Cultural Revolution - As a turning point within Cultural Revolution we might consider 1951 election and the triumph of the Conservative Party over Labour Party. Rationing was coming to an end, and commodities that had only been seen from a distance started to become more widely available. Britain was entering a period of increased affluence and freedom, and many of the old social and cultural structures began to be challenged, particularly by the young. Since 1960s there had been major changes among lifestyle e.g. teenagers recognised as social group, more fluent and more dominant. This was also a perfect time for manufacturers to spread new trends and to “refresh” the view of GB.
London, Global City - London has always been considered a multicultural metropolis. It is the most multicultural place in the world (world's melting pot). It is a mosaic of peoples, races, colours, languages, faiths, cultures. As a global city it focuses the world’s finance and trade flows. It is one of twenty-five cities which effectively control almost all the world's financial transactions. As a global city it participates in the events on the international scale – like e.g. organization of 2012 Summer Olympic. London, as a global city, is characterized by well-developed telecommunication and transport infrastructure and economics as well as it is marked by large-scale in-migration and increasing growth of population.
Therapy Culture - Therapy Culture is a book presented by Frank Furedi. Furedi portrays a world gone therapy-mad. Experiences that would once have been thought normal - disappointment, isolation, tiredness, depression - are being redefined as syndromes requiring medical intervention. In Britain, footballers confess their addiction to drugs and drink. On reality TV the intimate banalities of family life are exposed for public entertainment. All this emphasis on the private self has, paradoxically, emptied the public realm of purpose and meaning. Furedi describes some of the reasons for this cultural shift, like e.g. the weakening of traditional authority; the decline of religion; the demise of communal spirit; the death of ideology etc.
Broken Britain - Broken Britain is a negative term which has been used in The Sun newspaper, and by the Conservative Party, to describe a widespread state of social decay in the UK and present Britain as a crime-ridden state where society and common sense have failed. ‘Broken Britain’ involves such things as teenage pregnancy, social incongruity, crime, underage drinking and child neglect or the lack of respect by children for elders. One characteristic of ‘Broken Britain’ people is ‘stiff upper lip’ which symbolizes an old-fashioned, emotionally restrained culture, characterized by formal behaviour. Currently Britain is open to new experiences, adventurous, informal and curious about the world and others.
Surveillance - The practice of electronic surveillance by the United Kingdom grew from wartime signal intelligence and pioneering code breaking. Today, the use of electronic surveillance by the United Kingdom is controlled by laws made in the UK Parliament. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) controls, among other things, covert surveillance. Together with associated secondary legislation and codes of practice, it provides a framework designed to ensure that public authorities comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. The main thing was to set CCTV cameras which are used in case of fighting with crime, but , according to some critics, "...the crime is merely observed, yet not prevented."
Roy Jenkins - Roy Jenkins was British politician and writer. He is often seen as responsible for the most wide-ranging social reforms of the late 1960s, stated as 'the greatest changes of the Labour years'. He refused to authorise the birching of prisoners and was responsible for the relaxation of the laws relating to divorce, abolition of theatre censorship and gave government support to David Steel's Private Member's Bill for the legalisation of abortion and Leo Abse's bill for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. However criticized for his activities, Jenkins replied to public criticism by asserting that the so-called permissive society was in reality the civilised society.
Unicef Inocenti Report Card 7 - Unicef Inocenti Report Card 7 is a report which focuses on the well-being of children and young people in the world’s advanced economies and provides the first comprehensive assessment. According to the Report Card small North-European countries dominate the top half of the table, with child wellbeing at its highest in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Relative child poverty remains above the 15% mark (as for the UK). Moreover less than 70% of children in the UK lives with both parents. Generally the report is intended as a first step towards regular and comprehensive monitoring of child well-being across the OECD.
Enoch Powell - Enoch Powell was an English politician. During the years of 1950-74 he served as Conservative Member of Parliament. Powell gained much attention in 1968, when he made a controversial speech on immigration, now widely referred to as the "Rivers of Blood" speech. In response, he was dismissed from his position as Shadow Defence Secretary. In his speech he predicted that ‘The black people will have a whip-hand over the white men’. Moreover, he said that the immigrants are likely to take out job and set the British community. The government tried to sweep this under the carpet, however nowadays people agree upon Powell’s opinion.
Brief Encounter - Brief encounter refers to a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the conventions of British suburban life. It centres at wife who meets a stranger at railway station and is tempted to cheat on her husband. For her, real love brings unexpectedly violent emotions. The film remains an enduring success with audiences, even if it borders on melodrama, cliché and typically "British" middle class understatement. The use of the Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto; dark and oppressive shadows; obsessional scenes with trains and railway stations; portrayal of middle class suburban life characterize the film and turn it into something unique within British film.
McPherson Report - The Macpherson Report was a public inquiry held in 1998 which analyses institutional and individual behaviour of the police after the murder of a Black British man, Stephen Lawrence, from Eltham, South East London, in a racist attack in 1993. This report criticises the Metropolitan Police and concludes that the police did not carry out the investigation in an appropriate manner, being “institutionally racist”. The Report, presented in 1999, states that the first officers at the crime scene did not provide first aid to Stephen Lawrence, they were also insensitive and racially stereotyping Stephen due to his ethnicity as well as it calls for re-invention of certain institutions.
Bradford Riots 2001 - The Bradford Riots were a short but intense period of rioting which began on 7 July 2001, in Bradford. It occurred as a result of heightened tension between the large and growing British Asian communities and the city's white majority, escalated by confrontation between the Anti-Nazi League and far right groups such as the British National Party and the National Front. The riot was estimated to have involved 1,000 youths. What began as a riot turned into an ethnic-related disturbance, with targeting of businesses and cars, along with numerous attacks on shops and property. A notable point of the rioting was the firebombing of Manningham Labour Club.
Commonwealth - The British Commonwealth of Nations was the result of the 1926 Balfour Declaration which stipulated that the relationship between Britain and her Dominions was equal in status. It consists of 53 member states which formerly belonged to The British Empire. The Head of the Commonwealth, as considered for now, is Queen of the United Kingdom – Elizabeth II. Member states have no legal obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture etc. It is committed to the institution of world peace; promotion of representative democracy as well as the pursuit of equality and opposition to racism etc.
Social Mobility - Social mobility is highly dependent on the overall structure of social statuses and occupations in a given society. It is he movement of individuals or groups in social position. It refers to classes, ethnic groups, or entire nations, and may measure health status, literacy, or education – but it mainly refers to individuals or families, and their change in income – known as economic mobility. It also typically concerns vertical mobility – movement of individuals or groups up or down from one socio-economic level to another, often by changing jobs or marriage. It can also relate to horizontal mobility – movement from one position to another within the same social level
UKIP - The UK Independence Party is a Eurosceptic as well as right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1993 with the primary objective of securing the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. The party is led by Nigel Farage. The party has twenty-three Members of the European Parliament, which makes it the largest UK party in the European Parliament. The image of the party has changed in recent years. Nowadays, it is more standing for traditional conservative and libertarian values. The party has described itself as a "patriotic" and "democratic, libertarian party with deep roots.
Public School - The term public school refers to a group of older, more expensive and exclusive fee-paying private independent schools in the United Kingdom, particularly in England, which cater primarily for children aged between 13 and 18. Together these schools comprise only around 1% of the total number of schools in the UK. Traditionally, these were boys' boarding schools, although most now allow day pupils and many have turned either partially or fully co-educational. Public schools have had a strong association with the ruling classes. They educated the sons of the English upper and upper-middle classes who were usually the sons of officers and senior administrators of the British Empire.
Social Dis-ease
New Labour - New Labour refers to a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the Labour Party in 1994, called New Labour, New Life For Britain. The "New Labour" was developed to portray a departure from "Old Labour", criticised for its breaking of election promises and its links between trade unions and the state. ‘New Labour’ supported market economics, emphasised the importance of social justice and believed in the use of free markets to deliver economic efficiency and social justice
Estuary English - Estuary English is a dialect of English spoken in South East England, especially along the River Thames and its estuary. It can be heard in London, Kent, north Surrey and south Essex. It shares many features with Cockney, and there is some debate among linguists as to where Cockney speech ends and Estuary English begins. Studies have indicated that Estuary English is not a single coherent form of English; rather, it combines phonetic features of working-class London speech spreading socially into middle-class speech and geographically into other accents of south-eastern England. Its most notable characteristics include intrusive R, diphthong shift, T-glottalization
Imperial Cricket - Cricket is a game demanding exercise of patience and temper, combined with danger and requiring courage. These characteristics link the game closely with the ideals of British Empire. People who abandoned their social habits and customs, were looking for something which connects them: this explains how cricket can now be found in various forms all around the world. Cricket is a symbol of values that are associated both with sport and politics; sport affects nationalism, it reflects national consciousness. By the 1920 and the 1930 the tournaments had become very popular and the organizers recognized its commercial potential. In Bengal cricket was used as a way of “beating the British”.
Multicultural London English - Multicultural London English is a dialect of English that emerged in the late 20th century. It is spoken authentically by working class, mainly young, people in London. However, elements of the sociolect are widely imitated throughout southern England. According to research conducted at Lancaster University, Multicultural London English is gaining territory from Cockney. It is said to contain many elements from the languages of “Englishes” as well as traditional Cockney. According to researchers from Lancaster University it is not white kids trying to sound like black kids, but rather young people who are exposed to different varieties of English as they grow up and who incorporate different influences into their speech.
Cockney - Cockney is a pejorative applied to all city-dwellers, it was eventually restricted to Londoners. More recently, it is variously used to refer to those in London's East End, or to all working-class Londoners generally. Cockney refers to the accent or dialect of English traditionally spoken by working-class Londoners. In recent years, many aspects of Cockney have become part of general South East English speech. A common view is that in order to be a Cockney, one must have been born within earshot of the Bow Bells. the Cockney accent has been more accepted as an alternative form of the English Language rather than an "inferior" one.
Empiricism - Empiricism is a theory which states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience. Empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory experience, in the formation of ideas, over the notion of innate ideas or traditions. John Locke, a well-known English empiricist, believed that the only knowledge humans can have is a posteriori, i.e., based upon experience. Locke is famously attributed with holding the proposition that the human mind is a tabula rasa, a "blank tablet," in Locke's words "white paper," on which the experiences derived from sense impressions as a person's life proceeds are written.
The Tartan Army - The Tartan Army is a name given to fans of the Scotland national football team. They have won awards from several organisations for their friendly behaviour and charitable work. However, they have also been criticised at times for aspects of their behaviour, however, such as jeering the British National Anthem. They registered a Scottish charity run by Scotland fans, raising money for disadvantaged children in Scotland and in the countries visited by fans following the team. They can be widely considered as a team of fans that is playing against any non-fair play and they can be considered cultural ambassadors.
Totemisation (Emile Durkheim) - In his work, Durkheim aimed to identify links between certain religions in different cultures, finding a common denominator. Durkheim saw religion as the most fundamental social institution of humankind, and one that gave rise to other social forms. Durkheim saw the religion as a force that emerged in the early hunter and gatherer societies, as the emotions collective effervescence run high in the growing groups, forcing them to act in a new ways, and giving them a sense of some hidden force driving them. According to him the clan or group worships itself through the totemic image – object that became sacred due to its emblematic form.
The Civilising Process (Norbert Elias) - The Civilizing Process is a book by German sociologist Norbert Elias. It is an influential work in sociology and Elias' most important work. It was first published in two volumes in 1939. Because of World War II it was virtually ignored, but gained popularity afterwards. The first volume traces the historical developments of the European habitus, or "second nature," the particular individual psychic structures molded by social attitudes. Elias traced how post-medieval European standards regarding violence, sexual behaviour, bodily functions, table manners and forms of speech were gradually transformed by increasing thresholds of shame and repugnance, working outward from a nucleus in court etiquette.
The ‚Political Football’- A political football is a topic or issue that is seized on by opposing political parties or factions, and made a more political issue than it might initially seem to be. Usually an issue that becomes politically divisive; a problem that doesn't get solved because the politics of the issue get in the way. As a matter of fact as an example of political influence over certain fields of life we might consider education. As known – many grammar schools were closed in 1970s, or else there has been the idea of comprehensive education - a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement.
Lord Chief Justice Sedley - Sir Stephen Sedley was a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales from 1999 to 2011. He has provoked considerable debate about the role of government in collecting and keeping DNA samples. At present criminal suspects detained by the police in the UK are automatically given cheek swabs and their DNA kept, in perpetuity, by the government. This has created the situation where different races are differently represented in the United Kingdom National DNA Database. On the grounds that this situation is indefensible, Lord Justice Sedley discussed the case for a blanket DNA collection policy, including collecting samples from all visitors to the UK.
The Scarman Report - The Scarman report was commissioned by the UK Government following the 1981 Brixton riots. Lord Scarman was appointed by then Home Secretary William Whitelaw on 14 April 1981 to hold the enquiry into the riots. According to the Scarman report, the riots were a spontaneous outburst of built-up resentment sparked by particular incidents. Lord Scarman stated that "complex political, social and economic factors" created a "disposition towards violent protest". The Scarman report highlighted problems of racial disadvantage and inner city decline, warning that "urgent action" was needed to prevent racial disadvantage becoming an "endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society".
The English: Portrait of a People - In The English Jeremy Paxman sets out to find about the English. Not the British overall, not the Scots, not the Irish or Welsh, but the English. In his book Jeremy Paxman is to many the embodiment of Englishness yet even he is sometimes forced to ask: who or what exactly are the English? And in setting about addressing this most vexing of questions, Paxman discovers answers to a few others. Moreover, the author tries to answer the question about today’s “Englishness”, looking for clues in the English language, literature, luke-warm religion and "curiously passionless devotion" to cricket collecting different ideas into one answer.
Comprehensive Education - Comprehensive education deals with the idea that a school should not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude or the wealth of the parents of the children it accepts. According to certain critics there has been a debate about the merits of streaming pupils. In grammar schools pupils were taught in different classes according to their perceived ability. At first the comprehensives copied this structure, but the failings of streaming, principally that it failed to reflect the spread of abilities in different subjects, led to experiments with other methods which led to mixed ability teaching – widely adopted.