British Culture British Values (Дополнительное чтение)

British Culture, British Values(from “Understanding Britain” by Karen Hewitt)How the British Feel and Think. Pragmatism and PrivacyI will try to say something about British culture and values.The first point is that I am tentative. The British distrust big statements.They believe that big statements are not about ordinary human beings, andtherefore they are either not true or they lead to tyranny and disaster.The second point is that I am more comfortable when thinking about Englishculture, because there is difference between the values and attitudes of Englandand the much smaller countries, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

These threecountries have a sense of their Celtic heritage expressed in its myths and legends.Welsh is still a flourishing, living Celtic language. In the sparsely occupied areasof the Scottish western highlands and islands one can find plenty of evidence ofancient Celtic culture. More significant has been the succession of Scottishphilosophers, sociologists, economists, natural scientists, politicians, explorers,writers and engineers who have played great part in the history of the UnitedKingdom.The English distrust generalizations. They like details and examples whichprovide evidence and explanation. I suggest that the English seem to like definingthemselves as members of small groups which they have, as individuals, helped tocreate.We are sometimes described as a nation of amateurs, but the English have noobjection to it; consider our enthusiasm for creating and enjoying small groups.The English (and the Scots) are culturally pragmatic.

For us “beingpragmatic” means recognizing the real complications of a situation, and workingout the best way of dealing with them. In life, what works in one case will oftennot work in another. For this reason we are suspicious of theories: we want to seeevidence, examples, analogies. “How do you know?” seems to us a very sensiblequestion. It is typical of this culture that our great scientist is Darwin whoconstructed his theory of evolution out of thousands of little pieces of evidence thatwe can all examine.

In a curious way, Darwin’s explanation of the origin of specieswas an amateur activity.If you compare us with Americans, you will find that they are taught daily tospeak of “the American people” in a public language that is positive, and to talkabout themselves as individuals in language which is quite lacking in irony. InEngland, we find it extremely awkward to talk about ourselves except ironically.And towards other people, circumlocutions are almost essential.We resist orders just as we resist trying to order other people to do things.

Soinstead of “Sit down please” I might say, “Would you like to sit down?” or “Whydon’t you try that chair which is more comfortable than it looks”. Each sentence isshaped to allow the other person to say, “Thank you but I don’t want to sit down”.In any situation the person should be offered a polite way to refuse the proposal.Why do we use language this way? Because the English are trained from anearly age to judge and assess social responses. This is perhaps the most difficultcharacteristic to explain because it is so deep-rooted as to be instinctive.

Frombabyhood, English children are taught that other people want their privacy. “Otherpeople do not want to hear about your plans or your unhappiness. It is fine for thefamily to know, but you should not “impose” yourself on other people”. So theEnglish hesitate to talk to people whom we do not know until we are sure that theywant to talk to us. If two or three people with this rule somewhere deep in theirminds meet and do not know each other, they may be silent for a long time!Nobody is going to say, “You must not behave like that!” Part of ourtraining is not to impose on other people even when we think they are behavingbizarrely or stupidly.

So this explains the other observed truth about England – thatwe tolerate eccentrics, difficult people, nonconformists in social behavior. Indeedwe do.This culture of emotional privacy also leads to strong resistance to leaders –or anyone else who tells us what to do.The English are not a very hospitable nation. I believe the reason is closelyallied with the previous discussion. “If I invite someone to my home, he or shemay want to refuse. How can I help them to avoid accepting my invitation? Well,the simplest way is not to ask in the first place.”Social inhibitions do not mean that we all try to behave in the same waywhen we are in public. If other people’s personal space should be respected, soshould ours.And yet – cultures do change.

The stereotype of the reserved Englishmanand Englishwoman is in so many ways out of date. In recent decades we haveabsorbed cultural assumptions from other ethnic groups such as street carnivals,open-air eating and drinking, greater public expressions of emotion – in sport, ingrieving at death, and in reporting the disasters.Furthermore, although our privacy is recognized in law, our owncommitment to it has been seriously challenged. What is odd is that the Britishhave enthusiastically adopted CCTV cameras all over the country. The cameras aresometimes helpful in capturing criminals, but at the same time they mean that it ispossible to trace the movements of almost anyone at any time in an urbanenvironment. So perhaps our culture of privacy is changing radically.Active vocabularystatement – утверждение;values – ценности;attitude – позиция, отношение;heritage – наследие;evidence – очевидность; основание; свидетельство;awkward – неловкий;impose (on) – навязывать(ся) кому-то.Questions1.2.3.4.What parts of Great Britain are strongly influenced by Celtic heritage?What does “being pragmatic” mean for the English?What does the idea of “privacy” imply when we speak of English values?Why do the English speak about themselves ironically? What kind ofphilosophy is this irony based on?5.

What changes and challenges have taken place in British values andprinciples recently?Tolerance and FairnessIf you ask the English themselves what they think are typical “English”values, they will talk, with some hesitation and embarrassment, about toleranceand fairness. When we began to receive immigrants in large numbers fromdifferent parts of the world, we complained, as people do everywhere, of theirunEnglish habits.

But because of our belief in being tolerant, it was much easier toaccustom ourselves to their oddities: we could not think of any reason why theyshould not have their own food, or parties or strange habits.The other quality on which we pride ourselves is our desire to be fair. Ourdecisions about financing universities, our attitude to health rationing, our worriesabout the presumed innocence of defendants are based on issues of fairness.Governments always justify policies by saying they are trying to be fair.Fairness is a value which sees individuals in their relationship to otherindividuals in society.

It does not encourage people to think alike, nor does itencourage each individual to assert himself or herself. Instead it goes along withthat sense that other people have a right to their own lives, to be themselves.Foreigners in England can find themselves very bewildered and forlornbecause people leave them alone. Unless you know them already, approachingindividuals does not work very well for all the reasons outlined above. Look forgroups, associations, classes, campaigns which might interest you, you will quicklyfind the other side of the English – the lively, liberated, enthusiastic, slightly crazyside to English life.Active vocabularyembarrassment – смущение;to accustom – приучать;oddity – странность, чудаковатость; чудак, оригинал;presumed innocence – презумпция невиновности;to assert – утверждать.Questions1. What are the examples of fairness as a basic principle of social activity inBritain?2.

What is the way for the foreigner to feel more at home among the English?English HumourThe English are notoriously slow to get involved in serious conversations.But once they started, you will find their talk very difficult to follow. Seriousanalysis of a problem or a detailed account of personal life is always filteredthrough humorous, self-deprecating irony. Such irony is utterly confusing forforeigners; we share a distinctive sense of the absurdity of life which simply doesnot seem funny to most people. English humor is not a matter of jokes oranecdotes, but a way of looking at the world and undermining its threats andcruelty through our self-mocking sentence constructions that come as naturally astalking itself.On the one hand you can say that such pervasive irony demonstrates that theEnglish are not serious. They are always sliding away from “The Truth”. On theother hand you can say that they are deeply serious: in every sentence they areacknowledging that life is more complicated than any statement about it.

Is thatserious or not serious? This is also why the English love Chekhov. Is he serious ornor serious? I have heard Russians puzzling over Chekhov’s refusal to state hisposition except in enigmatic ways that cannot be pinned down. Chekhovianhumour is close to English humor.The experiences of Russians who are familiar with English, even those wholive in England, show that it takes a long, long time to understand this approach tolife. For us, of course, there is no problem unless, as happens with some people, weare born tone-deaf to the language of a culture.