Write a short report on the structure of the society of Britain today, which includes information on class, culture and racial differences this information will then be compared with the American society today using the same information.

For this assignment I have been asked to write a short report on the structure of the society of Britain today, which includes information on class, culture and racial differences this information will then be compared with the American society today using the same information.

There are many factors in our lives that can affect our mental, physical health and well being. Some can have a bigger bearing than others but all contribute small amounts to our state of health. Social class, in my opinion is one of the biggest factors on our state of health. Social class involves grouping the people in Britain by using there jobs or status in there jobs:

I think that this can affect your health as it can affect what kind of education and health services you receive in two ways. 1. You can not pay for better health care or education meaning that illnesses may develop more often or take longer to be cured (waiting lists). 2. The staff who are treating you may be in a different social class making them think that you are beneath them therefore resulting in poor healthcare and education.

Age can also be a deciding factor in your health. As you may be discriminated against because of your age, this can also happen with race, sex, religion and disability. These are the most common factors that are discriminated against. Having the factors discriminated against can lead the sufferer to depression even suicide it can also make the persons work at school suffer in they are discriminated against in school. But these factors can have a positive influence in your life, if you are surrounded by the same race, religion age or sex as you. You will not feel discriminated and your life will seem normal.

Family and friends are mostly a positive factor in your life which means that they can improve your health, if you are ill or depressed they can also help with education by helping you with work or talking to the school or college. Unfortunately they can be a negative factor in your health and education. If you are being abused by a family member then this will affect your physical and mental health, while your education can suffer if you fall out with friends who then bully you this can lead to distraction fro work and sliding grades.

Geographical location and housing will, I think, affect mostly your physical health as the weather conditions or state of the house you live in are what will reall affect your health. They can also be positive factors in you live in a luxury house this could boost your physical health.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Advertising can play a curtail part in our mental and physical health. The smoking adverts and drinking adverts encourage us to drink and smoke more that we already do. Theses activates defiantly affect your health as smoking can cause cancer ect. And drinking can cause kidney damage ect. Some adverts do have a positive affect on our health. Such as stop smoking campaigns or wear your seat belt, these type of adverts can help save our lives.

The 1991 Census showed a population which included three million people from minority ethnic groups, 5.5% of the population. The largest minority ethnic groups are Indian, black Caribbean, and Pakistani. In 1991 nearly half of Britain's minority ethnic population had been born in the UK. The Census figures may leave out some people of mixed ethnic parentage (some of whom may identify as "black other") - the PSI found that 39% of children with a Caribbean mother or father had a white other parent. People born in Ireland make up 1.5% of the population - 4.5% including their children. The British Jewish community is estimated as 285,000.

Where minority ethnic people live

Newcastle: Pakistanis

Middlesbrough: Pakistanis

Greater Manchester/Oldham/Lancashire: Bangladeshis and Pakistanis

Liverpool: Black Africans

Birmingham/West Midlands: Black Caribbeans, South Asians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis

Cardiff:Black Africans

Leeds/WestYorkshire: Pakistanis

Scunthorpe: Bangladeshis

Leicester: South Asians and Indians

Peterborough: Pakistanis

Luton: Pakistanis and Bangladeshis

Slough: Indians and Pakistanis

The overwhelming majority of the minority ethnic population live in the Cities - nearly 60% live in South East England, with 45% living in Greater London. While fewer than one in 10 of the majority ethnic groups live in Greater London, half of Caribbeans, and African-born Asians live in the South East region, as do 53% of Chinese and one in three Indians. The other regions where the minority ethnic population tend to live are the West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside and North West England.

It's no secret that white Americans are becoming a smaller and smaller proportion of the population, but statistics show that racial diversity is not evenly distributed across the country, a nationally recognized demographer told a conference of newspaper editors.

Racial lines will begin to blur as interracial marriage increases, he said Friday at the annual convention of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, held in San Francisco this week. There are now more than 3 million multiracial children in school. Japanese Americans have one of the highest rates of marrying outside their ethnic group. Japanese-Anglo births now outnumber Japanese-Japanese births, Similarly, among Americans with European heritage, only 15 percent have parents from the same country, for example, German-German or Italian-Italian. In the 2000 census, respondents who are multiracial will be allowed to check more than one box for the first time. it could mean a decline in the black population to 25 million from 32 million. Skin color, the most obvious way of determining a person's race, might become less meaningful. He cited a study that found that one-quarter of the darkest white people were darker than one-quarter of the lightest black people. Still, diversity has yet to reach much of the country. In 1990, 80 percent of the black population lived in 10 percent of the U.S. land mass, mostly in the southeast quadrant of the country. A large number of the country's 3,100 counties had a black population below 0.5 percent. A map showing the distribution of the Hispanic population was the reverse, with the concentration being in the southwest quadrant of the country. And while 90 percent of Latinos reside in 10 states, they live in far more counties across the country than do African Americans. The Asian American population is even more concentrated. Almost half the country's Asians - 43 percent - are in three metropolitan areas: San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

Healthcare in Britain.

British healthcare is provided by the NHS the national health service, we get this service free. We do not need health insurance as they do in America. The advantage of having the NHS is that we do not have to have insurance to be treated which means we can access healthcare straight away, a disadvantage of the NHS is that it can not always offer us the best possible service as they do not always have enough money given to them. The advantage with American hospitals is that they can have better equipment and can treat everybody who has health insurance because the person reciving the treatment pays for them selves. The disadvantage is that they are not always able to help every one if they have no health insurance. There are now many more private hospitals appearing in the uk they are now preferred because of there fast times and better patient care even though they are more expensive. Six main private hospital organisations British healthcare has been used for many years but now we do have much more private hospitals appearing and they ear being used more frequently by the british public as they are a lot faster than the NHS even though they cost more

This is the general structure of the British NHS:

This is an old structure of the NHS this is how it used to be, it has changed a lot in the years it has been running and now the simpelest NHS structure is this:

NHS structure 2002

SECERATARY OF STATE

D . O . H

REGINAL AUTHORITIES

STRATEGIC HEALTH AUTHORITIES

PRIMARY CARE TRUSTS

There are 8 regional authorities, 28 strategic health authorities; there are 4 primary care trusts in Cheshire and Merseyside

Her Majesty's Government is the body of ministers responsible for the conduct of national affairs. The Prime Minister is appointed by the Queen, and all other ministers are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Most ministers are members of the Commons, although the Government is also fully represented by ministers in the Lords. The Lord Chancellor is always a member of the House of Lords. The Prime Minister is also, by tradition, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service. The Prime Minister's unique position of authority derives from majority support in the House of Commons and from the power to appoint and dismiss ministers. By modern convention, the Prime Minsiter always sits in the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister presides over the Cabinet, is responsible for the allocation of functions among ministers and informs the Queen at regular meetings of the general business of the Government. The Prime Minister's other responsibilities include recommending a number of appointments to the Queen. These include:

1. Church of England archbishops, bishops and eans and other Church appointments;
2. senior judges, such as the Lord Chief Justice;
3. Privy Counsellors; and
4. Lord-Lieutenants.

They also include certain civil appointments, such as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Poet Laureate, Constable of the Tower, and some university posts; and appointments to various public boards and institutions, such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), as well as various royal and statutory commissions. The Prime Minister also makes recommendations for the award of many civil honors and distinctions.

The Prime Minister's Office at , the official residence in London, has a staff of civil servants who assist the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may also appoint special advisors to the Office to assist in the formation of policies.

Departmental Ministers
Ministers in charge of government departments are usually in the Cabinet; they are known as 'Secretary of State' or 'Minister', or may have a special title, as in the case of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Non-Departmental Ministers
The holders of various traditional offices, namely the Lord President of the Council, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Lord Privy Seal, the Paymaster General and, from time to time, Ministers without Portfolio, may have few or no department duties. They are therefor available to perform any duties the Prime Minister may wish to give them.

Lord Chancellor and Law Officers
The Lord Chancellor holds a special position, as both a minister with departmental functions and the head of the judiciary. The four Law Officers of the Crown are: for England and Wales, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General; and for Scotland, the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland.

Ministers of State and Junior Ministers
Ministers of State usually work with ministers in charge of departments. They normally have specific responsibilities, and are sometimes given titles which reflect these functions. More than one may work in a department. A Minister of State may be given a seat in the Cabinet and be paid accordingly.

Junior Ministers - generally Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State or, where the senior minister is not a Secretary of State, simply Parliamentary Secretaries - share in parliamentary and departmental duties. They may also be given responsibilitiy, directly under the departmental minister, for specific aspects of the department's work

The Americans also have a government structure but that dopes not mean that it is necessarily that it is like ours here is a diagram on the Americans government structure.

When you compare the American and British government you can see that they both have a head of government. The English have the Prime Minister and the American’s have the President, these people head up the government and make the most important decisions about the country. The American president’s office has lots of different departments branching off of it as does the British they both have different departments with heads of these departments.

When comparing the racial diversity in America and Britain I found the while in Britain most different racial groups have scatterd in the U.S. they have stayed close. E.g.” Almost half the country's Asians - 43 percent - are in three metropolitan areas: San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York” I don’t really think that there is a reason for these small concentrated areas of racial groups just like there is no reason fro the way they have spread out over England.