three-quarters of the population are Christian believers. In such a way people identify themselves with the traditional, historical, Protestant culture of Great Britain. There are now nearly 17,000 Church of England churches scattered over the country. Many of them are extremely beautiful and constitute a precious part of English historical heritage.
A social survey in 2006 found that 66% of the British population had no connection to any religion or church. Only 18% said that they were practising members who actively went to church. All later polls confirm the same thing: belief in a religion and attendance at a church have declined sharply and the vast majority of people are simply not interested. About 35% British people say that they believe there is some kind of Supreme Being; which means that 65% do not believe in God. It is quite common to be an atheist. Religious belief is weakest among the young.
c) The people of America
The Unites States has often been called “a nation of immigrants”. Indeed, the country was settled, built and developed by generations of immigrants and their children. Even today America continues to take in more immigrants than any other country in the world. It is not surprising, therefore, that the United States is counted among the most heterogeneous societies in the world.
The variety of ethnic identities, immigration experiences, and cultural choices that have gone into making Americans is so complex, however, that describing the “average American” is very difficult.
Of all the many different nationalities and ethnic groups which have gone into the making of America, some have quickly assimilated. They have largely lost or intentionally given up many of those specific markers which would make them much different from their neighbors. This process of assimilation, or “Americanization,” - becoming part of the “melting pot” - has characterized the immigrant experience in American history. Other Americans have, while becoming American in other ways, maintained much of their ethnic identities. In this sense, U.S. society has been likened to a “salad bowl.” It does not follow, however, that these Americans are any less aware or proud of their American nationality. Japanese-Americans provide a well-known example. Although their loyalty in World War II was doubted by many of their fellow countrymen, as a group they became the most highly decorated American soldiers fighting in Europe. Perhaps a better metaphor for American society than either “the melting pot” or the “salad bowl” would be that of a “pizza”. The different ingredients are often apparent and give the whole its particular taste and flavor, yet all are fused together into something larger.
Still another factor to consider in describing “the American” is that the face of America is constantly, and often very rapidly, changing. By the time American independence was declared in 1776, two-fifths of all settlers were of non-English origin. The first U.S. census, taken in 1790, revealed a population of just under four million people, with about 10,000 new settlers arriving each
year.
Today the great majority of the inhabitants are of European origin. According to the U.S. census of 2000, the largest minority were Hispanics (Spanish-speaking people), who accounted more than 35 million people. This figure includes people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and many other origins. The African-American population numbered 34 million people. The Asian population totaled 10 million and consisted predominantly of people of Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean or Japanese origin. The Native American population of the United States, which included natives of Alaska such as Eskimos and Aleuts, was about 2,5 million people. A third of Native Americans lived on reservations, trust lands, territories, or other lands under Native American jurisdiction. Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders numbered about 400,000 people.
In addition to the original group of British settlers in the colonies of the Atlantic coast, numerous other national groups were introduced by immigration. Large numbers of Africans were transported in chains under terrible conditions to work as slaves, chiefly on the plantations of the South. Immigrants from Europe — the Scotch-Irish group, German and Scandinavian nations moved into the land in the I9th century. After the World War I, the immigrants came mainly from the nations of South and East Europe. The proportion of foreign-born people in the U.S. population reached 11 per cent in 2000 according to the U.S. census Bureau.
The heritage of immigrants and immigration has brought benefits to America. Many ethnic groups have added their contributions to the American Dream and kept that dream alive.