Tma01_Dd101

Drawing on what you have learnt from the ‘Making Social Lives DVD’ and ‘Learning Companion 1’, outline how material things on City Road favour the activities of some groups over others. When looking at any street we know, the material things can easily be taken for granted and go unnoticed, however they do play a huge part in our daily lives. I will be discussing how some of these material things, specifically on City Road favour the activities of some groups of people over others. In particular I will be focusing on street fittings and buildings on City Road. Every street we know is made up of street furniture, buildings and several other infrastructures, and each of these serve different purposes for different people. This is where we begin to see how inequalities are produced. For example, when watching the ‘Making Social Lives DVD’, Rodney Berman talks about the bollards that have been fitted on City Road in order to stop cars parking and blocking the way for pedestrians, particularly with pushchairs and those in wheelchairs (Making Social Lives on City Road DVD, Material Lives, 2009, scene 1) They have had white stripes painted on them in order to help those with poor vision to notice these bollards and keep them safe. Nevertheless, in keeping a particular section of the community safe, they are also proving to go against the favour of another. For example, people who choose to travel by car, do not have enough access to parking on City Road so therefore may not feel as welcome. City Road is described as a “conduit” road, in the sense that it serves traffic as a place to travel through in order to reach another destination. We can see from this that, unless you are in walking distance or using public transport, it is very difficult to stop and park on City Road. When watching the ‘Making social loves DVD’ we also see the distress that Jose is going through because of a decision that the council has made to move a bus lane (Making Social lives on City Road DVD, 2009, Scene 5) This small change of simply moving something material has a confounding effect on his business. Jose is already struggling financially due to more businesses opening on City Road, however this bus lane will now take away what little parking he had already, further damaging the business. In the ‘Making social lives DVD’ we are introduced to The Mackintosh Centre. This is a building that serves as a sports club and then a farmers market on a Saturday. When listening to John Cooksley, who is the Head Coach at the sports club, he makes it clear that he wishes the tennis club would be busier than it currently is. The people that use the club are primarily not from City Road, they come from outside of the area. Dr Simon Bromley speaks about how inequalities are produced, “One example was the sports centre with local people apparently feeling excluded from it and the users of that centre being people coming from outside the City Road area.” (Making social loves on city road, DVD, 2009, scene 7) The people of City Road feel less favoured to take part in the activities there because it seems “expensive” or “exclusive”. Also in the ‘Making Social lives DVD’, we meet Colin Butwell, the owner of a newsagents on City Road. It is clear to see that not a lot has changed in terms of the look of the place and what is sold here. However, places such as Tesco opening have had a negative impact on the business as they tend to attract more custom. (Making social lives on city road, DVD, 2009, scene 3) This is a clear indication of how material things as large as buildings, can favour the activities of some over others, and create inequalities. Throughout my assignment, I have noticed a pattern behind the reason for people feeling less favoured than others due to materialism. As time goes by, our society and community grow and change, unfortunately this means that some will face indifferences. Dr Georgina Blakeley states “how some people gain from this reshaping of society and how often other people lose” (Making social lives on City Road, DVD, 2009, scene 3). This is common in every street we know and the world we live in today. For example, the safety of pedestrians becomes more important as time goes by, because there is more traffic on the roads now than before, so there has to be changes such as red tarmac areas and bollards. There will always have to be a section of a community that will be less favoured. “In making and repairing society there are tensions and conflicts as people and things compete, or press in different directions” (Blakeley et al, 2009, page 24) Word count : 780 References Blakeley, G., Bromley, S., Clarke, J., Raghuram, P., Silva, E. and Taylor, S. (2009) DD101 Introducing the social sciences, ‘Learning Companion 1’, Milton Keynes, The Open University. ‘Making social lives on City Road’ (2009) DD101 Making Social Lives (DVD), Milton Keynes, The Open University.