TMA 01.
Drawing on what you have learned from the Making Social Lives DVD and Learning Companion 1, describe some inequalities on City Road.
City Road in Cardiff is like many other streets, but at the same time, with its own unique qualities. In this essay I am going to be describing some of the inequalities that I have observed on City Road. The term inequality, in relation to the social sciences, is defined as the unequal distribution of valued social resources within a society, or sometimes between societies. Examples of such resources could include access to cultural facilities or education, time, money, and many more.
The inequalities that I will be describing are; the competition for use of the road between pedestrians and motorists (Blakely et al, 2009, p.21), the use of City Road at Night, and the Mackintosh Centre, which is a Sports Centre.
Being such a busy street there is a constant flow of traffic from people accessing the street and from others who use the road as a route to get to other places. Also, with all the shops, restaurants and services etc in the street itself, there is no shortage of pedestrians. This means that with so many cars and people in the same place at the same time, there is a constant battle between the two for the use of space. When you look at the design of City Road, it seems apparent that it favors the pedestrians over the motorists.
Apart from the obvious features such as traffic lights and June Rogers, the lollipop lady, there are also strategically place bollards and red tarmac around the island crossings. The purpose of these is to either stop motorists parking, or driving, in certain areas. For example, if motorists park on the pavements it makes it difficult for pedestrians to access the street, especially parents with pushchairs and prams and wheelchair users (Material Lives, 2009, scene 1).
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With these measures in place, it creates an inequality between motorists and pedestrians, with the pedestrians being favored.
City Road at night is a typical example of modern society, especially in the UK. There is a distinct divide between the younger and older generation and their views or opinions of the street. The area attracts mostly young people at night as its activities are mainly aimed at that generation. With all the restaurants, takeaways and places such as the Pool Club, City Road can be very busy at night. This may make the older generation of people feel intimidated. The gentlemen in the Municipal club state that they would not want to walk up the street at night because they feel that it is not safe, or not as it used to be.
As Georgina Blakely observes (Making Social Lives, 2009, scene 5) the members are longing for a past where they feel safer and have a sense of belonging. She tells us that, and I quote, “nostalgia for the past is often an imagined past”. I think that it is clear that these gentlemen feel unequal to the younger generations but at the same time have accepted that their inequality is not going to change. They also said that they feel their club has no future, most likely because of the change in society people are no longer looking for a traditional club but for something more contemporary.
There are also inequalities among the activities in the street during the day. The Mackintosh Centre is a prime example of this. It is a sports centre that is available for anyone to use, yet many of its current members are not from the immediate area. The head coach, John Cooksley, tells us that people assume the club is for a more select
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clientele. The reason for this could be that the fences and gates make the centre look daunting or that it is either private or costly. Before being a sports centre, the Mackintosh Centre was previously a private estate. The history of the site may add to the assumption that the centre is for private members and that its fees would be expensive. The inequality here is primarily a result of people’s perception of the Centre, rather than measures that the centre has put in place.
As we can see, there are inequalities that exist on City Road and they come in different forms. Whether they are caused intentionally, with regards to the motorists vs. pedestrians, or due to the way that society is continually changing and modernizing to fit into a contemporary UK, or simply through the views or assumptions of the people that live, work or visit City Road.
References
Blakeley, G., Bromley, S.,Clarke, J., Raghuram, P., Silva, E. and Taylor, S. (2009) Learning Companion 1, Introducing the social sciences, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
‘Material Lives’ (2009) Making Social Lives [DVD], Milton Keynes, The Open University.
‘Making Social Lives’ (2009) Making Social Lives [DVD], Milton Keynes, The Open University.
750 Words
