The Street
TMA01 Sociology City Road
PG1
Drawing on what you have learned about City Road, outline some of the inequalities on a street that you know.
The streets of our cities often tell us more about our society than we expect, they show how people and objects interact with each other in order to make a community. In this assignment I am going to look at similarities and differences between the inequalities of city road in Cardiff and the Lisburn Road in Belfast. Inequalities are the social resources which are allocated unevenly throughout a society or community which create so called winners and losers. The Lisburn Road is a busy main arterial road into Belfast city centre with many shops, eateries and housing. The inequalities I have recognised on the Lisburn Road and that I will be discussing are social class, inequalities in terms of access and cultural inequalities.
The Lisburn Road has over the years seen a big influx of overseas nationals such as Chinese, Indians and African’s. Their cultural presence however is not clearly evident on the road. From watching the DVD ‘Making Social Lives’ it was evident that on City Road many of the ethnic minorities seemed to have become part of the community, carving their own place in society whilst keeping their cultural roots. An example of this on city Road was that of Xquisite Africa and its owner Janet. Janet mentioned the importance of providing a taste of home to those from her native country; this seemed to show how diverse City Road really is. The Lisburn Road however has not got this type of shop available. The only thing that shows a difference in cultures are the take-away food outlets showing how some people are forced to conform and try to negotiate their identities. This is an example of how ‘differences and inequalities are produced’ (Blakeley et al., 2010 pg20).
The Lisburn Road is seen very much as a shopping place for the more affluent person with many boutiques offering designer clothing
PG1
Drawing on what you have learned about City Road, outline some of the inequalities on a street that you know.
The streets of our cities often tell us more about our society than we expect, they show how people and objects interact with each other in order to make a community. In this assignment I am going to look at similarities and differences between the inequalities of city road in Cardiff and the Lisburn Road in Belfast. Inequalities are the social resources which are allocated unevenly throughout a society or community which create so called winners and losers. The Lisburn Road is a busy main arterial road into Belfast city centre with many shops, eateries and housing. The inequalities I have recognised on the Lisburn Road and that I will be discussing are social class, inequalities in terms of access and cultural inequalities.
The Lisburn Road has over the years seen a big influx of overseas nationals such as Chinese, Indians and African’s. Their cultural presence however is not clearly evident on the road. From watching the DVD ‘Making Social Lives’ it was evident that on City Road many of the ethnic minorities seemed to have become part of the community, carving their own place in society whilst keeping their cultural roots. An example of this on city Road was that of Xquisite Africa and its owner Janet. Janet mentioned the importance of providing a taste of home to those from her native country; this seemed to show how diverse City Road really is. The Lisburn Road however has not got this type of shop available. The only thing that shows a difference in cultures are the take-away food outlets showing how some people are forced to conform and try to negotiate their identities. This is an example of how ‘differences and inequalities are produced’ (Blakeley et al., 2010 pg20).
The Lisburn Road is seen very much as a shopping place for the more affluent person with many boutiques offering designer clothing
References: Blakeley,G., S.Bromley., Clarke, J., Raghuram, P., Silva, E. and Taylor, S (2009) Learning Companion 1, Introducing the Social Sciences: Part One, Milton Keynes, The Open University. ‘Material Lives’ (2009) Making Social Lives (DVD), Milton Keynes, The Open University. ‘Ordered Lives’ (2009) Making Social Lives (DVD), Milton Keynes, The Open University. TMA Word Count- 807