LIFE AND FAMILY LIFE IN BRITAIN

A. LIFE IN BRITAIN:
I. Employment:
- Unenthusiastic for work:
+ Start late (at 8.00 for manual workers/ 9.00 for non-manual workers).
+ Lunch break is an hour or less and end working at 5.00 or 5.30pm
+ Work 5 days a week, a two-day weekend is very important.
+ Retire at 65 for men and 60 for women.
- High leisure: the more money they have, the more they enjoy their leisure.
- Types of jobs:

Working classes - building and factory work (traditional work)

- carpentry (skilled labour)
- Are called “blue-collar work”.
- Are poorly paid and are paid by the week, in cash.

Middle and upper-classes - Do the non-manual, skilled work, from business to medicine and
teaching.
- Are called “white-collar” worker.
- Earn a lot more money and are paid monthly, by a bank cheque.

* Comparison between Blue-collar and White-collar:

Basis for comparison Blue collar White collar

Meaning A job that requires physical labor is A job that requires clerical work is
known as a Blue collar job. known as a White collar job.
Color of Attire Blue White
Place of work Field or industrial location like factory Office
etc.
Job performed by Workers Employees
Remuneration Wages Salary
Basis of Payment Hours worked Performance
Requirement of job Muscle power Brain
Payment cycle Daily Monthly

II. The welfare system:

- Has the wide benefits system for: the elderly, the poor, the unemployed, the sick, the disabled, the
retired, ...
- The Department of Social Security (DSS): is responsible for distributing benefits, or governmental
financial help.

Sickness benefit: - You are ill, unable to work.

- Have to look after someone ill or disable.

Income Support - your income is too low to support yourself or your family.
- On dole with a family to support.
  Government has to assess your personal living conditions.

Housing benefit - Will pay your rent if you can’t afford to do so

- Supply you with accommodation if you are homeless.
 People don’t accept this help because they have run away from home
(or because of violent and rude parents), and they don’t want anyone to
find them.

Child Allowance - Every family is entitled to some money for every child they have.
Pension (lương hưu) - Get a Government pension when they retire.

 These benefit are funded in part by National Insurance, a small tax that is taken off everyone’s
wages.

The National Health - The best part of the welfare system and the British health service (BHS)
Service (NHS) - Patients visit GP (a group of NHS’s doctors do not work in hospital) to
check any serious problems  it is free.
* The welfare system is still imperfect and has some problems:
- Many people do not accept the help because they do not like the government interfering in their
private lives
- The system is too complicated with lots of rules and regulation.
- Some people can get so many kinds of benefits that their income is higher than the salary they
would receive if they were employed.
- Some people complain about paying taxes for the welfare.
- NHS doctors only help people who need it, they do not want to arrange more consultation than
necessary.
III. Housing:

Detached house - Almost everybody in Britain want to live in.

- Is separate building with land all around it.
- Has privacy from neighbours.
- Save a lot of time to work in the garden for gardener.
- Too expensive. (-)
Semi-detached house - A large number of people in Britain live in.
- One building with two separate households.
- Each house is the mirror of the other, inside and out.
- Has two floors and three bedrooms, there is access to the back; two
garden.
- The common material is brick.
- Can be found street after street, in the suburbs of cities and the outskirts of
towns all over Britain.
- Building land become scare; more expensive (-)
Terrace house - Are attached to one another on both sides in a long row (like semi-
detached)
- Has no way through to the back.
- Sometimes called a “town house”: three/ four – storey high with spacious
rooms.
- Very expensive (-)
High-rise blocks or - Families feel isolated and lonely.
flats - They don’t suit the British attitude to housing.
- Not unpopular just because they aren’t enough privacy.
- Not much contact with neighbours: the children have nowhere to play;
 depend on the lift (old people)
- Most British people avoid living in them.
- The cheapest kind of home.
Bungalow - Many older people want to buy it when they retired.
- All rooms are on ground floor suitable for older people.
Many people want to live in their own house, so they buy it with
borrowed money (a mortgage) and pay the money back month by month
(over a period of 25 years).
Housing problems Wealthy people: - buy luxury house of flat.
- Have 2 houses, a flat in town and a cottage in the
country.
Homeless people: - Live in boarding houses (Bed and Breakfast  B and
B) or hostels for the homeless run by charitable organizations.

B. FAMILY LIFE IN BRITAIN:

In comparison with most other places in the world, family identity is rather weak in Britain,
especially in England.
I. Weekday routine:
TIME ACTIVITIES DONE
Early morning - Alarm clock goes off - early cup of tea in bed.
- Take turns to wash in bathroom.
- Pick up morning newspaper and milk bottle.
- Breakfast, usually in kitchen.
- Leave for work and school.
- Alarm clock goes off - early cup of tea in bed.
- Take turns to wash in bathroom.
- Pick up morning newspaper and milk bottle.
- Breakfast, usually in kitchen.
- Leave for work and school.
Morning - Travel to work in rush hour, 8-9 a.m.
- Mid-morning tea or coffee break.
“Elevenses" at home for pre-school children and housewives.
Midday - Lunch or snack in canteen school meal Packed lunch (sandwiches) from
home or shop.
- Business executive expensive) lunch in restaurant or pub Snack for
housewives at home.
Early afternoon - Cups of tea in factories and offices.
- Tea for mothers and children at home.
Late afternoon - “High tea" in the North: a hot meal, snack, cake, cheese, salads, tea.
- Children under three have small meal or milk; then off to bed.
Evening - Hot supper for family, if they have not had "high tea.
- Watch TV Do school homework /Go out to clubs, meetings, etc.
Night - Have a hot drink, take a bath or have a wash and get into bed.
II. Main types family in Britain:
1. Nuclear family:
- A family consisting of an adult male and female with one or more children (including adopted)
- The husband was expected to go out and work to support the family while his wife stayed at home,
doing housework and looking after the children.