Dd131

Outline some of the ways in which inequalities have been made and remade in south wales. 'Inequalities' is a term used by social scientists to explain the uneven distribution of major resources that happens within a society, or sometimes between societies. To outline inequalities that have been made and remade in south wales I will use the Social Sciences, Making Social Lives DVD and also the Making Social Lives, Learning Companion 2 and look at them in more depth. South Wales is famous for its history in the coal industry, and in the DVD we are shown a town called Maerdy this was a coal mining town, whether it was directly or indirectly coal was an important part of everyone’s lives. We can the different connections that people have with coal when someone passes a piece of coal to different people (people with different roles) within the community and they all have something to say about it that links them in one way or another to it (Exploring Social Lives: An Introduction) There are many different inequalities in the presence and absence of coal that have been made and remade such as age, race, religion, gender, building, wealth, social class and leisure, I will look at just a few of these in more detail. Bute town was a place in Cardiff that had much going on within the street; they had basic housing with toilets outside and no bathroom. But in the 1950’s Bute town suffered due to the lack of coal exports, and the council decided to redevelop Bute town as it was becoming more derelict, they demolished all the old Victorian buildings and replaced them with apartment blocks that none of the original residents particularly liked as they no longer could have extended family stay with them, or stand outside and chat with people that passed by. In the opinion of some residents it was like being locked up (Inequalities and Differences: the legacies of coal,’ 2009, Scene 5) In the presence of coal, buildings showed off power and wealth, for example the coal exchange was the main building in Cardiff bay in the early 20th Century, it was in the centre of Cardiff bay and had flats built all around it for the Dockers to live in (ibid, scene 1.) In the absence of coal things began to change, as there wasn’t much activity in Cardiff bay, and in the 1960’s a major redevelopment took place, Roger Thorney (an engineer) was part of this redevelopment, in the DVD (ibid, Scene 2) he shows us the buildings, the coal exchange building still remains one of the biggest buildings, but it has now been redeveloped into luxury apartments, there is also the Senate building, the opera house and the entertainment centre, which has restaurants, and pubs. When the redevelopment first began there was a lot of opposition, mainly from people whose lives were directly linked to coal, most people liked the new development it made the bay look like it was used and cleaner as it had become derelict and dirty (ibid, Scene 1).Once the redevelopment had been finished a lot of people didn’t return the residents from Bute town feel that it is not a place for them, even though its only 1 mile from them. Cardiff bay caters for a different population, the businesses like Craft in the Bay, showcase the very best of welsh design, and is very expensive. Kemi’s café, very few of her customers are from Bute town, one of the employees is from Bute town but he says his friends never come over to Cardiff bay (ibid, scene 6) In the presence of coal men went out to work while women were expected to take more of a supporting role at home, playing housewife. Gender played an important role in the presence of coal; there were very few jobs for women. In 1984 the Maerdy Colliery closed as miners all went on strike, it lasted around a year and was a time of great suffering due to lack of income, even though many families suffered greatly, many of the men in the families would not let their wives go out and work. The wives of the miners also went on strike this resulted in a very high profile role for the women. Barbara Williams was one of the women who became a prominent figure and represented the miner’s wives across the country. The Miners’ strike was essential to the change of gender roles within South Wales, as when the miner went back to work after the strike many pits had closed meaning the wasn’t jobs for some of the men to return to meaning that some of them then had to admit defeat and let their wives work. In Maerdy today there are still some places that are men only places such as the social club women could only go inside if they worked behind the bar and even then ‘only good enough to work behind the bar, not sit within the bar’ (Making and remaking social lives: In the presence of coal,’2009, Scene 2). Looking at certain members of the community within South Wales, we can see that race has been made and remade in time within South Wales. Bute town was a unique place during the coal mining times as it was the only part of Cardiff that was racially mixed, it reflected the places that the coal would go to as people from these places would come back on the return journey as part of the crew. Many of the miners were foreign people who had relocated to find work, they the settled down and married local women, they were never discriminated against, and they had the same job and conditions as anyone else. It was an accepted way to fill the mines ‘they filled the mines with anyone’ (Making and Remaking of Social Lives: in the presence of coal,’ 2009, Scene 2). This Assignment has outlined the inequalities and differences in South Wales we have looked In more depth at the buildings, gender and race and how they have been made and remade over time I the presence and absence of coal, we can see clearly that big changes occurred when South Wales closed many of their coal pits changing a lot of people’s lives, whether it was for the good or for the bad, we can see that South Wales Thrived on the sense of community that they had by being part of the coal mining industry. Word count – 1089 (Not including footnotes and endnotes) References The Open University, 2009. INTRODUCING the Social Sciences, Exploring Social Lives,’ Exploring Social Lives an Introduction. DD133 ed. The Open University, 2009. INTRODUCING the Social Sciences, Exploring Social Lives, Inequalities and Differences: the legacies of coal, Scene 5, DD132 ed’. The Open University, 2009. INTRODUCING the Social Sciences, Exploring Social Lives, Inequalities and Differences: the legacies of coal, Scene 1, DD132 ed’. The Open University, 2009. INTRODUCING the Social Sciences, Exploring Social Lives, Inequalities and Differences: the legacies of coal, Scene 2, DD132 ed’. The Open University, 2009. INTRODUCING the Social Sciences, Exploring Social Lives, Inequalities and Differences: the legacies of coal, Scene 1, DD132 ed’. The Open University, 2009. INTRODUCING the Social Sciences, Exploring Social Lives, Inequalities and Differences: the legacies of coal, Scene 6, DD132 ed’. The Open University, 2009. INTRODUCING the Social Sciences, Exploring Social Lives,’ Making and Remaking Social Lives, in the presence of coal, Scene 2, DD132 ed’. The Open University, 2009. INTRODUCING the Social Sciences, Exploring Social Lives,’ Making and Remaking Social Lives, in the presence of coal, Scene 2, DD132 ed’. Self-Reflection I found this assignment very interesting, especially listening to everyone’s different relationship to coal weather directly or indirectly. I found the referencing the hardest as I seemed to take all my references from the same area of the film.