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Part two

Let’s Agree

to Disagree

2.1 Anticipating the Issue

How do you understand the title of the unit?

What problems do you expect to be raised in this unit?

What challenges does the society face today? What problems are especially topical for Russia (your own country)?

Do you think that the problems the society faces unite it or vice versa1 turn the social gap into insuperable abyss2?

Do they affect the economy of the country? How? Or maybe cause-effect vector is the opposite one and social problems are deeply rooted in economy? Give examples to support your statement.

2. 1A. Man and Society

1. Are you a gregarious person, enjoying socializing, or do you prefer to stay alone in a distant place, savouring its tranquility3?

Read the following short extract by Margaret Horsfield, in which she describes her voluntary confinement in a remote homestead on Vancouver Island, seeking rest from people, telephones, dead lines and crowds4.

In a remote place “people are very aware of each other. The presence of a person - any person - matters. People are assumed to be interesting creatures, and important. In the exhausting bustle of Central London, that doesn’t always seem to be the case. I have been lonely in the rush hour at Oxford Circus amidst the crowd. I was never lonely in my days of solitude on the far coast of Canada.”

Comment on the paradox, the author describes.

Have you ever lived in a small community or village far from “the centres of civilization”? What was it like?

Has this short abstract changed your attitude to solitude and socializing?

2. Explain the meaning of the words in bold and answer the questions that follow.

FEMINISM: The modern feminist movement stems from the middle of the 1960s in North America. Basically the movement seeks equal political and social rights for women. The main theoretical assumption shared by all branches of the movement derives from the belief that there has been a historical tradition of make exploitation of women. Feminists are anxious to eradicate this exploitation. Feminism is a fairly general label attached not to a set of universally accepted postulates but to a range of beliefs with little in common, save a desire to raise consciousness and to usher in a more equal society.

As a result of the feminist movement and heightened awareness of the sexist nature of some English vocabulary a number of changes are being introduced. Attention has been focused on the replacement of “male” words with a generic meaning by neutral items – chairman, for example, becoming chair or chairperson (though not without controversy) or salesman becoming sales assistant, sometimes it is necessitated by a legal requirement. There is a continuing debate between extremists and moderates as to how far such revisions should go – whether they should affect traditional idioms such as man in the street or Neanderthal Man or even All man are born equal, or apply to parts of words where the male meaning of man is no longer dominant such as manhandle and woman.

How would you explain the expression “male” words with a generic meaning?

Why do you think there might have been controversy about attempts to change the word chairman?

What do more extreme advocates of making English sexually neutral want to do that is unacceptable to the moderates?

Are there male words used generically in Russian?

Have there been attempts to change them to avoid sexual stereotyping?

Does using sex-biased words affect people’s attitudes to men and women?

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