Before discussing the article, scan the text again and do the linguistic analysis outlined below.

1) Separate the author’s words from quotations given in the article.

2) Single out the words that highlight the author’s position, e.g.icon, predicament, lament, culprit, preponderance etc. Bring out their connotative meaning.

3) Write out all the nouns, adjectives and participles characterizing men and women. Group them according to their connotation. Sum up the results of your analysis and state, whether these words reflect the author’s opinion or that of the quoted publicists.

Read the text below and sum it up using your active vocabulary.

SINGLE PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN

Single-parent families are also known as “lone-parent” or “one-parent” families. There are about 1.5 million such families in the UK. Approximately every fifth child lives with one parent, of whom 9 % are fathers.

Over 60 % of mothers have been widowed, separated or divorced, with only few (about one-third) children receiving maintenance. Over 70 % of divorces are initiated by women, and one-parent families may be regarded as one of the results of the women’s liberation movement. The increasing number of single-parent families is a cause of much social anxiety.

In 1988, the Labour government set up the New Deal for Lone Parents, to encourage them to return to work: 90 % want jobs, but are thwarted by lack of affordable childcare and the “benefits trap”, whereby additional costs such as fares reduce income to below the level of state benefits. Over 40 % of single mothers are in paid work, with about 1 million single-parent families relying on Income Support. They are often portrayed in the tabloid press as scroungers like girls getting pregnant to obtain council houses. Yet fewer than 3 % are teenagers, and single parents are usually offered smaller properties than conventional two-parent families, with mother and child often required to share a bedroom.

The main disadvantages of lone-parent families, however, concern the children – parental absence or spousal conflict, economic hardship and social prejudice. Reports suggest that a poor relationship with parents leads to a child’s lower self-esteem; few young people from conflict homes enter tertiary education, being surpassed by other children. Besides, where stress is concerned, family life could have a more direct effect on children’s health than either material factors or cultural influences. Thereby, much effort is needed to prop up children from troubled households and give them a good start in life, moreover, to challenge the negative stereotypes about them.

Discussion

1) What is the author’s criticism targeted at?

2) What recent economic and social changes have influenced the position of men?

3) The author refers to statistics concerning boys’ performance at school. Do you think it has anything to do with their future and the role they play in social life later? Does performance at school prove anything? Why do you think girls often study better?

4) What do you think is the most common cause of the recent breakdown of marriage/ family life? Give evidence to prove your point of view.

5) Comment on the statement that “fatherless households” have replaced “female-headed households”. Can you explain the difference? What social tendency does this shift manifest?

6) Can a single-parent family be happy?

7) What’s your attitude to cohabitation (a common-law marriage)?

8) What does the author mean by saying that “men are emotionally illiterate, and women are not”?

9) How can you account for the fact that full-time working women in America still earn, on average, only 72% of the wages men receive? Does it have anything to do with gender discrimination?

10) Do you think that the social status of men is really a problem or is it far-fetched? Is “the rubbishing of men” part of Western culture? Is the situation in Russia in any way different from that in European countries and the USA?

13. Read the articleTHE FAMILY UNIT(Reader) and do the following assignments.

Vocabulary work

a) Suggest Russian equivalents of the following expressions from the article:

social institution; introduce to the cultural traditions, values and norms of the community; the cornerstone of social organization; the root cause of contemporary social ills; national identity and cultural cohesion; commitment to the family values; a source of national unity; changing employment patterns; challenge the beliefs, laws and customs governing notions of family and gender; shifting conceptions of gender identity; erosion of the traditional family; extended family was the dominant form of family structure; legal reforms affecting sexual behaviour, kinship structures and the social status of women; secure rights of custody, property ownership, political representation and reproductive control; award higher priority to personal choice and freedom as opposed to morality and duty; bring about drastic changes in the domestic sphere; a turbulent period in the family history; gender roles reversal; be tolerant of cohabitees and single parents; formalize a couple’s relationship by marriage vows; be born out of wedlock; a decline in registered marriages; shun serious relationships; childfree couples; improvements in female career prospects; social acceptance of contraception; postpone childbearing regardless of marital status; diversity in family forms; communal parenting; blame liberal reforms and permissive legislation for the moral decay; atomized, alienated society; rampant individualism; consumer greed; undermine the moral values necessary to sustain family life; maternal deprivation; an accepted fact of modern life; allegiance to the traditional family; bear the brunt of responsibility for producing well-adjusted, law-abiding citizens.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 811