THURSDAY, AUGUST 1st 2013

TOPIC: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

1. READ THE ARTICLE AND WRITE 20 IDEAS ABOUT THE USA SOCIETY

Social class and work[edit]

Though most Americans today identify themselves as middle class, American society and its culture are considerably more fragmented.Social class, generally described as a combination of educational attainment, income and occupational prestige, is one of the greatest cultural influences in America.^[1] Nearly all cultural aspects of mundane interactions and consumer behavior in the US are guided by a person's location within the country's social structure.

Distinct lifestyles, consumption patterns and values are associated with different classes. Early sociologist-economist Thorstein Veblen, for example, noted that those at the very top of the social ladder engage in conspicuous leisure as well as conspicuous consumption. Upper-middle-class persons commonly identify education and being cultured as prime values. Persons in this particular social class tend to speak in a more direct manner that projects authority, knowledge and thus credibility. They often tend to engage in the consumption of so-called mass luxuries, such as designer label clothing. A strong preference for natural materials and organic foods as well as a strong health consciousness tend to be prominent features of the upper middle class.Middle-class individuals in general value expanding one's horizon, partially because they are more educated and can afford greater leisure and travels. Working-class individuals take great pride in doing what they consider to be "real work," and keep very close-knit kin networks that serve as a safeguard against frequent economic instability.^[1]^[5]^[6]

Hours worked in different countries according to UN data in a CNN report.^[7]

Working-class Americans as well as many of those in the middle class may also face occupation alienation. In contrast to upper-middle-class professionals who are mostly hired to conceptualize, supervise and share their thoughts, many Americans enjoy only little autonomy or creative latitude in the workplace.^[8] As a result white collar professionals tend to be significantly more satisfied with their work.^[1]^[8] More recently those in the center of the income strata, who may still identify as middle class, have faced increasing economic insecurity,^[9] supporting the idea of a working-class majority.^[6]

Political behavior is affected by class; more affluent individuals are more likely to vote, and education and income affect whether individuals tend to vote for the Democratic or Republican party. Income also had a significant impact on health as those with higher incomes had better access to health care facilities, higher life expectancy, lower infant mortality rate and increased health consciousness.

In the United States occupation is one of the prime factors of social class and is closely linked to an individual’s identity. The average work week in the US for those employed full-time was 42.9 hours long with 30% of the population working more than 40 hours a week.^[10] It should be noted, however, that many of those in the top two earning quintiles often worked more than 50 hours a week^{[citation needed]}. The Average American worker earned $16.64 an hour in the first two quarters of 2006.^[11]

Overall Americans worked more than their counterparts in other developed post-industrial nations. While the average worker inDenmark enjoyed 30 days of vacation annually, the average American only had 16 annual vacation days.^[12] In 2000 the average American worked 1,978 hours per year, 500 hours more than the average German, yet 100 hours less than the average Czech. Overall the US labor force was the most productive in the world (overall, not by hour worked), largely due to its workers working more than those in any other post-industrial country (excluding South Korea).^[7] Americans generally hold working and being productive in high regard; being busy as and working extensively may also serve as the means to obtain esteem.^[6]

Race and ancestry[edit]

Main article: Race in the United States

Ethnicity according to the 2000 US Census.^[13]

Median Household income along ethnic lines in the United States.

Race in the United States is based on physical characteristics and skin color and has played an essential part in shaping American society even before the nation's conception.^[1] Until the civil rights movement of the 1960s, racial minorities in the United States faced discrimination and social as well as economic marginalization.^[14]

Today the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of the Census recognizes four races, Native American or American Indian,African American, Asian and White (European American). According to the U.S. government, Hispanic Americans do not constitute a race, but rather an ethnic group. During the 2000 U.S. Census Whites made up 75.1% of the population with those being Hispanic or Latino constituting the nation's prevalent minority with 12.5% of the population. African Americans made up 12.3% of the total population, 3.6% were Asian American and 0.7% were Native American.^[13]

Approximately 62% of White Americans today are either wholly or partly of English, Welsh, Irish, or Scottish ancestry. Approximately 86% of White Americans are of northwestern European descent, and 14% are of southern and eastern European ancestry.

Until the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on December 6^th 1865 the United States was a slave society. While the northern states had outlawed slavery in their territory in the late 18^th and early 19^th century their industrial economies relied on the raw materials produced by slave labor. Following the Reconstruction period in the 1870s, Southern states initialized an apartheid regulated by Jim Crow laws that provided for legal segregation. Lynching occurred throughout the US until the 1930s, continuing well into the civil rights movement in the South.^[14]

Asian Americans were also marginalized during much of US history. Between 1882 and 1943 the United States government instituted the Chinese Exclusion Act which prohibited Chinese immigrants from entering the nation. During the second world war roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans, 62% of whom were U.S. citizens,^[15] were imprisoned in Japanese internment camps. Hispanic Americans also faced segregation and other types of discrimination; they were regularly subject to second class citizen status, in practice if not by law.

Largely as a result of being de jure or de facto excluded and marginalized from so-called mainstream society, racial minorities in the United States developed their own unique sub-cultures. During the 1920s for example, Harlem, New York became home to the Harlem Renaissance. Music styles such as Jazz, Blues and Rap, Rock and roll as well as numerous folk-songs such asBlue Tail Fly (Jimmy Crack Corn) originated within the realms of African American culture.^[14] Chinatowns can be found in many cities across the nation and Asian cuisine has become a common staple in America.

The Hispanic community has also had a dramatic impact on American culture. Today, Catholics are the largest religious denomination in the United States and out-number Protestants in the South-west and California.^[16] Mariachi music and Mexican cuisine are commonly found throughout the Southwest, with some Latin dishes such burritos and tacos found anywhere in the nation. Economic discrepancies and de facto segregation, however, continue and is a prominent feature of mundane life in the United States.

While Asian Americans have prospered and have a median household income and educational attainment exceeding that of Whites, the same cannot be said for the other races. African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans have considerably lower income and education than do White Americans.^[17]^[18] In 2005 the median household income of Whites was 62.5% higher than that of African American, nearly one-quarter of whom live below the poverty line.^[17] Furthermore 46.9% of homicide victims in the United States are African American indicating the many severe socio-economic problems African Americans and minorities in general continue to face in the twenty-first century.^[14]^[19]

Some aspects of American culture codify racism. For example, the prevailing idea in American culture, perpetuated by the media, has been that that black features are less attractive or desirable than white features. The idea that blackness was ugly was highly damaging to the psyche of African Americans, manifesting itself as internalized racism.^[20] The Black is beautiful cultural movement sought to dispel this notion.^[21]

In the years after the September 11th terrorist attacks, discrimination against Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. has increased significantly. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee(ADC) reported an increase in hate speech, cases of airline discrimination, hate crimes, police misconduct and racial profiling.^[22] The USA Patriot Act, signed into effect by President Bush on October 26, 2001, has also raised concerns for violating civil liberties. Section 412 of the act provides the government with "sweeping new powers to detain immigrants and other foreign nationals indefinitely with little or no due process at the discretion of the Attorney General."^[22] Other sections also allow the government to conduct secret searches, seizures and surveillance, and to freely interpret the definition of 'terrorist activities'.

2. READ THE ARTICLE AND WRITE 20 IDEAS ABOUT THE UK SOCIETY

Government

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a queen and a parliament that has two houses: the House of Lords, with 574 life peers, 92 hereditary peers, and 26 bishops; and the House of Commons, which has 651 popularly elected members. Supreme legislative power is vested in parliament, which sits for five years unless dissolved sooner. The House of Lords was stripped of most of its power in 1911, and now its main function is to revise legislation. In Nov. 1999, hundreds of hereditary peers were expelled in an effort to make the body more democratic. The executive power of the Crown is exercised by the cabinet, headed by the prime minister.

England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century; the union between Englandand Wales, begun in 1284 with the Statute of Rhuddlan, was not formalized until 1536 with an Act of Union; in another Act of Union in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to permanently join as Great Britain; the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with the adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland and the current name of the country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927.

British Society, People and Culture

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is comprised of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It is important not only to be aware of these geographical distinctions, but also the strong sense of identity and nationalism felt by the populations of these four nations.

The terms 'English' and 'British' do not mean the same thing. 'British' denotes someone who is from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. 'English' refers to people from England. People from Scotland are 'Scots', from Wales ‘Welsh’ and from Northern Ireland ‘Irish’. Be sure not to call someone Welsh, Scots, or Northern Irish ‘English’.

The Class System Map of British Isles

Although in the past few decades, people from varied backgrounds have had greater access to higher education, wealth distribution is changing and more upward/downward mobility is occurring, the British class system is still very much intact although in a more subconscious way. The playing field is levelling but the British still seem to pigeon-hole people according to class.

Class is no longer simply about wealth or where one lives; the British are able to suss out someone’s class through a number of complex variables including demeanour, accent, manners and comportment.

A Multicultural Society

Formerly a very homogenous society, since World War II, Britain has become increasingly diverse as it has accommodated large immigrant populations, particularly from its former colonies such as India, Pakistan and the West Indies. The mixture of ethnic groups and cultures make it difficult to define “Britishness” nowadays and a debate rages within the nation as to what now really constitutes being a Briton.

The Stiff Upper Lip

The British have been historically known for their stiff upper lip and “blitz spirit” as demonstrated during the German bombings of World War II. This ‘grin and bear’ attitude in the face of adversity or embarrassment lives on today.

As a nation, the Brits tend not to use superlatives and may not appear terribly animated when they speak. This does not mean that they do not have strong emotions; merely that they do not choose to put them on public display. They are generally not very openly demonstrative, and, unless you know someone well, may not appreciate it if you put your arm around their shoulder. Kissing is most often reserved for family members in the privacy of home, rather than in public. You'll see that the British prefer to maintain a few feet of distance between themselves and the person to whom they are speaking. If you have insulted someone, their facial expression may not change.

wasn't	did	didn't	have	haven't	hasn't
isn't	aren't	does	doesn't	will	won't

1.	Doctor, I haven't got an infection, I?
2.	She takes her dog for a walk every morning, she?
3.	You'll come, you?
4.	We are buying the red car, we?
5.	They have a cat, they?
6.	It's a lovely day, it?
7.	George doesn't know, he?
8.	The party didn't finish until 3 in the morning, it?
9.	They look tired, they?
10.	We won't be late, we?
11	She's been to Canada, she?
12.	He's happy, he?
13	There were a lot of people at the beach, there?
14.	I've met you before, I?
15.	He jumped over the fence, he?

ENGLISH LEVEL B

Páginas

sábado, 9 de noviembre de 2013

TALLERES DE RECUPERACION CUARTO PERIODO

sábado, 14 de septiembre de 2013

TALLERES DE RECUPERACION TERCER PERIODO

jueves, 5 de septiembre de 2013

ACTIVITIES FOR 9th GRADE

jueves, 29 de agosto de 2013

PLAN LECTOR NIVEL B

jueves, 1 de agosto de 2013

LAB ACTIVITY FOR 9° GRADE

Question Tags - Mixed Tenses

Type the correct word in the boxes below.

LAB ACTIVITY FOR 7° GRADE

ACTIVITY FOR 10° GRADE

Social class and work[edit]

Race and ancestry[edit]

Government

British Society, People and Culture