Great Britain: the Land of Traditions - Творческая работа

Министерство Образования Саратовской области Муниципальное общеобразовательное Учреждение Лицей № 37 Фрунзенского района г. Саратова Выпускная работа Great Britain: the Land of Traditions Саратов, 2009 г. Contents Introduction 1. Roots of stereotypes 2. Parliament and the Royal Family 3. Clothes 4. Food and Eating Habits Conclusion List of Literature Introduction Every nation has a stereotyped reputation of some kind or other, partly good, partly bad. The French are supposed to be cheerful, sophisticated, intelligent people, fond of good food and the opposite sex. At the same time it is often said that they are intolerant, excitable and somewhat unpredictable. The Americans are said to be energetic, hospitable, mobile and sociable, but rather boastful and showy. According to the results of the survey conducted among senior students of Lyceum 37 85 per cent find the British even-tempered, modest, tolerant, 60 per cent believe typical Brits to be cheerful and generous while 5 per cent call them calculating and prudent. We don’t mean that national reputations are simply a matter of prejudice and false generalization. There is no denying that national differences in manners and outlooks do exist. There is no denying either that since these differences arise out of the specific development of each country they tend to change over time while stereotyped images remain unchanged. As James O’Driscoll puts it, “Societies change over time while their reputations lag behind”. We decided to study some stereotyped images of the United Kingdom and try to understand whether they are true to life or have completely or partially changed. Since it is impossible to examine all aspects of public life in the country all cultural and socio cultural peculiarities, we have chosen only 3 areas: as the political system of the country, food and clothes. As political system of Great Britain seems to be rather complicated and deserves special studies we have only touched it upon focusing on a few changes. Besides the listed below our research is based on the studies by James O’Driscoll and David MCDowal. 1. Roots of stereotypes Before we start examining stereotyped attitudes to the British political system, food and clothing we find it only logical to touch upon the most typical assumptions and make an attempt to trace their origin. In the introduction we mentioned a survey of senior students of Lyceum 37. They were asked what Great Britain is associated with. There were also required to make a list of 5 outstanding Brits and name 3 London tourist attractions. The majority of respondents call the country the land of traditions and say that it is mostly associated with rainy weather, the Queen, traditional ceremonies, music and football. Among the numerous London sights Big Ben, the Tower and Trafalgar square occur most often. A couple of students mention the London Eye. All the sights which appeared in the British capital in the 20ieth century remain obscure. Such results do not seem astonishing (do not raise the eyebrow) because “societies change over time while their reputations lag behind”.