Cultural Topic 3 Relationships
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Cultural Topic 3
Relationships
How well do family members get along with each other and how influential are they?
How well do friends get along with each other and how influential are they?
How do colleagues see each other and what can they do to influence each other?
At what age do people usually get their first boyfriend or girlfriend?
At what age do people usually enter into their first serious relationship?
How do people meet?
When does a couple start living together?
What is a western wedding like?
When does a couple have children?
What is married life like?
Do some people want a solitary lifestyle?
Do films and television programmes portray relationships in an accurate way? 2
How well do family members get along with each other and how influential are they?
o It is often said in English speaking countries that ‘you can choose your friends but you can’t
choose your family’.
o It is important to distinguish between the immediate family and the extended family. The
immediate family includes parents and children, as long as the children don’t have any
children of their own. The extended family is everybody else.
o Within the immediate family people are very close and usually get on well, apart from
occasional arguments. However, if there is a serious disagreement then the fact that they are
an immediate family can sometimes magnify the differences, making them seem bigger than
they really are.
o Within the extended family the degree of closeness is much wider. Some members of the
extended family will get on very well but others will not communicate that much, often
because they live a long way away. Families in these countries are often spread over a large
area.
o The immediate family has much more influence than the extended family, although even this
decreases noticeably once a person reaches adulthood.
o Of course, there are limits to what the immediate family will accept (such as committing a
crime) but for most families, most of the time they will accept what the individual does.
How well do friends get along with each other and how influential are they?
o Friends are close but this closeness is not guaranteed to exist for as long as the two people
know each other.
o Many adults see their friends a lot more than their parents of siblings, meaning that the
friends’ opinions can sometimes be highly influential.
o However, a friends’ influence can decrease when somebody gets into a long term relationship
or gets married.
o Even among close friends there are things that are kept hidden and things that they would not
talk about.
How do colleagues see each other and what can they do to influence each other?
o Colleagues often become close friends; although this is more likely when they work on the
same level (i.e. one is not another’s subordinate).
o There is often a perceived ‘gap’ between a person and his/her subordinate and those seen as
being too friendly to a superior are sometimes accused of ‘sucking up’ to him/her.
o Presents are not given usually by subordinates but favours are often done, especially if a
subordinate wants something from his/her boss.
At what age do people usually get their first boyfriend or girlfriend?
o The mid-teenage years are the most frequent time to get one’s first boyfriend or girlfriend.
o This is not necessarily a serious relationship though.
At what age do people usually enter into their first serious relationship?
o Mid-teenage relationships are not usually seen as ‘serious’. A serious relationship will usually
involve most or all of the following:
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o People usually have their first serious relationship in the late teenage years, although this is
not always the case.
o A serious relationship does not mean that marriage is inevitable though. Even if two people
are in a serious relationship it will usually be a long time before they even mention marriage
to each other. Talking about marriage too early can sometime make one or both of the people
in the relationship feel uneasy.
How do people meet?
o They meet almost anywhere! For example:
o Introductions are sometimes used, although this is done casually.
o People don’t usually just ask somebody to be their boyfriend or girlfriend straight away.
Instead, there are many stages that are followed.
o A common first date is to go for lunch, go for coffee or go for a drink. A first date will usually
occur in the following places:
o Subsequent dates are more substantial in terms of seriousness, time spent on them, effort put
into them and money spent on them. A subsequent date could occur in a wider variety of
places than a first date, for example:
