22. Релігія у сучасній Британії (Religion in today’s Britain)

Everyone in Britain has the right to religious freedom. Britain is predominantly Christian – one British citizen in 10 is a member of the Roman Catholic Church and there are 1.7 million members of the Anglican Church – the “Established Church”, that is the church legally recognized as the official church of the State. It dates from 1534, when Henry YIII broke away from the Church of Rome and declared himself Head of the Church of England. British monarchs still bear this title today. Nowadays the Queen is the Head of it.

However, there are many other churches to which people belong; e.g. Roman Catholic (six million), Methodists (1,150,000), Congregationalists (372,000), Baptists (338,000) and other smaller groups.

In Scotland there are 1.1 million members of the Presbyterian Church. It is the established church in Scotland. It is completely separated from the Anglican Church, has its own organization and appoints its own ministers.

In Northern Ireland, about half the people are Protestants and nearly 40% as Roman Catholics.

In Wales the Anglican Church was disestablished in 1920. It means that there is no one officially established church, but Methodist and Baptist are the two most widespread Christian Churches.

The leader of the Catholic Church in Britain is the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. Normally only unmarried men are allowed to be Catholic priests but in 1987 for the first time two married men were allowed to train as priests.

The Jewish community in Britain is the second largest group of Jews in Europe. More than half of them live in London.

Britain has one of the largest Muslim communities in Western Europe, with about 1-1.5 million people and 600 mosques and prayer centres.

The Sikh community in Britain comprises about 4-5 thousand people, with the largest groups of Sikhs concentrated in Greater London, Manchester and Birmingham.

The Hindu community in Britain accounts for about 320,000 people.

There are many newer and smaller Christian organizations, which are growing fast. Every year new cults spring up, which are not based on Christianity or other major religion.

Non-denominational religious teaching is compulsory in all state schools in Britain. The day usually starts with a short service held in the school hall. If a student has strong religious objections he or she does not have to attend the service or religious lessons. In Scotland neither the morning prayers nor the religious lessons are compulsory.

23. Stratification in the British society

In any society people are divided into different social groups (strata) and they are awarded unequal amount of prestige, economic rewards and power.

The following factors are considered important in identifying social status of a person: 1) how much a person earns; 2) what job one does; 3) how a person speaks; 4) how a person thinks; 5) how well mannered a person is; 6) what school a person or his children attend; 7) where one lives.

Let’s start considering the hierarchy in Britain.

Social differentiation in British society is the following:

Upper Class

Aristocracy and the top rich people in Britain (the royal family, the surviving titled families from feudal system and old landowning families with aristocratic background (dukes, earls, barons) and the entrepreneurial rich enjoy special status in Britain, the status of the upper classes who are a very small minority of the country’s population (not more than 1% of it). They are treated with great difference in Britain, though not by all the people.

Most of the people are classified according to their occupation:

Middle Class / “White Collar”

CLASS 1: Professional occupations, including higher-grade professionals and higher administrators, lawyers, architects, doctors, managers, university teachers

CLASS 2: Intermediate occupations, including intermediate professionals and administrators, e.g. lower-grade professionals, administrators and managers, supervisors and higher-grade technicians, shopkeepers, farmers, actors, musicians, teachers

CLASS 3 N (a): Skilled occupations (Non-manual), including non-manual workers, e.g. clerks, sales and rank-and-file workers, small proprietors and self-employed artisans, draughtsmen, lower-grade technicians and foremen, etc.

Working Class/ “Blue Collar”

CLASS 3 M (b): Skilled occupations (Manual), including skilled manual workers in industry, e.g. electricians, coalminers, etc.

CLASS 4: Partly skilled occupations, including semi-skilled workers, e.g. milk rounds men, telephone operators, fishermen, farm workers, semi-skilled workers in industry, etc.

CLASS 5: Unskilled occupations, including unskilled workers, e.g. night watchers, collectors, cleaners, labourers

Different occupations mean different life chances in caring for one’s health, in choosing leisure styles and social activities. It is easier for the rich to follow the healthy way of life than for the less privileged. As for the leisure style, it is worth saying that it is the wealthiest people who can enjoy higher culture – visiting theatres, concert halls, museums whenever they’d like to, being involved in arts, music and other creative activities.

Occupation as a class distinction is related to differences in incomes, social prestige (British people rank MPs, lawyers, doctors and university teachers higher than non-manual workers and manual workers), in education, life style, and speech.