Britain and the USA: a social profile.
A) Britain’s total population, distribution of the population, ethnic composition, the class system.
The British of today are the result of wave after wave of conquest, displacement, migration and mixing. It is reflected in their national character and languages. Everybody from the UK is British, but be careful: only people from England are English. People from Wales think of themselves as Welsh; people from Scotland as Scottish; and people from Northern Ireland as either British or Irish.
The total population of the UK is over 60 million people. The UK is inhabited by the English who constitute about 77% of the total population, the Scots (8%), the Welsh (about 4.5%), and the Irish — constituting 2.8% of the total population Among other nationalities inhabiting the UK there are Gaels, Jews, Poles, Germans, Frenchmen, Italians as well as migrants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and African countries. People have been coming to Britain for centuries: some to get a better life, some to escape natural disasters, some as political or religious refugees. The greatest wave of immigration was in the 1950s and 1960s. The number of people asking to settle in Britain is rising but since 1971 it has reduced the number of people (coming from outside Europe) which it allows to stay.
Is Britain a cosmopolitan society? It really depends on where you go. In some British cities you can meet people of many different nationalities. Most members of ethnic minorities live in the South-East. In Greater London, they represent 20 per cent of the population. However, there are large areas of Britain untouched by immigration. In Scotland, Wales, the north and south-west of England only 1% of the population belongs to an ethnic minority. Many people in Britain, in spite of anti-racist laws, blame unemployment and poor housing on immigrants. But a lot of members of ethnic minorities overcome prejudice and achieve distinction in the media, in sport, in commerce and in public life.
Britain has always been a densely populated country. According to the latest full census taken in 2003 the population density in Britain is 255 per sq. km. England is the most thickly peopled part. Scotland is one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe.
Britain is a highly urbanized country, 89% of its population live in cities and towns, and only 11% are rural inhabitants.
Every country in the world has a class system. But in some way, for some reason, the question of class seems to have a special meaning for the British. This is reflected in their image abroad. Hollywood films have featured lots of upper-class Englishmen, always snobbish and usually cruel or stupid. The whole world knows the stereotype of the English gentleman or lord, often with a monocle and tweed jacket, sipping whisky and reading The Times. A vast proportion of British humour is based on the interaction between upper and working classes.
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Undoubtedly Britain is a class conscious society. The Royal Family and aristocratic families are treated with deference. Although such people add up to very small numbers of the population, they set the tone for the rest of the class structure.
Most people are classified according to their work occupations, falling into two broad groups: the middle class (or white-collar workers) and the working class (or blue-collar workers). The working class is rapidly declining. Since the 1950s there has been a massive growth of the middle class which embraces a range of people from senior civil servants, judges, senior medical specialists to clerical workers.
The upper class survives from one generation to another. It is characterised by three things: property, networks and power. The core of the class is probably only between 25,000 and 50,000 people, but they control key areas of capital in the national economy.
The strangest feature of class in Britain is that it is not entirely dependent on money. In certain circumstances one can be high class and poor, or low class and rich. It is so because the class system is also based on something historical which does not exactly match present conditions. The two really important indicators of class are education and accent. Whereas most ordinary people have regional accents, the upper classes speak in exactly the same way from the south-east of England to the north-west of Scotland. The explanation is the schools they go to. The higher the class, the more the accent resembles that of the royal family. Members of the upper class share a very specific identity. The sons all go to public schools, usually the more famous ones.
Official statistics treat class as a strictly economic distinction which is based on a six-point scale of employment types:
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A — Upper middle class (e.g. top managers, doctors, lawyers)
B — Middle class (e.g. middle managers, teachers)
C1 — Lower middle class (e.g. office workers)
C2 — Skilled working class (e.g. electricians, car mechanics)
D — Unskilled working class (e.g.farm or building labourers)
E — Residual (e.g. unemployed)
The weakest group economically are retired people, single women and people belonging to ethnic minorities. Pension age is 65 for males and 60 for females.
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