Applying social theory to an analysis of variation about the social-economic status in Old and new bond street London and Manor Park London

Applying social theory to an analysis of variation about the social-economic status in Old and new bond street London and Manor Park London

Introduction

All proponents of critical theory have discussed the relation between society and science. And all the links have been connected to inequality similarly. However, most of them define the difference as a social-economical issue as the unequal distribution of economic capital. The essay will apply social theory to an analysis of variation about the social-economic status in Old and new bond street London and Manor Park London. A visit is conducted to these two cities, and a theoretical understanding of the societies witnessed through the visits was presented using a social class perspective. The study will also show a contribution of social theories of education to the development of social inequalities, social class and socioeconomic status.

My Experience and observation

Old and new bond street London

The bold street is the first city that was visited and observed with several people interview to acquire relevant information for this paper. The bright road is in the West End of London is a famous street globally due to its wealth of elegant stores, fine jewellery, luxury goods, designer fashion, art and antiques. The road has one of the highest density of haute couture stores I have ever witnessed, and for this reason, the people attracted in the street the rich, the famous and the merely curious. These elegance has influenced the way people behave, experiences and social interaction in public spaces. These acts as a stage allowing people to unfold of real-life human dramas and the freedom of personal and social expression for individuals and communities in London. The streets footpath, parks, waterfront, plazas, laneways and town squares give a form of ebb and flow of human exchange and interactions. It is where people find some of the most exciting and worthwhile Experience of their lives, especially considering the ancient buildings that are well preserved, giving a beautiful view.

Arguably, Old and new bond street is unique and placed with unique norms and arbitrary rules silently governing the city and the behaviour of people in this street. Most of these social norms have influenced the action portrayed in this city as they are ingrained in most of the people here and not following the much-untold rules creates severe tension for oneself. Although no severe consequences have been put in place for those who break these social norms, people will always be faced with the fear of inconveniencing others and themselves in case they break the social rules. Besides, most of the social norms in Old and new bold street are informal for instance they advocate for polite conversations and avoidance of racist or discriminatory comments, be kind to the elderly such as opening doors or giving them a seat, say sorry after bumping into someone to name but a few.

They also have a social norm that requires people to dress up with a test of fashion, especially considering this is a ‘rich man’s city’ with various fashion houses. Still, most of these social norms were created informally through repeated cautionary actions that were used to mitigate potential conflict in the regions and ended up being a way of interaction and cohesion between people in this city. For instance, the city has a social norm that one must great someone after they enter their store before serving them. These provide an unusual behaviour of how to behave in this particular social group or culture.

Being in this place made me feel excited, in particular, the street had all the highest-end shopping brand I know of, friendly and clean areas and always uncrowded, especially the shops. The streets were also packed with expensive cars with shops having numerous assistance that was still welcoming and helpful to their customers. The coffee shops were even parked with a minimum amount of people who conducted themselves with high etiquette and always friendly to others. Although this place felt great to me, I think that I do not fit in this place. The reason is that although the culture is attractive and the people are friendly and welcome the social, economic status of the city makes me feel little out of place. What makes me say this is because if you do not have 100k-1m extra to spend, it’s better to do some window shopping for small but expensive things in this city. Also, I dislike some of the social norms in the town such as dressing in a restaurants dress code, and even that one must acknowledge each other by use of a node or saying hey while in the elevator among others.

Manor Park Newham

Minor Park Newham was the second area I visited in my assignment. It is mainly a residential area and district of London Borough of Newhan on London, England. It is a conservational area that retains its original character and charm. However, several charity support organizations and independent community centres are located in this area due to the living standard of these community. The rate of unemployment is high, which explains the high number of people found in the streets of Minor Most of the people I encountered were between 25 to 44 years old, which is older than average. Mostly, people are in groups and interactions are often between locals. The most common behaviour I observed in this area was a ghetto lifestyle of the people. I could identify several gangs of a different race, colour ad creed. People walked in a problematic but slow and a very relaxed manner with a very asymmetrical gesture.

Despite having a wide range of variation of people living in Manor Park Newham, there is a strong sense of unity and togetherness. Still, what makes the city unique is the sense of community. The city thrives in a multicultural area with a large number of people from Asia and Eastern Europe. It also attracts people from other districts due to its relatively affordable housing and strong community cohesion. One of the reasons for this cohesion is the social conventions that people in this region engage in every day without necessarily thinking about them. Due to the diversity of people in these community, these social norms act as essential tools in bringing interrelation in the region. Some examples include not standing too close to strangers to avoid invading on someone personal space, dressing appropriately especially in front of older adults, not interrupting when someone else is talking, respecting each other, among others. However, it’s not acceptable to use abusive or racial language, and a violation of this social norm can result in severe legal punishment.

What I liked most about this area was the cohesion that exists between the community despite the full range of multicultural. This is a great inspiration for how a society should live like is our country is to grow. The housing is also affordable, and the areas have few beautiful places that make it attractive to some extent. The transport system is also excellent and besides the site is not that far from the London Center. Ultimately I would like feet in this community as the area is simple and welcoming to all people. However, I do not feel like I fit in this area due to the different cultural practices in the region. The communities here are used to doing things in a certain way which I believe in one way or the other I would fail to accomplish. I feel this way because some the city lacks independent café and shops. Also, the multicultural groups make it hard to implement some policies in the region, which might be the cause of insecurity in the area.

Theories and concepts

Socialization/social reproduction

Social reproduction is a concept used in mainstream psychology, while socialization is widely used and explored ret the two processes are loosely related. An analysis of the social reproductive theory is essential in understanding the relationship between an individual and the society, how, through the people’s action, the social system is perpetuated. Yet, its nature is unreducible to these actions. Social reproduction concept explains that society reproduces itself from generation to another. It is where the self-reputation of a social structure is ensured over time. Starting from the theses developed by Marx in Capital, the social reproductive theory focuses on the specific aspect of the relationship between reproductive and productive labour that is left under-theorized and underdeveloped by Marx ( ). One of the critical sociology insight was that every social process of production is a reproduction process at the same time. This is the foundation of building the productive social theory which puts human labour in the heart of creating or reproducing society as a whole. Although sociology is much concerned with ways in which social practices and institutions are self-perpetuating, the concept has tended to be used mainly about social inequalities. The fact that disadvantaged members of society engage in practices that contribute to the maintenance of situations in which they are disadvantaged is problematic in most cases ( ).

Meritocracy

Meritocracy is a sociology concept in which success and status of life depend entirely on the primary individual talents, ability and efforts. It is a social system in which people improvement wholly based on their merits ( ). The concept is contrary to that of Aristotle, where people advances based on the status and title of the family they come from or their relations. The most society that develops in meritocracy is built on the belief that everyone can make it with hard work and dedication ( ). In social science, the concept is referred to as the bootstrap ideology, evoking the popular notion of pulling oneself up using a bootstring ( ). In particular, meritocracy has increasingly been recognized as a definite system in Western societies and ideology has tightly combined the notion of capitalism and egalitarian values ( ). However, in modern societies, meritocracy has allowed low-status group members to believe in improving their social status, economic class and their place in the hierarchy. Therefore, this has impacted the ideology That everyone has an equal chance of succeeding, and this entirely depends on the individual’s ability to cultivate the required skills ( ). Consequently, meritocracy has served as an essential engine in maintaining social order and calming social unrest.

Concept of Inequality

Inequality is the state of not being equal, particularly in status, opportunities and rights and is beloved to the social justice theorists. Often, it is confused in public debates as it tends to mean different things to different people. Two views have spanned up on inequality concept, including the inequality of outcome in the material dimensions of wellbeing and which result from circumstances beyond one’s control. And the other view is concerned with the disparity of opportunities which focuses only on circumstances beyond some control that affects the potential outcome. However, both have differed essential dimensions including power, occupational, prestige, schooling, ancestry and race and ethnicity. Still, Inequalities in income occurs when individuals do not possess the same material wealth level or overall economic living standards. The development theory explains that inequality id mainly associated with inequality in wealth/income, education and Nutrition. But primarily, the lens that economies use to gauge progress is typically income and consumption. Still, others have proposed that inequality should be measured in terms of being and doing valued by people and the freedom to choose whatever they desire ( ). The approach emphasizes that income should not be the goal as we all know to all people can convert income into wellbeing and freedom in the same way. Moreover, the relationship seems to be more dependent on contingency circumstances, both personally and socially more than the person’s age, gender, family, background and disability ( ).

Social mobility

Social mobility refers to the ability to adjust the social stratification system position by moving from one social class to another. The amount of movement that one can attain whether up or down indicates the extent of social mobility prevalent in society ( ). The change can happen due to a variety of reasons. Upward mobility is where an increase or upward shift in social class has occurred. However, upward mobility is not always about getting richer or famous; people who earn college degrees, get new jobs promotions, or even get married with a good income may move up socially ( ).

On the other hand, downward mobility indicates a lowering of one’s social class in one way or the other. Some people move downwards due to business setbacks income or status and, therefore leads to their downward social mobility. However, it is not uncommon for generations of family to belong to varying social classes, which is also called intergenerational mobility.

Social Class Theory

Social class is one of the essential concept of sociology due to the relationship between social class background and life chances and the argument of the extent of social class background and how it determines an individual life chance. Social class Is referred to as a horizontal stratification of a population ( ). It is a group of people in a hierarchy that is based on wealth, education, attainment, occupation, income and membership and a subculture of the social network. However, in general, the concept of class has no agrees upon meaning. Still, many believe in a simple three-class model that has an upper level, the middle class and the lower class or working class ( ). The small type is typified by poverty, unemployment and homelessness. Few of them have managed to finish school, suffer from lack of medical care, adequate housing and food, safety and sanitation is an issue. The next class is the working class, who have minimum education and are mainly manual labourers. Most offer unskilled workers in cashier, dishwashers, maids and waiters. Mostly they are underpaid and have no opportunity for career advancement. The net class is the middle class who mostly have white-collar jobs and have money than these other low social ladders. They include managers, small business owners, teachers, secretary, doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers and CEOs. The final group is the upper class which provides for high-income earners and high society families with old money and who have been productive for generations. This group has more money than they could probably spend, which leaves them with much leisure.

Links to educational theory

As seen in the above method of social responsibility, the relationship between individual and society can be understood through how people behave and their productivity in the organization. Here we know that both people living in the old bond street and Manor Park Newham engages in practical contribution to the maintenance of the organization as it is at the moment. However, the communities do not allow for social change as they maintain and appear to be deterministic. Some of the social norms have been in existence in these communities for edges, and the cities are unwilling to change. For instance, as to observe, although no formal rules regulate how people should interact with strangers on bond street London, people naturally follow the standard of greeting them before serving them. This behaviour contributes to the wellbeing of the community, and thus people are unwilling to shift from these actions. However, this social norm is significantly different compared to those witnessed at Manor Park Newham. Still, the community exhibits some social patterns that fit their social, economic status and which contribute to their wellbeing. One of these norms includes avoiding using racial terms which have ensured that the community have had cohesion.

Furthermore, the two community exhibited extremely different social inequality considering Old and new bond street London is defined with high luxury stores and café contrary to what is was observed in Manor Park Newham where none of these exists. However, as explained by the concept of meritocracy, these social difference in status entirely depends on the individual’s ability and efforts. Thus we can say that only the individual’s talent of the two cities can help to bridge the gap between the two communities ( ). Nonetheless, meritocracy has served as an engine to maintain social order and to calm social unrest in that every one social status is as a result of their efforts. Thus, no one persons violate another in a bid to attain upward mobility.

Consequently, even if the people of Manor Park Newham social lives are low compared to those of the bond street, they exhibit a high level of cohesion. Moreover, the meritocracy concept gives hope to those people living in Manor Park Newham in that if they work hard, the measurement merit of inequality can be eliminated which can have a positive impact on their life. The reason is that as meritocracy concept explains, the society as is a dystopia in which merits are solely determined by IQ plus effort and thus, inequality is rampant due to these measurement merits ( ).

Inequality was also evident between the two communities in that the Old and new bond street community mainly belonged to the upper and middle-class level compared to the Manor Park Newham community, which had middle to low-class level. Here a distributional bias is the growth process is evident in that comparing the two town one had a more attractive and organized look that was well maintained. At the same time, the other was characterized by unemployed people who walked randomly in the streets that were not that well maintained. People in Manor Park Newham were also having trouble raising income as compared to the bond street where people seemed to enjoy spending a tremendous amount of cash with no trouble at all. Moreover, inequality in Nutrition and health were revealed where concerns of difference in opportunities and outcomes were revealed. Thus, equality of opportunities exists mainly when life outcomes depend on factors for which people can be considered responsible and not of the disadvantageous attribute of their control.

The concept of social mobility gives confidence to many low-income earners to bridge the social inequalities that exist between the cities. However, it is also a threat to the upper-class group as due to one reason or the other they can experience social mobility downwards. There are many stories of people who have raised from being a modest beginning to fame and fortune. But the truth is that the number of people who have grown from poverty to wealth is minimal ( ). But as revealed in the social mobility concept, upward mobility is not only about becoming reach and famous but also gaining social position, job promotion, more income, among others. On the other hand, we need people who have increased downward mobility due to failure in business, illness or loss of employment ( ). Thus, when analyzing the movement of social mobility, sociologists consider all modes of mobility.

Also, the social classes between the two towns vary in that most of the people that live in Old and new bond street London belong to the upper. Social inequalities, social class and socioeconomic status.