People of the UK
2.1 Population
Overall population: over 60 million
In England: 50 million people
In Scotland: over 5 million
In Wales: around 3 million
In Northern Ireland: about 1.7million
2.2 Ethnicity
the Anglo-Saxons
the Celtic
Nordic
Norman French
Q&A: Whoare the British?
Politically speaking, all the peoples ofthe united kingdom and northern Ireland including the indigenous English,Scots, Irish and welsh, those from the former colonies, and the many others whohave made Britain their adopted country are called British.
EthnicGroups of total
White British 85.7%
WhiteIrish 1.2%
White(other) 5.3%
Mixedrace 1.2%
Indian 1.8%---3.4%
Pakistani 1.3%
Bengali 0.5%
Other Asian (non-Chinese) 0.4%
BlackCaribbean 1.0%
BlackAfrican 0.8%
Black(others) 0.2%
Chinese 0.4%
Other 0.4%
The indigenous cultures
Empire cultures
2.3 Language
2.3.1 Old English (5th ~ 11th)
Language of Anglo-Saxons, influenced by Old Norse; Latin and Greek words;Danish words
Works: Beowulf
2.3.2 Middle English (11th ~ 15th )
French: the official language,
English: the Language of lower class
Eg. pig — pork; sheep — mutton; cattle — beef
Works: The Canterbury Tales,written by Geofery Chaucer
2.3.3 Modern English (15th~ )
The printing press—brought standardization of English
Samuel Johnson’s dictionary—established a standard form of spelling
Renaissance—assimilated foreign words throughout the Renaissance
The Industrial Revolution—necessitated the introduction of new words fornew things and ideas
The rise of the British Empire or the Commonwealth of Nations—led to theassimilation of words from many other languages
Works: works of William Shakespeare
2.3.4 Standard English
based on the speech of the upper class of southeastern England
adopted as a broadcasting standard in the British media
also called as Queen’s English or BBC English
based on the London dialect
becoming a world language
2.4 Characteristics
2.4.1 Gentleman Manners
Q& A: What isthe typical British?
ladies and gentlemen
The behaviour of the concept “lady first” is one of perfect interpretationof gentleman manners
This is influenced by the knight spirit of the middle age, now the concepthas become a symbol of modern civilization and good manners
“the ox and the cow are in the field ” right”
A Lady First Quiz:who should be first?
Enter a room or restaurant
Men should always allow the lady to precede them
Get off a car or taxi
Men should get out of the car first, then go to the other side and open thedoor for the lady, if it is a taxi, men should pay the fare
Go out of a concert hall
Gentleman should wait till the lady leave
Walking along the street
Men should walk on the outside, if the man is walking with two ladies, heneed walk in the middle.
Seat
Men should draw the chair, let woman sit first– which side is better/ whotakes first
Introduction
Men are introduced to women
In danger
Let the ladies be saved first
2.4.2 Pub Culture
2.4.2.1 The center of social life
2.4.2.2 Interesting old names
2.4.3 Six Senses
A Sense of Trust — gentlemen agreement
A Sense of Irony — good for body, mind and spirit
A Sense of Duty — charity and volunteer work
A Sense of Order — stand in line and uniform
A Sense of Superiority— they just know they’re the best
A Sense of Fair Play— tolerance and an instinct forcompromise
A Sense of Trust — Trust in taken for granted in Britain to manage theircountry and daily life. The tradition of the gentlemen agreement shows thephilosophy of life and continued to be cherished. Britain and Japan are takenas the high trust people.
A Sense of Superiority — because of their great empire and the class system(upper, middle, lower or working class), they don’t have to tell others how wonderful they are -- like theFrench, Germans, or Italians; they just know they’re the best.
A Sense of Duty — almost one in five British had taken part in unpaidcharity and volunteer work.
A Sense of Fair Play—fair play, tolerance and an instinct for compromise arefundamental qualities of the British character. In other words, English societyis not governed by a written constitution, but on a basis of the sense of fairplay and mutual trust.
A Sense of Order — the English expression there is a time and a place foreverything suggests a need for order. This can be seen in the way people standin line for public transport and a love of uniforms.
A Sense of Irony — irony has to do with self-deprecation，it comes from a tendency to laugh at oneself and one’s situation, British see it good forbody, mind and spirit.
Some key words tosummarize British:
practical, humorous, honest, superior, polite, stubborn,conservative, tolerant
2.4.4 British Celebrities
Guess the names of the celebrities.
Religion in UK
1. Religion in the United Kingdom
2. People’s attitude towards religion
3. The churches in Britain
Religion in the United Kingdom
Britain is a multi-faith society in which everyone has the right to religious freedom. Although Britain is historically a Christian society, people are usually very tolerant towards the faiths of others and those who have no religious beliefs.
Religion in the United Kingdom, and in the countries that preceded it, has been dominated for over 1,400 years by various forms of Christianity.
According to the 2011 Census, Christianity is the major religion, followed by Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in terms of number of adherents. Among Christians, Anglicans are the most common denomination, followed by the Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists. This, and the relatively large number of individuals with nominal or no religious affiliations, has led commentators to variously describe the United Kingdom as a multi-faith and secularised society.
2. official/state Church
The United Kingdom as a whole lacks an official religion.
The official religion of England is Christianity, as practised by the Church of England (Anglican).
The Church in Wales is also Anglican.
In Scotland the official Church is the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Other Christians in each country also include the Roman Catholics and the Methodists.
The Monarch of the United Kingdom is the Supreme Governor of the Church, and accordingly, only a Protestant may inherit the British throne.
History of Religion in England
Britain used to be a Roman Catholic country.
In 1533, during the reign of Henry VIII, England broke from the Roman Catholic Church to form the Anglican Church.
Why did England become a Protestant country?
Henry VIII, the king, wanted a divorce. He wanted a son and his wife only gave birth to daughters. He asked the Pope for permission to divorce, but was refused. Henry VIII became very angry and decided to make his own church.
Henry VIII became leader of the Church of England (Anglican Church). He had the Bible translated to English and the people who believed in this new religion were called Protestants .
Back to being a Catholic Country
In 1553, Mary became Queen. She changed the country back to Catholicism and burned Protestants who wouldn't change at the stake (similar to a bonfire).
In 1558, Elizabeth became Queen. She changed the church back to Anglican and it has been the official religion of England since.
Religion in Britain today
The main religion in Britain is Christianity. Most Christians belong to the Church of England or the Church of Scotland. These are Protestant Churches. There are also many Roman Catholics.
Who is the head of the Church of England?
The Queen (the British Monarch) is 'Supreme Governor of the Church of England'.
Although religious faith in Britain is predominantly Christian, most of the world’s religions are also practiced. There are large Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities, and also smaller communities of Bahá’í, Buddhists, Jains, and Zoroastrians, as well as followers of new religious movements.
Churches
· 3 Presbyterianism, Congregationalism and other Reformed
· 6 Charismatics and Pentecostalism
· 10 Other Trinitarian denominations
· 11 Non-Trinitarian denominations
· 11.2 Other Non-Trinitarian denominations
Anglicanism
The Church of England is the established church in England. Its most senior bishops sit in the national parliament and the Queen is its supreme governor. It is also the "mother church" of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Church of England separated from the Catholic Church in 1534 and became the established church by an Act of Parliament in the Act of Supremacy, beginning a series of events known as the English Reformation. Historically it has been the predominant Christian denomination in England and Wales, in terms of both influence and number of adherents.
The Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican Communion (but not a "daughter church" of the Church of England), dates from the final establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland in 1690, when it split from the Church of Scotland. In the 1920s, the Church in Wales became disestablished and independent from the Church of England, but remains in the Anglican Communion
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church has separate national organisations for England, Wales, and Scotland, which means there is no single hierarchy for the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom. Catholicism is the second largest denomination in England and Wales, with around five million members, mainly in England. Catholicism is Scotland's second largest Christian denomination, representing a sixth of the population.
Methodism
The Methodist movement traces its origin to the evangelical awakening in the 18th century. The British Methodist Church, which has congregations throughout Great Britain, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Malta and Gibraltar, has around 290,000 members, and 5,900 churches, though only around 3,000 members in 50 congregations are in Scotland. In the 1960s, it made ecumenical overtures to the Church of England, aimed at church unity. Formally, these failed when they were rejected by the Church of England's General Synod in 1972. However, conversations and co-operation continued, leading on 1 November 2003 to the signing of a covenant between the two churches.
The Methodist Church in Ireland covers the whole of the island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland where it is the fourth-largest denomination.
Other faith
Islam
Estimates in 2009 suggested a total of about 2.4 million Muslims over all the United Kingdom. According to Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the number of Muslims in Britain could be up to 3 million. The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live in England and Wales.
Most Muslim immigrants to the United Kingdom came from former colonies. The biggest groups of Muslims are of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian and Arab origins, with the remainder coming from Muslim-dominated areas such as Southwest Asia, Somalia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Muslims are by far the poorest religious or non religious community in the UK. Muslims also happen to be the most disproportionately represented religious group facing arrest, trial and imprisonment, with 13.1% of prisoners being Muslims while the community represents 4% of those aged 15 years or older within the general population.
Asian religions
Historic Churches in Britain
Westminster Cathedral – Catholic
Canterbury Cathedral – Church of England and Mother Church of England
Westminster Abbey – Church of England
Detailed 2015 BSA survey on religion in the UK | |||
Affiliation | % of UK population | ||
42 |
| ||
17 |
| ||
Other Christian[52] | 17 |
| |
8 |
| ||
49 |
| ||
Non-Christian faiths | 8 |
| |
5 |
| ||
Other Non-Christian faiths | 3 |
| |
Don't know/refused answer | 1 |
| |
Total | 100 |
| |