Tma_1

Natalie Macqueen C3114383 DD101 TMA 1 Drawing on what you have learned about City Road from the Making Social Lives DVD and Learning Companion 1, outline some of the inequalities on a street which you know. The aim of this essay is to highlight the inequalities of a street in my hometown. This essay should demonstrate the social and cultural differences that can be seen in modern day society, drawing on what I have learned about City Road from the learning materials and my study of the street which I know. During my studies, I have found there to be many similarities, both socially and culturally on my street as are on City Road. We hear how these similarities exist in (‘Making Social Lives on City Road’, 2009, scene 1) not only on these two streets but nationally and no doubt globally. On my street in Plymouth there are small businesses surviving alongside larger, although lower priced, supermarkets, Lidl and Aldi. These are budget stores that cater for the less wealthy people in the community surrounding my street. The area is run down and generally the housing is poor, inexpensive. This attracts people on lower incomes, so the need for cut priced stores is needed, supply on demand. The supermarkets service the lower paid community and their presence in the community is felt, yet the small shops along my street are still thriving. We see the same on City Road in Cardiff, where the Newsagent, whose business was established by his father and was passed on to him many years earlier, is still trading although larger stores have come into City Road. He states when questioned about the effects of the ‘big boys moving in’, for example Spar and Tesco stores, that although some smaller shops were affected, his business has managed to remain buoyant however a similar business had been forced out of business due to the competition introduced by the supermarkets. This is highlighted in (‘Making Social Lives on City Road’, 2009, scene 3). What we have to question is how long our small shops can still operate in our ever growing and changing communities. What happens when new developments bring new people to the community' This is happening on my street at this present time. New, upmarket apartments are being built in a nearby road, thus attracting more wealthy people to the area and maybe this will change the dynamics of the street, as the demand for higher priced stores may increase and drive out the budget stores and not so buoyant small shops. The shops on my street supply a very cultural diverse area of Plymouth, with many ethnic minorities present. The same applies to City Road in Cardiff, where we see shops that only cater for small ethnic groups (‘Making Social Lives on City Road’, 2009, scene2). In this scene we see the shop ‘Exquisite Africa’, the owner has honed into to a niche market for our growing multicultural society. Due to her own African roots she is able to source these products and provides the ethnic minorities with produce from their home country. With Pg2 C3114383 many small ethnic groups present in the community, her shop survives, but if the consumer group changes will the business still be needed' The demand for specialist, multicultural stores survive due to their consumer base. If the consumer base changes then the businesses may, more than likely, be seriously affected. As on my street, the new developments attracting more affluent people to the area is resulting in small ethnic minority groups being forced out into other areas. The demand for specialist stores on my street is becoming less every day. In what we see in City Road in Cardiff, the demand for small, specialist businesses is still there as the area still has many people from different cultures living and working side by side (‘Making Social Lives on City Road’,2009,scene 2), although developments like the Cardiff Tertiary College are trying to attract students from the more affluent parts of Cardiff (‘Material Lives’, 2009, scene 3). From my studies, I conclude that we live in a ‘push and pull society’. Less wealthy and ethnic groups are constantly in a tug of war against the larger, wealthier and more influential groups. As one side wins another loses. My fears are that by driving out the small businesses, and filling the area with larger less friendly stores, where you are just a face, will effectually destroy community. It is slowly happening in my street. It is a sign of the times. Everyone seems to want a quick fix in this consumer society in which we live. But how long can it last' Word count 750 References ‘Making Social Lives on City Road’ (2009) DD101 Making Social Lives [DVD], Milton Keynes, The Open University ‘Material Lives’ (2009) DD101 Making Social Lives [DVD], Milton Keynes, The Open University Self Reflection I have found that I have a good understanding of the question and what was expect I just found it a little hard to put what I have learned and my thoughts into words. I do find this subject very interesting.