City_Road.

Hayley Jarvis PI Number B4921000 Drawing on what you have learned about city road, outline some of the inequalities on a street that you know. Based on what I have learned on City Road I have chosen Smith Down Road which is situated in a busy city and is just on the outskirts of the city centre. For my comparisons between both streets I will point out the positive and negative sides which have come to light with the opening of massive chain stores. How different shops and businesses are aimed at different cultures and ethnics, and what inequalities this creates. Lastly I will outline how the street changes between day and night. Smith Down Road like many other streets across the globe had several chain stores opening on it, with a huge one being the very popular and well known Asda branch. (Scene 1 of the street 2009) Colin a small shop owner explains “it has knocked me a bit the Tesco opening.” Smith Down Road since the opening of the Asda has been victim to many of the smaller newsagents closing down. This can and has caused anger and upset amongst local people who were against the opening in the first place. The locals believe they have lost there sense of community and were loyal to the smaller business owners. In contrast to this the bigger store openings does provide jobs and with that reshapes society. (Scene 5 making social lives 2009) Georgina Blakely explains some people gain from the reshaping and some people lose. This can be seen in the case of the big chain stores. Another point that Blakely points out is that at the beginning she was totally against the Tesco opening but now that it has she shops there all the time. This is an example of how people adjust and accept changes in society even if they didn’t want to. How different shops are aimed at different cultures and social groups is my next point. This is outlined by Nof from the Hawaiian restaurant on City Road. Nof holds comedy nights and women’s groups etc this attracts people from diverse groups, for example students. However an all male group is not included as this could harm the restaurants identity as a place for women to socialize. Many of the local pubs on my street have made changes such as these the local pubs were more for older working men but now after a change of image the pubs now cater for the younger generation. This therefore makes the older generation feel as though they no longer fit in. My last point is to outline how different groups of people use the street at different times during the day or night and how the street is kept in order and ran smoothly. On City Road in the morning at rush hour you see people commuting to work and taking there children to school. Parents conform to social order by using things like lollipop ladies and not parking at the school gates. During night time hour's different people use the street. (Scene 3 ordered lives 2009) On the street bars use bouncers to keep order, CCTV is used and more police because as shown on City Road the night time brings drunken people pushing boundaries. To conclude there are many factors that keep society running smoothly. Although society does breakdown it often has a way of repairing itself as we have learned from studying City Road. When society is made and repaired there are people who gain from it and people who lose. (Making social lives 2009 scene 5). References. Blakely G. learning companion 1 introducing the social sciences Milton Keynes Open University. The street ordered lives making social lives DVD. SELF REFLECTION. The thing I found most interesting about this piece of work is how I realised how much stuff I take for granted whist walking down streets. This piece has made me more aware of my surroundings and has made me notice other things that I wouldn’t normally notice. The thing I found most difficult about this task was organising the time to watch the DVD and complete the essay. Also am not to sure if I have referenced my work properly so therefore I am waiting for my tutors comments so I can learn from them.