大学英语专业课程英美概况上册Unit4Politics,ClassandRace.ppt

Unit 4 Politics, Class and Race,Major Points,General Elections The political Parties in the UK Recent political trends Class Race,I. What is a General Election?,The election of all Members of Parliament (MPs) for each constituency (local area) is called a General Election.,II. How often do General Elections take place?,A Parliament has a maximum duration of five years. At the end of the five year or before, a general election must take place so new members of parliament can be elected by the people. General elections have to take place at least every five years and are called by the Prime Minister (the leader of the Government). After the government has been in power for 5 years, it has to resign and hold a “general election”, in which all British people are given the chance to vote again for their constituencys MP.,III. When does an early election occur?,When the government loses a “vote of no confidence” in the House of Commons, that is, an MP puts forward a statement for the MPs to vote on saying that “This house no longer has confidence in the government”. If the Prime Minister decides that the government is currently popular, he can call for an early election hoping to win another five years.,IV. Who can stand for election as an MP?,Anyone who is eligible to vote can stand as an MP (with a deposit of 500 pounds). Questions: why does a person who want to stand as an MP have to make a deposit of 500 pounds? When will he/she lose the money?,In most cases, a candidate is usually one put forward by one of the main political parties. Why? because if an independent candidate were to win the seat he/she would be powerless in parliament against big parties representative.,Receive a voting card,V. What happened in an election?,Everyone on the “electoral register” will:,Go to the local voting station,Give a voting card to the official and get another card with the candidates name on it,Take the card into a private booth And put an X beside the name of your choice,Put the card into the sealed box,Counting of the voting cards when the voting closes,The results come out.,Celebration of winners,Electoral Campaign,Advertisements in newspaper Door-to-door campaign Postal deliveries of leaflets Party electoral broadcasts (strictly limited) *In the campaigns, politician do not properly explain their own policies, but instead explain why people would not vote for their opponents.,Party Electoral Broadcasts (PEB),Broadcasts made by the parties and transmitted on TV or radio. By agreement with the broadcasters, each party is allowed a certain number period to “sell” their policies to the public.,Allocation of the time,The time given is free, and the amount of time is proportional to number of candidates fielded and the percentage of the vote which the party received at the previous election. They are not allowed to buy more time. (Why?),V. The Political Parties,The Conservative Party The Labour Party The Liberal Democrats,The Conservative Party,Spend most time in power (1979-1997) Protect the individuals right to acquire wealth and to spend it how they choose, and so favoring economic policies which businessmen prefer, such as low taxes.,The Labour Party,Created by the growing trade union movement at the end of 19th century. The newest party and one of the two biggest party A socialist party (high taxes),They believe a society should be relatively equal in economic terms, and the part of the role of government is to act as “redistributive agent”. Also they see the government as the right body to provide a range of public services available to all, such as health, education and public transportation.,The Liberal Democrats,The 3rd biggest party A party of the “middle”, occupying the ideological ground between the two main parties. Comparatively flexible and pragmatics in their balance of the individual and the social. Emphasizing the need to make government more democratic and accountable.,Margaret Thatcher and Her Policy,She committed to the idea of small government and free-market economics, and less concerned with being “fatherly”. Her policies: To privatize the nationalized industry A Less redistributive taxation system: tax rate were cut.,Negative consequences,Unemployment increased. Many people got richer, and many got poorer. Britain became less equal society. Public services, such as health, education, and transportation, got worse.,在对京都议定书的簽署问题上欧盟内部几乎没有任何争议，随着原东欧共产主义国家新加入欧盟，原有的1990年基准指标也大为抬高，相对其他的发达国家，欧盟获得了一些潜在的好处,Social Class,Britain was once a class-ridden society. Today, multiculturalism and a changing economy are gradually eroding the British class system, but some features of the system still remain. The British society has often been considered to be divided into three main groups of classes:,the Upper Class Often people with inherited wealth, including some of the oldest families, with many of them being titled aristocrats. the Middle Class The majority of the population of Britain. They include industrialists, professionals, business people and shop owners. Lower or Working Class People who are agricultural, mine and factory workers.,The British Class System today,Although some people in the UK still refer to themselves as “working-class“, “lower-middle“ or “upper-middle“ (and of course there are those who think of themselves as the “elite“ class), to the majority of the British the meanings dont seem to matter much these days.,Cultural difference between different class,Have different occupations Go to different schools (free state school VS. expensive public school) read different newspapers watch different TV programs Speak with different accents,Race,People from all cultures and ethnicities can be found in every corner of Britain and each person in his or her own way has contributed to make Britain the place it is today.,How Britain became a mixed race society,Britain is and has always been a mixed race society. Early in British history they were invaded by Romans, Saxons ,Vikings and Normans and later Africans were brought to Britain by force in the 17th and18th centuries as slaves or servants. Over the years, thousands of people have arrived in Britain as refugees from France, Ireland, Russia, and other countries, escaping from persecution or famine in their own countries.,Immigrants,There are British people whose parents first came to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and other places. Their homes are mainly in the big English cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester. About 8% of the population of Britain today are people from other cultures and ethnicities. That is 4.6 million people.,Population by Ethnic Group in 2001,White 92.1% Mixed 1.2% Asian Indian 1.8% Pakistani 1.3% Bangladeshi 0.5% Chinese 0.4% Other Asian (non-Chinese) 0.4%,Black: Black Caribbean 1.0% Black African 0.8% Black (others) 0.2% Other 0.4%,Timeline: Immigration to Britain,1100s: Merchants from Netherlands and settle 1500s: Queen Mary marries Philip of Spain Dutch and French Protestants settle 1600s: Asians brought to England as Slaves 1700s :Refugees from the French revolution (1789) arrive First records of Chinese sailors in London,1800s:,Jewish arrivals fleeing persecution in Poland, Ukraine. Irish settlers escaping poverty during the famine in Ireland. Trade brings Indian and Chinese people to main ports Jews flee to UK from Russia and Poland,1900s,1914 - More than 250,000 Belgian refugees fled to the UK, escaping the fighting of the First World War. 1930s - Refugees from Nazi oppression arrive in the UK 1940 - 1960 - Polish people homeless because of the War, invited to come to UK,1940s-1960s,1948 : The boat Windrush brings 492 Jamaicans to the UK thousands more follow; Immigration from Caribbean encouraged to help rebuild post-war Britain 1950s and 60s: Settlers from other new Commonwealth nations arrive India, Pakistan and Bangladesh,1970s-1980s,1970s - East African, Asians and Vietnamese arrive 1972 - Asians expelled from Uganda; 27000 admitted to UK 1980s - African community expands Refugees arrive from Eastern Europe Romania and former Yugoslavia,1990s,1991: Break up of the government of Somalia lead to 7,500 applications being made to the UK many of which ar