British institutions

British institutions

A thematic index 

About-Britain.com - a guide :  tourism, life,  culture,  institutions





British institutions and society 

The main British Institutions - simply explained:  

 Brexit - 2016 - 2024

The English language :  

For information about the English language, its history, grammar and other aspects, visit our partner Linguapress.com

About-Britain.com - British area studies

The answers to these and other related questions form the basis of what is known, for want of a better term, as "British studies", or "British area studies", a cross-cultural discipline that takes students beyond the simple study of a language, to a study of the country or countries – or the civilisation and culture – that has given birth to that language.
   As a field of academic research and study, "area studies" is a recent concept. Until the 1980s, few universities offered transdisciplinary courses. Studying "English" or "Anglais" or "Anglistik" or "Filología inglés" meant studying literature and sometimes a bit of linguistics. Graduates knew about Shakespeare and Dickens, but generally knew very little about the workings of modern Britain or the USA, their institutions, their politics, their geography, their social issues. British politics were the reserve of politics departments, British geography was for geographers, not for students of English.... and so on.
   Things are different today. In universities and colleges worldwide, and often against strong resistance from the proponents of traditional literature based courses, area studies  have replaced literary studies as the backbone of language degrees. They are more relevent to today's globalized world where a good knowledge of Shakespeare, while being an admirable cultural asset, is usually of little help when applying for a job.
   Area studies are thus a transdisciplinary field of study; they reach into six main academic disciplines – history, geography, politics, sociology, linguistics and economics – and may reach into others too; art, music, religion, and more. To properly understand a nation, its institutions, its people, and its language, it is necessary to reach into all these areas.     


Compare

Institutions of the USA    About-the-USA.com



Copyright   : Website and texts © About-Britain.com 2009-2024 except where otherwise indicated

Picture top of page: The state opening of Parliament, 

Cette page en français:

 La civilisation britannique 


House of commons
Debate in the House of Commons - showing Ed Miliband, former leader of the Labour party (the Opposition)



Partner websites

Institutions, life and tourism
  • About the USA - NEW -  a thematic introduction to the United State....
  • About France - a thematic guide to France. Over 200 pages of information for visitors and students.
  • Angleterre.org.uk - Le guide de l'Angleterre, en français.


 Copyright  : Website and texts © About-Britain.com

Photos of the House of Commons  reproduced by permission of the British Parliament.

Photo top of page.
The State opening of Parliament 2019 by Roger Harris - © UK Parliament.



About-Britain.com respects your privacy, and does not collect any personal data. Cookies are used only to log anonymous visitor stats and to manage essential page functions. To remove this notice click   or otherwise click for more details