I don’t think that anybody can keep count of the number of books and websites about social skills – and the number keeps on increasing as each day goes by - but why is it that something close to 99% of those written in English are American? It’s probably safe to assume that they are intended to be read by Americans or immigrants to the US, rather than people who live in other English speaking countries. Social skills books and websites that are British, from another English speaking country, from a country where English is a strong second language (such as India), or translations of material published in foreign languages are rare in comparison.
Is the reason why Americans have a near monopoly on English language social skills books and websites a result of faults and failures of the American education system? Surely if kids learn social skills at school (and learning social skills is high on the list of reasons of pro-school types why kids should attend school rather than home education) then there would be little need for social skills books and websites for adults. If the American education system is not to blame, or is no less effective as a facility to learn social skills than schools in the rest of the world, then what is the explanation why Americans have written the number of social skills books and websites as they have done?
Have a significant number of social skills books and websites been written in a language other than English for use in countries where English is not the main or official language, or are they a peculiarly English language phenomenon?
Are American social skills books and websites relevant, or even desirable, for British people to learn social skills for British society, or are they misleading and largely irrelevant due to differences between British and American culture and social expectations?
Have any American social skills books and websites been evaluated and recommended for their relevance and effectiveness for children and adults with Asperger syndrome or other autistic spectrum disorders who live in Britain?
