English as Global Language Essay

The phenomenal rise in use of English has mainly taken place over the last two decades. English has reached high status world-wide because of several factors; as the mother tongue of millions of people all over the world, as the language that millions of children learn at school and the language that is used in international relations, for global communication and as the major media language. The importance of a global language has become major, in some contexts such as communication, e.g. international web-pages on the Internet, English is the only language used. In addition, English is used to establish and maintain connection and relationship between people with different backgrounds from different cultures. In this discursive essay, I will discuss the different aspects of a global language and how it will affect cultures, minority languages and communities all over the world. Disposition of body †¢ Definition of Lingua Franca †¢ Do we need a global language? †¢ Should English be a global language? Why/Why not? †¢ Which standard will be the Standard? / Strict or loose standards? †¢ Will native speakers take advantage? †¢ What will happen to minority languages and communities? Method Before I started to write the essay, I read relevant literature. David Crystal’s â€Å"English as a Global language† contains a lot of useful information, and so does â€Å"Sociolinguistics† by Peter Trudgill. In order to retrieve I want different aspects on the subject, I also used the Internet for research. I was also interested in average people’s opinion, therefore I asked approximately 40 people of different backgrounds, age and gender what they think of English as a global language. 1. Definition of Lingua Franca Many people do not know what a lingua franca is, therefore I will start by defining the term Lingua Franca and also tell a bit about its history. 1.1 Lingua franca is Latin and means â€Å"French language†. The first text written in a lingua franca is from 1353, but a simpler form of it appeared in the 11th century. The origin of this term is from the modern era when French became the language mostly used in commerce and diplomacy between the European countries. Not only French serves as a lingua franca, several European languages had the same status; e.g. English, Greek, Latin and German. The term lingua franca became so common that it continued to be used for any â€Å"universal† language. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca 2005) 1.2 A lingua franca can be any language which is used for communication among people who have no native language in common. In many of the former European colonies in Africa, French or English are used as the language of communication in trade and business. (Trudgill 2000:132) In some parts of Africa, other African lingua francas, such as Swahili and Hausa, are used. These languages are indigenous in some countries and have become used because of political reasons. When a language is used as a lingua franca, it undergoes a certain amount of reduction and simplification. The simplification often refers to getting rid of irregularities and grammatical gender in the lingua franca. This happens because adults are, unlike children, generally not good language learners, and therefore need a simplified version of the language. (Trudgill 2000:165) Should English be the Global Language? People in general have different opinions on English as a â€Å"global† language. There are positive as well as negative aspects of this. Do we need a global language? Why do we need it? Why should English be the best option? 2.1 Translation has always played a central role in interaction between people with different languages and language skills. Thousands of years ago, monarchs, ambassadors and merchants had to rely on someone to translate. But the more linguistically mixed the community got, the less they could rely on individuals to ensure their communication. Most of these problems have been solved with a lingua franca or a â€Å"pidgin†. A pidgin is a language created, usually spontaneously, from a mixture of other languages as a means of communication between speakers of different languages Pidgins have simple grammar and few synonyms. The prospect that a lingua franca might be needed for the whole world is something that has arisen in the twentieth century. Sin ce the 1950s, many international organisations have come into being e.g. the UN and the World Bank. Also political groupings e.g. The European Union and The Commonwealth have come into being. The pressure to make an agreement concerning one language has become urgent, but it is a sensitive issue. (Crystal 2003: 12-13) The need for a global language is mainly appreciated by the international academic and business communities, but also by individuals as the world becomes more and more global. (Crystal 2003: 12-13) 2.2 Why English has grown as much as it has, and why it might be seen as the best option for a global language have more than one answer. One is the geographical-historical reasons, and another is the socio-cultural. The geographical-historical part explains how English has reached its position and the socio-cultural explains how and why it remains that way. (Crystal 2003: 29) 2.2.1 English came to England from northern Europe during the fifth century and started to spread around the British Isles. (Crystal 2003: 30) The historical movement of English around the world began with the expeditions to Asia and America and continued with the colonial developments in Africa and the South Pacific. When many colonies became independent during the mid-twentieth century, they kept English as their official language or semi-official language. This led to a major step forward for the English language; it is represented on every continent and on islands in the three major oceans, making the label â€Å"global language† a reality. (Crystal 2003: 29) 2.2.1 The socio-cultural aspect looks at the way people in many ways have become dependent on English for their social life and for their economic well-being. English is the language of many business and political domains and also the language of entertainment such as television, the film industry, the music business, communication (internet, telecommunication and computers) and safety. (Crystal 2003: 29) 2.2.2 Today’s status of English has mainly two reasons; the expansion of the British colonial power and the emergence of the economical power of the United States. The latter is what scientist argue explain the status of English in the world today. (Crystal 2003: 59) 3. Positive and Negative Aspects on English as a Global Language 3.1 Positive aspects of English as a Global Language According to Buck (2005), English has, without doubt, reached the top position in the language hierarchy. Almost 30 % of the population are already â€Å"reasonably competent† in English. As the language of commerce, economy and politics, knowledge of and fluency in that language is helpful when participating in these fields. The economic power houses, the political bodies and commercial organisations also use English as their language of communication. More than 85% of the scientific, technological and academic production in the world today is performed in English. By using English you are able to communicate with people in almost all countries all over the world. English is the most widely spoken language with regards to number of countries, even though Chinese, Hindi and Spanish have more native speakers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language 2005) The case might be that even in countries where one of the other languages is spoken you will be able to communicate wi th the inhabitants, using English as a lingua franca. It is often taken for granted that one speaks English and when someone does not, one might be looked upon suspiciously. I asked approximately 40 people from different backgrounds, different age and with different nationalities which language they would prefer as a global language and the majority answered English. The following reasons were given: It is the language you hear and read every day; the younger generations have learned it in school and it would be the best global language because it is the most spread all over the world. The people, who disagreed, said that Spanish would be the best global language, because it has more native speakers than English. 3.2 Negative aspects of English as a Global Language Even though there are many positive aspects of having a global language, there are negative aspects as well. How would it be possible to carry through a global language? Are there any dangers with having a global language? A global language might cultivate an elite class with native speakers, who take advantage of the possibility to think and work quickly in their mother-tongue. If this was the case they might manipulate it to their advantage at the expense of those who has another language as their mother-tongue and in this way create a linguistic gap between people. (Crystal 2003: 14-15) English has a history, sometimes cruel and violent with colonialism and war, and introducing English as the global language might be seen as a threat of future dominance. Perhaps a global language will make people unwilling or unable to learn other languages and make other languages unnecessary. (Crystal 2003: 15) One of the â€Å"risks† having only one language is that the chosen language may become very technical and â€Å"impoverished† for non-native speakers, e.g. the Eskimos, who have several words for snow, because they need it. They would probably not be able to express themselves properly if they only had one word for snow. And Swedish people would not be able to use the word â€Å"lagom†, a word which says a lot about the Swedish society and people. Many of the people who answered my question about â€Å"English as a Global Language†, expressed a worry that if we only had one language, they would feel â€Å"poor† when it comes to expressing feelings and emotions in a language that is not their mother-tongue, that they would not know enough words to be able to really express how and what they feel. 4. Standards – which standard should be used? Strict or loose standards? English is the mother-tongue of millions of people in different parts of the world. If English were to become a global language, which standard of the language would be the global standard? Perhaps the standards would become looser. 4.1. Standard English is the English that is usually used in print. It is also the English which is normally taught in school and to non-native speakers learning English. This is also the standard that is spoken among educated people and used for news broadcasts. (Trudgill 2000: 5-6) Historically, the British Standard developed from the south-east part of England (the area around London). These dialects were spoken in court, used in law and by the government. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English 2005) Standard English has a widely accepted grammar, and an accent that comes with this standard, the British English accent, also known as the â€Å"Oxford English†, is the accent that is taught is schools. (Trudgill 2000:6-7) Furthermore this English has a major cultural influence, especially on the languages in the former Commonwealth countries, e.g. South Africa, Australia, and India as well as the European Union. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English 2005 ) 4.2 We often hear about â€Å"American-English†, â€Å"South African-English† or other â€Å"Englishes†, but no such terms really exist. The different types of English are based on the British English but have developed grammatical and vocabulary differences because of influence and â€Å"loanwords† from other languages.(Trudgill 2000:6-7) 5. Minor Languages and cultures What will happen to minor cultures and languages if we introduce a global language? An introduction of a global language might lead to discrimination of other languages. Losing a language equals losing identity. The language is much more than just a tool for communication. According to Trudgill there is an intimate relation between language and culture and a large homogenisation of culture might lead to a shift in language where native people adopt another language and eventually the old language may die out. There is a difference between â€Å"language death† and â€Å"language murder†. Language death is when a language disappears naturally; its speakers are leaving it voluntarily, but â€Å"language murder† means that the killer language actively discourages use of other languages. Minority languages may be removed from the media and educational systems. English is referred to as a â€Å"killer language†, which means that it is a dominant language learned subtractive, at the cost of the mother tongues, rather than additively. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_language 2005) In the United States there have been a few â€Å"English Only† movements, the first one in 1803, when they banned the speaking of French among the population in Louisiana. After that, several attempts to remove Spanish and French have taken place. English is declared as the official language in several states in the US. The English-Only movements have been rejected by linguistics; they mean that a language does not create political unity, it takes more than that. The use of one single language in a community is no guarantee for social harmony or mutual understanding. This has been proven several times during the history, e.g. American Civil War, Spanish Civil War and former Yugoslavia. (Crystal 2003:16) 6. Conclusion This essay has shown that the creation of a global language has numerous advantages and disadvantages. Mutual intelligibility, great career opportunities and reduced administrative costs are some of the advantages a global language would give. The disadvantages are that English is closely linked to the British and the American cultures and history and is therefore not a â€Å"neutral† language. Perhaps a language with less historical and cultural connections would be a better option? We are in need of an international language for communication, politics, trade and security, but at the same time we are worried about language death, the advantages native speakers will have and all the disadvantages non-native speakers will face. English is growing, it is a strong language, and its future seems bright. My opinion is that if there will ever be an international language, English is the best option. It is a strong, well developed language with millions of speakers. Even if a global language might be important, different languages are of importance for their culture and for the development of their native speakers. Languages make the world more interesting and more alive.

A Beginners Guide to Delphi

A Beginners Guide to Delphi Our  Delphi Programming site proudly presents free online programming courses for (beginner) Delphi developers! Quick Launch Turbo Delphi Tutorial: For Novice and Non-ProgrammersThis series of tutorials is oriented to those who want to take their chance in the world of software development, it is designed to teach the complete beginner (read: non-programmer) how to become a programmer using Delphi.Delphi for BeginnersThis free online course is perfect for beginner developers as well as for those who want a broad overview of the art of programming Win32 applications with Borland Delphi. Focus on Delphi 6.Delphi Database Programming. You can take this as an Email CourseDevelopers will learn how to design, develop and test a database application using ADO with Delphi. This course focuses on the most common uses of ADO in a Delphi application: Connecting to a database using TADOConnection, work with Tables and Queries, handle database exception, create reports, etc.Learning Object Oriented Programming with DelphiExplore the true power of Delphi OOP: learn how to create your own classes, instantiate objects at runtime, use association, composition and other OOP topics. Using the TDBGrid componentContrary to most other Delphi data-aware controls, the DBGrid component has many nice features and is more powerful than you would have thought. The standard DBGrid does its job of displaying and manipulating records from a dataset in a tabular grid. However, there are many ways (and reasons) why you should consider customizing the look and feel of a DBGrid...Creating Custom ComponentsEverything about creating custom controls and components in Delphi. The ultimate source. From tutorials for starters to more advanced materials.Introduction to COM ProgrammingCOM stands for Component Object Model. It allows you to create COM objects that are not specific to any language, and in some cases, even platforms. For instance, COM objects can be ported to a Unix system. COM also allows you to create COM Objects that will be instantiated on a different machine across the world if you so desired.(Fast Forward to) Delphi for .NETHeres a series of articles designed with o ne goal in mind: to provide a quick and dirty introduction to the world of .NET programming with Delphi. If you are looking for what you need to know about Delphi for .NET - search no further! ASP.NET Web ProgrammingDevelopers will learn how to design, develop and debug ASP.Net web application using Borland Delphi for .Net. The chapters will cover the fundamental elements of creating Web applications (working with Web Forms, Web Services, and User Controls) using Delphi, including the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and the Delphi for .Net language.Windows API (no VCL) SeriesThis free online course is perfect for intermediate Delphi developers as well as for those who want a broad overview of the art of Windows API programming with Borland Delphi.

Five Ages of Man in Greek Mythology According to Hesiod

Five Ages of Man in Greek Mythology According to Hesiod The classic Greek Five Ages of Man came from an 8th century BCE poem written by a shepherd named Hesiod, who along with Homer became one of the earliest of Greek epic poets. He likely based his work on an unidentified older legend, possibly from Mesopotamia or Egypt. An Epic Inspiration Hesiod was a farmer from the Boeotian region of Greece who was out tending his sheep one day when he met the Nine Muses. The Nine Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory), divine beings who inspired creators of all kinds, including poets, speakers, and artists. By convention, the Muses were always invoked at the beginning of an epic poem. On this day, the Muses inspired Hesiod to write the 800-line epic poem called Works and Days. In it, Hesiod tells a Greek creation story that traces the lineage of mankind through five successive ages or races including the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, and the present (to Hesiod) Iron Age. The Golden Age The Golden Age was the mythical first period of man. The people of the Golden Age were formed by or for the Titan Cronus, whom the Romans called Saturn. Mortals lived like gods, never knowing sorrow or toil; when they died, it as if they were falling asleep. No one worked or grew unhappy. Spring never ended. It is even described as a period in which people aged backward. When they died, they became daimones  (a Greek word only later converted to demons) who roamed the earth. When Zeus overcame the Titans, the Golden Age ended. According to the poet Pindar (517–438 BCE), to the Greek mind gold has an allegorical significance, meaning the radiance of light, good fortune, blessedness, and all the fairest and the best. In Babylonia, gold was the metal of the sun. Silver and Bronze Ages During Hesiods Silver Age, the Olympian god Zeus was in charge. Zeus caused this generation of man to be created as vastly inferior to the gods in appearance and wisdom. He divided the year into four seasons. Man had to work- plant grain and seek shelter- but a child could play for 100 years before growing up. The people wouldnt honor the gods, so Zeus caused them to be destroyed. When they died, they became blessed spirits of the underworld. In Mesopotamia, silver was the metal of the moon. Silver is softer with a dimmer luster than gold. Hesiods Third Age was of bronze. Zeus created men from ash trees- a hard wood used in spears. The men of the Bronze Age were terrible and strong and warlike. Their armor and houses were made of bronze; and they did not eat bread, living mainly on meat. In Greek and older myths, bronze was connected to weapons, war, and warfare, and their armor and houses were made of bronze. It was this generation of men that was destroyed by the flood in the days of Prometheus son Deucalion and Pyrrha. When the bronze men died, they went to the Underworld.  Copper (chalkos) and a component of bronze is the metal of Ishtar in Babylon. The Age of Heroes and the Iron Age For the fourth age, Hesiod dropped the metallurgical metaphor and instead called it the Age of Heroes. The Age of Heroes was a historical period to Hesiod, referring to the Mycenaean age and the stories told by Hesiods fellow poet Homer. The Age of Heroes was a better and more just time when the men called Henitheoi were demigods, strong, brave, and heroic. many were destroyed by the great wars of Greek legend. After death, some went to the Underworld; others to the Islands of the Blessed ones. The fifth age was the Iron Age, Hesiods name for his own time, and in it, all modern men were created by Zeus as evil and selfish, burdened with weariness and sorrow. All manner of evils came into being during this age. Piety and other virtues disappeared and most of the gods who were left on Earth abandoned it. Hesiod predicted that Zeus would destroy this race some day. Iron is the hardest metal and the most troublesome to work. Hesiods Message The Five Ages of Man is a long passage of continuous degeneration, tracing the lives of men as descending from a state of primitive innocence to evil, with a single exception for the Age of Heroes. Some scholars have noted that Hesiod wove the mythic and the realistic together, creating a blended story based on an ancient tale that could be referenced and learned from. Sources: Ganz T. 1996. Early Greek Myth. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.Griffiths JG. 1956. Archaeology and Hesiods Five Ages. Journal of the History of Ideas 17(1):109–119.

Vincent Van Gogh and Andy Warhol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Vincent Van Gogh and Andy Warhol - Essay Example The paper "Vincent Van Gogh and Andy Warhol" compares the artworks of the two artists, Vincent Van Gogh and Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol was charmed to popularity and became one of the significant figures to pop art in the United States, in which he uses manufactured materials as his source for creating exceptional artworks. Despite their individual approaches and influences to art, both have the passion in painting as the primary and fundamental medium in doing their artworks. However, Andy Warhol gained popularity in the art, advertisement, and entertainment industries because of his usage to different mediums in creating artworks, such as filmmaking, carving, sketching, cartooning, and photography. In contrast to Vincent van Gogh, he was more on the usage of different methods of painting in order to capture a fleeting result of hue, value, and intensity within his artwork. However, his approach was criticized by other artists because he neglected the importance of outlining the partic ulars and carried on directly to putting of colors in his paintings. In addition, Warhol and van Gogh have their similar way of presenting their artworks, but they differ on the techniques being used. For example, van Gogh’s famous painting is the â€Å"Starry Night,† which portrays stars illuminating the city at night. In this artwork, van Gogh painted the lines in a horizontally calm direction, but with a texture that seems to be crude in a manner to present a foreground and background structure for the viewers.

Automation of Services at the County Offices Using the Mobile Essay

Automation of Services at the County Offices Using the Mobile Application Systems - Essay Example This paper illustrates that despite the substantive progress made in the automation of services at the County offices using today’s mobile application system technologies, little success has ideally been made in ensuring that effective delivery of service is achieved as required by the project proposal. After a successful completion of the research proposal and its submission, the author has since been working on addressing a number of aspects that have proved to be challenging in effectively applying the plan despite the fact that the development process is completed. The main intention of the proposal was to provide solutions to the current problems facing the county offices in terms of enhancing their service delivery prospects and mitigate the previous challenges of corruption and increased numbers of ghost workers. Ideally, upon completion and the final implementation, the proposal would make a significant impact in addressing the challenges in the County officers and in turn enhance service delivery to the citizens. However, much progress has not been made because of various factors. The process of developing the software is currently finalized; however, working out the trials has been the greatest challenge considering the fact that a majority of the County offices’ workers significantly benefit from the analog system of service delivery and, therefore, do not embrace the use of the technology. Going by the prospects that the proposal was meant to address issues of corruption and ghost workers availability, such prospects have not been achieved yet. A majority of firms that have already implemented similar services don’t accept interviews pertaining to the effectiveness of their systems majorly because of the confidentiality aspects associated with the implementation of the project.

Strategic Marketing Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Strategic Marketing Analysis - Essay Example And then the product decisions are made based on popularity. This means that we must consider the brand name before purchasing from a manufacturer. In the collectable business, customers tend to look for the newest and greatest, and so animeinternational.com must consider the current popular culture in product decisions. We tend to focus on the high customer base products that are derived from popular anime cartoons, movies and menga comics. Over time, we develop customer's tastes and budgets step by step. We instruct them, and bring them along as far as they want to go. We may have affairs from time to time for one reason or another; but we deliver them true value, and have made repeated Sales of quality products, they'll get back. Customers Development and Customers Retention are super-critical foundation stones at animeinternational.com. Price decisions are also an important part of animeinternational.com marketing strategy. ... The price strategy is derived from the consumer's ability to find the product elsewhere, basically our competition. Therefore, to retain our customer base, we must sell at a less than retail value. Distribution decisions are also a strong part of our strategy, however, as noted previously, we do not market to any specific geographic location. Instead, animeinterantional.com markets to as many geographical locations as possible. This is a strong marketing strategy for us as it fills a customer need that other facilities do not. Many anime sellers and retailers are US only based, and we compensate for that customer base loss. We always conduct Quality sales of Anime products. Our processes include the quality product sales based on these principles: Is a product in good-quality Is a product sold at the "right" price Is a product understood by the buyer (customer's satisfaction or understanding is our utmost priority at animeinternational.com). All of our products manufactured at Animeinternational.com run through a standard lifecycle. We intend to sponsor our products in a more efficient way that will fulfill all the customer's requirements. Since Animeinternational.com creation, we are struggling hard to do something new and to evangelize to our valued customers. The promotional mix is very integrated. We are an internet based company, and use business 'sharing' type marketing-such as pop up adds on similar sites or fan forums, Google Adwords, and similar low cost marketing alternatives. Animeinternational.com does market to specific customer segmentations also, especially using web-based marketing, such as when a customer does a search

Functionalism In Families And Societies

Functionalism In Families And Societies Functionalists view the family as a nuclear family structure, i.e. a mother, father and 1 or 2 children. Murdock surveyed 250 societies from the small hunting tribes to the large industrialised societies. He found that in every society there was some form of a nuclear family, he concluded from this study that the nuclear family was universal. Murdocks definition of a nuclear family is Within the framework of the nuclear family, Murdock identified with four family functions which if were ignored, society would not exist. Sexual, Reproduction, Economic and Education were the four functions. Similar to Murdock, Tallcott Parsons another functionalist had his own views of what functions the nuclear family should contribute to society. He believed that there were two important roles within the family Expressive and Instrumental. The womens role was the Expressive role as she was the one who raised, nurtured and taught the children the norms and values within the home. The mans role was the Instrumental role because he went out to work to provide financial security for his family. Parsons also identified the family as being the primary agent of socialisation and came up with the warm bath theory primary socialisation (norms and values) and stabilisation of adult personalities (support and love for the adults within the family. Criticisms Functionalists view of the family is similar to a fairy tale, because they ignore the family dynamics and in some families the darker side i.e. abuse, neglect and violence through male domination. Marxism A Marxist perspective of the family saw the family as a means of production and cheap labour whereby they are influenced by capitalism in a capitalist society. Marxists identified three main functions which they saw as a way for the family to fulfil for capitalism. Inheritance of Property means that in order for property to be handed down to a legitimate heir, sexual relationships need to be restricted to one person, thus the offspring would be blood related. For this to happen, The monogamous nuclear family developed with the emergence of private property, in particular the private ownership of the forces of production, and the advent of the state, (cited in Haralambos, M. 1985. 340) The second function is the Ideological Functions which families need to fulfil by socialising children with the ideas that there will always be bosses and workers within a capitalist society. The last function looks at the Unit of Consumption whereby families work to produce goods, which are bought by the families to enable them to be fed and clothed, which bring greater profit for the capitalists. Criticisms Marxists ignore the different structures of families which are found in todays society and with this the different roles within the family. Feminism Feministic views of the family are split into 3 groups, similar to that of the key perspectives. Liberal feminists believe that both the male and the females have equal roles within the family when it comes to the household chores and childcare. Marxist feminists view the women as the producer of future workers and womens oppression stems from capitalism and not the family. Radical feminists view of the family structure is one of patriarchal and that men are seen as the enemy. This type of family within society is also seen by feminists as the key institution in its contribution to maintaining social control Criticisms All three branches of feminism view the nuclear family as the most dominant unit within society, as well as believing that all members of the family serve society, performing different functions. Post Modernist A post modernistic view of the family is at the opposite ends of the scale to functionalism. Post modernists believe that in most societies there are diverse and multi-cultural types of families where members within these units are free to make their own life choices as to how, what and where they live, work and socialise within society. Post modernists also believe that everyone is entitled to the same opportunities in education, healthcare and family support as in their view, there are no class divisions (working and ruling classes), in most societies. Zietlin et al summarises this view of the world, The post modern world is shaped by pluralism, democracy, religious freedom, consumerism, mobility and increasing access to news and entertainment, (Zietlin class handout 2009. 92) Criticisms Because of their views of equal opportunities and freedom of speech and choices they ignore the fact that some people can and do make wrong choices with regards to ignoring the norms and values which are passed down the generations which inevitably upsets the social control aspects in some societies. How the roles and relationships of the family have change over time. Sociologists view childhood as Social Construction because they are biologically distinct from adults, (Harris, M. 2008.44) For this reason I will explain the question in two parts. Children The role of the child within a pre-industrial family (pre 1750), was one of equal standing. As soon as the child could walk and talk they were taught the family trade and were expected to carry on the family tradition. After the industrial revolution came the emergence of the industrial family (1800-1900), when children as young as 6 or 7 were sent to work in factories and down coal mines to bring money into the family home, however this brought about higher mortality rates because children werent as strong as adults. The mortality rates went into decline when the modern industrial family emerged (1900-2000), this is because children were starting to be seen as children and not as cheap labour. Experiences of childhood began to emerge for the majority of children within families, however there are still some societies today that still send their children out to work, but this is now not the norm in todays world. Gender roles and relationships During the pre-industrial years both men and women worked together with other family members. However this all changed between 1750 and 1900 when women were expected to stay at home and be responsible for household chores, childcare and producing the future workforce. This type of family structure was very patriarchal the men had the power so they were the dominators in the family. However this started to change when the modern industrial family emerged between 1900 and 2000, as more women were given the opportunity to become educated, this led to more women in the workforce. This led the family to share the household chores and the childcare and sometimes swap roles within the family if the man became unemployed. Diversity of the contemporary family structure What is a family? This question has been raised by many sociologists and the majority of these have all had different opinion. However in answer to this question, a family can be the nuclear or extended type of family, which are 2 or 3 generations living under one roof. This type of family was more common pre-1750 when families worked with and supported each other, and which still does happen in some cultures and societies i.e. Asian families. Other types of family structures which are more common in Britain today are the one parent families, the step families, the divorced families and the gay and lesbian families who have children. Families today are extremely diverse and multi-cultural through social influences from the media, education and global improvements. Conclusion Throughout this assignment I have paid particular attention to the different views of Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism and Post Modernism. I have given an evaluation of each perspective and have briefly described the changes in roles, relationships and structures within families. I have concluded in my evaluation that my opinion of families and households is one that in todays society of choice, freedom, diversity and multi-cultural structures that post modernism is by far the best view and explanation of society today.