ROMÂNIA

MINISTERUL EDUCAŢIEI ŞI CERCETĂRII

ŞTIINŢIFICE
UNIVERSITATEA „VASILE ALECSANDRI”
DIN BACĂU
FACULTATEA DE LITERE
Strada Spiru Haret, nr. 8, Bacău, cod 600114
Tel.Fax: 0234/588884;
www.ub.ro E-mail: litere@ub.ro

Interculturalitate și orizont anglofon

COORDONATOR :
Lect. univ. dr. MIHAELA CULEA

MASTERAND:
COBUZ(DRUGĂ) IUSTIUNA VASILICA
LEPC an I, Sem. al II-llea
 8. Social behaviour and ‘moral panics’

Family identity

Social behaviour represents a wide category that includes more than one possibility.
Family, education, religios aspects, development; all these classes are based on a specific
behaviour.

Family identity is an important marker in every society(Picture A). In Britain this

aspect is weak in comparison with other places in the world. Of course, the family is still an
important component, but the number of people living in a household is smaller than in other
countries.

The nuclear family, mother, father and children is distroyed by divorces. The number
of children born outside marriage has risen dramnatically. It is notable that about three-
quarters of all births outside marriage are officially registred by both parents.

Another important aspect is the sense of identity based on the place of birth. People
are mobile so they like to live in what they call nice places. However, the larger geographical
area is an essential fact because almost everybody has a specific accent that identifies them
as coming from a particular region.

The media represents a special component of this society. People from here enjoy
reading newspapers more than others do. The morning paper round is the indication for the
importance of the newspapers. Teenagers deliver these papers every morning in order to get
extra money.

The texts Teenage pregnacies and drugs and Marriage highlight the failures of this
society and tries to look for different ways to improve every bad thing. These papers discuss
about three major problems that are steadily increasing: on the one hand, we will discuss
about teenage pregnacies. The second problem is the regular use of birth-control techniques
within marriage. The latter, that is somehow connected with the previous, refers to
household composition.

Although the political system tried to develop new strategies in order to get better
results, families face the same problems: the number of people who will be living together
 without being married predicted to rise, children’s attitude to these major shift, and finally
the entire social system will be affected by these changes.

The changes in marriage, divorce and cohabitation have contributed to the growing
number of new types of family. Stepfamilies(remarriage) are the most widespread. This
situation is followed by single parent families, but
also by a big number of civil partnership, type of
family intensively analyzed and disputed.

It is suggestive that, world-wide, declining

birth rates have accompanied the increased access by
women to education and to public roles.

Britain is considered to have the highest rate

of teenage pregnacies in Europe: ‘In 2007, there
were more than 42,900 conceptions in under-18s,
and almost 8,200 pregnancies in under-16s. This recent rise in conception rates is the first
increase since 2002’1 .

This problem is influenced also by the use of drugs. These substances are seen as a
reacreation, a special way of getting better.

The school system plays an important role among these actions. Children/teens must
learn the importance of a rational sexual life, but also they must be supported if they do
something wrong.

As we can see, school and family are connected. They must cooperate in order to
obtain a solid and healthy family identity. The political system should help these two
fundamental institutions to develop better strategies to prevent future problems.

Very important for our study are the folowing statements:

‘I don’t think I am being selfish in not wanting more, but I’ve got other ideas for the
children. I want them to have every opportunity so that we can be proud of them. I reckon
we all feel more responsible to our kids than they did when they had those big families-we
don’t want more than we can give a fair chance to. [We] could never have done what we did

1
Dr Sarah Jenkins, Isabella Pereira from Ipsos MORI, Natalie Evans from Policy Exchange, Families in Britain,
p.13
 for our boy if we’d had more children. He’s had the best of education and we let him go right
through the secondary school, he won his matriculation and had just started work in a bank
when the war broke out’2.

Women love (their) children very much, but in the same time they would like them to
have a better life, to ensure for their
children better chances in life. Women
are choosing to have children later once
their careers are established, and also
choosing to have fewer children, in
order that they can return to their career.
Despite this, Britain still has one of the
highest teenage pregnancy rates in
western Europe.

The traditional family is now

replaced by the previous mentioned
forms because social norms and people’ attitude are more relaxed than these were several
years ago: ‘seven out of ten people think that pre-marital sex is rarely or not wrong at all’3.

Individuals should analyze very carefully the entire situation and try to develop their
own strategies to stop the devastating efects of a disorganized family:

‘Twenty years ago, seven in ten people believed that people who want children ought to get
married, however, in 2008, this has fallen to just five in ten. Yet, although the public no
longer feel as strongly that there is a need to get married, marriage continues to be viewed as
positive when children are involved’4.

As we can see children are those who can successfully preserve the basic
characteristics of a family. Where the children are missing, family is less stable, with no
practical rules, without a specific atmosphere.

The subsequent chart helps us to vizualize how this modern society is divided:

2
Paul Addison and Harriet Jones, A COMPANION TO CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN 1939–2000, p.45
3
Dr Sarah Jenkins, Isabella Pereira from Ipsos MORI, Natalie Evans from Policy Exchange, Families in Britain,
p.14
4
Dr Sarah Jenkins, Isabella Pereira from Ipsos MORI, Natalie Evans from Policy Exchange, Families in Britain,
p.17
 We can’t say that British households do not contain children, but traditional families
are increasingly being replaced by a variety of non-traditional family. This fact determines
the decrease of children’s number.

The following excerpt from the citated article is also

essential for our study:
Despite the evidence of
‘Of course, every generation has its moral panic... But there are marriage being generally
best for children,
many on the political Left and Centre who also recognise that the
government ministers
phrase 'Broken Britain' reflects an essential truth about our have avoided debating its
society’. merits.

We can argue that families are also influenced by the

media and the existence of a moral panic: ‘new moral code proposed for Britain’s schools’5
suggests that teachers are supposed to help children to develop stronger relationships, to
increase the number of births, but the most important to be prepared for life.

The political system should deeply debate family interests and look for the best
solutions in order to solve the most recurrent problems.

The family and the political institution must always cooperate. This thing is very
difficult when a small part of this circle does not share the same ideas:

‘You shouldn’t assume that the government would

automatically support you.’
Non parent, female, 18-35 years

‘If unemployment comes or you fall on hard times,

the government should be there then.’
Father, 35-55 years6

5
James O’Driscoll, Britain. The country and its people: an introduction for learners of English, Oxford
University Press, p.236
6
Dr Sarah Jenkins, Isabella Pereira from Ipsos MORI, Natalie Evans from Policy Exchange, Families in Britain,
p.33
 Family identity is an important aspect in every society. Families are now less stable
than in previous generations. Children often grow up with different parents - in stepfamilies,
or with one parent figure missing.
As a consequence, children are more likely to experience poverty, poor health and
wellbeing and be involved in antisocial behaviour.

Political systems, religious aspects, educational system and the positive or negative
influence of the media will determine a clash between families, but these will go on evolving.
As more women have careers and seek more egalitarian relationships, men and women
frequently need to negotiate their roles within the family. This is likely to be heightened as the
economic downturn takes its toll on employment and families have to be flexible about who is
at work.

Children are not mechanical structures. They must be helped to develop their own
personality(Picture B). This thing is possible if only the society brings to them positive
models. The large public can accept that non-traditional families such as divorced,
stepfamilies and single parents are now the norm, but they shouldn’t have a more relaxed
attitude towards the institution of marriage than previous generations.
Marriage should continue to be widely viewed as desirable where children are
concerned.
 ANNEXES
Picture A

Picture B
 Bibliography:

Books:
Addison, Paul, Jones, Harriet A COMPANION TO CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN
1939–2000

O’Driscoll, James, Britain. The country and its people: an introduction for learners of
English, Oxford University Press.

Oakland, John, Contemporary Britain:A survey with texts, Routledge

Article:

Jenkins, Sarah; Pereira, Isabella from Ipsos MORI; Evans, Natalie from Policy
Exchange, Families in Britain

Internet sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1198962/Yes-family-breakdown-IS-
broken-Britain-Top-judge-says-national-tragedy-attacks-BBC-suppressing-debate.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnktXHBvE8s