- Class
Historians believe the British class system has survived due to its flexibility. People can move up through
wealth, marriage, or work, allowing their children to belong to a higher class. This prevents revolution,
and class remains a major part of identity.
Despite claiming not to support class divisions, Britons are highly aware of them. Class affects
friendships, daily habits, speech, pastimes, and values. It is not just about wealth—speech patterns and
accents are stronger indicators.
Ex: -People in modern Britain tend to eat different food at different times of day, they like to talk about
different topics using different styles and accents of EnglisH, they enjoy different pastimes and sports,
they have different values about what things in life are most important and different ideas about the
correct way to behave. Stereotypically,they go to different kinds of school.
-If you become wealthy, you can provide the conditions to enable your children to belong to a higher
class than you do. But it is not always possible to guess reliably the class to which a person belongs by
looking at his or her clothes, car or bank balance. The most obvious and immediate sign comes when a
person opens his or her mouth, giving the listener clues to the speaker's attitudes and interests, both of
which are indicative of class.
The English grammar and vocabulary which is used in public speaking, radio and television news
broadcasts, books and newspapers is known as 'standard British [Link] British English is
widely used in media, but working-class speech includes many "non-standard" elements. Nevertheless,
nearly everybody in the country is capable of using standard English when they judge that the situation
demands it. They are taught to do so at school. Therefore, the clearest indication of a person 's class is
often his or her accent. Most people cannot change this convincingly to suit the [Link] most
prestigious accent in Britain is known as 'Received Pronunciation' (RP).It is the combination of standard
English spoken with an RP accent that is usually meant when people talk about 'BBC English' or 'Oxford
English' (referring to the university, not the town).
The most prestigious accent is Received Pronunciation (RP), associated with the upper and upper-middle
class. In contrast, regional accents, especially in England and Wales, often signal working-class origins.
However, in Scotland and Northern Ireland, some regional accents carry prestige.
Interestingly, more people identify as working-class than sociologists would classify. This reflects
inverted snobbery, where middle-class individuals adopt working-class habits, believing them to be more
authentic.
Today, class divisions are less rigid, with more working-class individuals owning homes and holding
middle-class jobs. While class differences still exist, the lower and middle classes have become more
similar in their values.
-Men and women
Generally speaking, British people invest about the same amount of their identity in their gender as
people in other parts of northern Europe [Link] the one hand,society no longer overtly endorses
differences in the public and social roles of men and women, and it is illegal to discriminate on the basis
of [Link] the other hand,people still expect a fairly large number of differences in everyday behaviour
and domestic roles.
In terms of everyday habits and mannerisms, British society probably expects a sharper difference
between the sexes than most other European societies do. For example, it is still far more acceptable for a
man to look untidy and scruffy than it is for a woman; and it is still far more acceptable for a woman to
display emotions and be demonstrably friendly than it is for a man to do so.
As far as roles are concerned, most people assume that a family's financial situation is not just the
responsibility of the man. On the other hand, they would still normally complement the woman, not the
man, on a beautifully decorated or well-kept house. Everyday care of the children is still seen as mainly
the woman's responsibility. Although almost as many women have jobs as men , nearly half of the jobs
done by women are part-time. In fact, the majority of mothers with children under the age of twelve either
have no job or work only during school hours.
Men certainly take a more active domestic role than they did forty years ago. Some things, however,
never seem to change. A comparison of child-rearing habits of the 1950s and the 1980s showed that the
proportion of men who never changed a baby's nappy had remained the same (40%) . Moreover,Britain
was one of the first European countries to have a woman Prime Minister and woman chairperson of
debate in its Parliament.
In Britain, gender identity holds similar importance as in other parts of northern Europe. While
society no longer openly supports gender-based roles and discrimination is illegal, differences in
behavior and domestic roles still exist.
Men are expected to appear untidy more than women, while women are more openly emotional.
Financial responsibility is shared, but home decoration and childcare are still seen as primarily a
woman's duty. Although many women work, nearly half do part-time jobs, especially mothers
with young children.
Men now take on more domestic roles than in the past, but some habits persist—40% of men still
never change a baby's nappy. However, Britain was among the first European countries to have a
female Prime Minister and a woman chairing parliamentary debates.
