Oral English - Idea of progress

Oral English : Idea of Progress

The notion I’m going to deal with is the notion of “Idea of progress”. First of all, I would like to give a definition of this central element. The idea of progress can be defined as an improvement, a development or a change due to a discovery, an innovation, a social improvement, a scientific evolution or a technological development. These improvements contribute to making the world a better place. They have usually a positive effect on society however they are some cases where changes can have negative effects.The main topic is the Swinging Sixties, it is the decade which depicts best this notion because a lot of changes happened. In order to illustrate this notion, I will try to answer the question : “To what extent were the 60s a decade of social and cultural revolution in England ?”

To answer this question I will present two documents.

First I will present the cover of Time Magazine in 1966. and then I will present an article named « The times are changing » written in 2002.

The first document is a drawing on the cover of Time Magazine. Time is an American weekly news magazine published in New York. It was published in 1966 and called London : The Swinging City. The page is divided into two parts diagonally. The right hand-side reflects the more traditional aspects of society with Big Ben Tower, the Union Jack or a double-decker bus. This could be called the “traditional” London. The left hand-side illustrates the rapid changes that were happening around that time as is shown by colourful clothes or rock music. All the traditional aspects of society seem to have been relegated to the background as if to leave room for change,fun,movement and music in the foreground. This decade was ruled by the younger generation, many were born after WWII.They enjoyed their newly found freedom by partying, experimenting with wild clothing styles. Indeed, we are given the impression that the author draws the viewer’s attention to the new appearance of the sixties by means of numerous progress. The swinging city is the label used to refer to the decade in which the capital of England was at the center of the cultural universe : London was the place to be.

The second document I have chosen is an article named « The times are changing », written in 2002 and is representative the 60s. It evokes numerous novelties :

- Cultural novelties like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Twiggy and Mary Quant who made London the fashion capital of the world, the victory of the football world cup in 1966 .The emergence of a political philosophy called the anti-establishmentarianism ."Anti-establishment" became a buzzword of the tumultuous 1960s.The anti-establishments were opposed to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of society.

- There have been also social and political novelties : like the lunar landing mission in 1969 that landed the first man on the Moon. The baby-boomers between 1946 and 1964. For the first time, there were more young people than old, representing a powerful economic and cultural force.

- There have been as well technological inventions : like the BASIC programming language created by two professors in 1964. They wanted to enable students

...