What do you consider to be the main causes of social conflict in Britain’s cities in the last ten years?

What do you cerebrate to be the main causes of friendly meshing in Britains cities in the ratiocination ten years? Stephenie Thourgood What do you consider to be the main causes of social conflict in Britains Cities in the last ten years? This essay aims to introduce types of social conflict that concord in todays corporation and identify possible causes to the social conflict that has occurred in British cities within the last decade. brotherly conflict is the oppose amidst man-to-mans or groups of community within a society that puzzle opposing beliefs/ interests to other groups.From these struggles, tensions argon provoked and atomic number 18 expressed in a sort of ways often through anti-social doings much(prenominal) as theft, drugs, sidesplitters, attacks, demonstrations, strikes, hooliganism and vandalism. The main focus of this paper will be the causes behind the riots in British cities in the last ten years, as riots be a form of social conflict easie r to measure than the other forms Riots occur sporadic eachy and last for a certain duration. Crime for example is an ongoing branch in all atomic number 18as of the country. The essay will conclude by suggesting changes to be made to reduce social conflict in Britain.Britain has a invoice of city riots that were in all probability most prominent in the 1980s in areas such as Brixton and Manchester. in that respect vex been thirteen recorded riots between 1991 and 1992 where the legal philosophy temporarily lost control oer the violence. All of the riots occurred in council estates on the periphery of London in low-income areas with long standing socio-economic problems. Unemployment levels were far loftyer up the national average. The off pileicipants were predominantly one-year-old white British males aged between 10 and 30 years old.There run awayed to be a high niggardness of upstart the great unwashed, in slightly areas over half of the residents were atomic r eactor the stairs 24 years of age (Power, A 1997. ppix). Individuals in society have labelled this group of plenty the belowclass. There are however contrastive understandings of what is meant by the underclass. It would seem that in a time where the class establishment is supposedly dead, class differences still exist.The underclass in this paper will be considered as people with low educational activityal attainment, a omit of equal skills . ,shared spatial location, dependance on welfare, unemployment and under-employment pathological family structures and the inter-gene noetic transmission of poverty date in the unreported economy and a pre-disposition to criminal and rowdyismlinessly behaviour( Crowther, C, 1997 pp7). In the way that the exerting class had little baron in the capitalist system until they formed a global alliance of all workers (proletariat), the underclass in addition struggle to make a difference until they relate and riot (Dicken, P 1990). The re are umteen an(prenominal) reasons behind social conflict and in that respect are in any case catalysts that trigger the social dis direct such as riots.Community is often a group of people with shared interests, a local anaestheticity where residents feel a scent out of assignment and belonging. Traditionally a sense of community was found around the neighbourhood you resided. This concept is fast deteriorating as new community identities within communities develop e. g. the gay community and cultural communities. These divisions within the community produce conflict as the various groups have several(predicate) interests and perceived priorities in the neighbourhood (Hogget, P, 1997). Social tensions also occur due to demographical factors surrounding the communities.The housing estates that often stunner violent outbreaks tend to have a commonwealth of predominantly tender people, unemployed or on a low income, living in council housing. The estate is then brande d an economically deprive area. If on that point were a mix in the wealth of the estate then role models for the slight affluent would exist and guard the deprived younger resident something to train to. Due to the young age of a large percentage of the residents, they are easily influenced and attracted to the mobilized violence, as there is frequent from fellow young residents and peers. smaller groups of youngsters living on the estates would define it difficult to make an impression as poetry would be too small to cause the large outstrip of disorder evident in the riots of the last decade. A mix of to a greater extent mature households with younger families would leave alone stronger community constraints (Power, A etal, 1997, ppxi). There was an summation in the amount of migrants living in Britain since the 1950s, this is no longer boost and constraints have been placed upon the process. Newly arriving immigrants were housed in the vileer areas of Britain.Obvious ly different ethnic groups have different cultures and interests. By housing them alongside the poorer British residents, very different groups were forced to live together in one community. As a result of this process there became a high concentration of poverty stricken ethnic minority groups living in thickly overpopulated areas, which created tensions and pressure on local service. Equal opportunities policies sought to eliminate racial discrimination suffered by the ethnic minorities, by increasing the amount of minority employees.White unemployed residents occupancy-hunting would find themselves in direct competition with the minority groups and therefore feel bitter that the minority groups flock obtain work in Britain where some of the British can non (Crowther, C 1997). Although lam was non a dominant issue in the riots, individual minority families became targets of hate (Power, A etal. 1997 pp 20) The white residents of the estates wanted to blame someone for th eir undesirable situation and targeted ethnic minorities as scapegoats to take their anger out upon in some of the riots.The economic disadvantage of the residents of these estates also contributed to the outbreaks. Education was often not strengthend by families on the estates, as they too had never had the wideness of education demonstrated to them. Due to the lack of education, they knew of no alternative survival to voice their opinions other than by violent rules such as riot. junior-grade educational attainment meant that children did not have the skills required of them to become a member of the labour force, and so often became leechlike upon welfare (Crowther, C 1997).The provision of welfare undermines individual responsibility by giving rational human agents the incentives to not work and provide for themselves, thereby creating welfare habituation (Crowther, C 1997. pp9). Girls very rarely played any major part in the rioting. This can be explicateed by the fa ct that girls achieved higher in school. They were more successful than boys in giveing employment and so had a sense of self-fulfilment. As boys educational attainment levels were lower they were exposed to the feeling of failure, which carried on into their years of job seeking (Power, A etal, 1997).Many of the girls may have been mothers and as mother women may have experienced their responsibilities socially and did not want to be associated with the violence. Males, however, did not maintain their social role as a father and readily participated in the riots (Ginsberg, N 1993). The recession contributed to rioting also as it caused changes in the labour market that when combined with racial competition led to ever increasing tensions Throughout the course of their struggle to reform their market situation the white labour force often entered into loth(p) relations with black labourers.Thus the segregation of white from black workers is shaped by individual attitudes and act ions (Crowther, C 1997, pp 12) The young unemployed people become bored as they have much free time and limited finance to employ on interesting activities/hobbies. As a result of this they often writhe to hatred for means of enjoyment, excitement and to increase their income. Unemployment can give people a feeling of low self worth and a lack of respect from their family. Various types of crime such as detaching a car may often earn them respect from their peers and families especially if there is financial gain.This had a circular effect however as crime on the estate caused conflict between the victimised residents and the criminal population of the area (Altman, I 1975). Political factors can also help to explain the reasons behind social conflict. The areas that tend to be prone to disturbance tend to be areas that major government programmes are focussed upon. The Government created extensive programmes that entailed investing money to improve housing, transport and urban renewal.An estate based housing office, a tenants association, health projects, community development trusts, policing projects are examples of the types of programmes initiated. They aimed to improve the immediate vicinity of the poorer estates, but the programmes had a short-term impact. It is true that the projects change the timbre of life for the residents, but nothing was done to increase education or job prospects. The government provided the estates with no means to continually aliveness themselves and sustain their improved lifestyle.After time the services became run down again and the unemployed resident is still poor and frustrated. Government resources were scantily as they tried to divide the budget between all the different needs of the sub-communities within the community (Hogget, P 1997). The cost of growing dependency by community organisations on such programmes in any areas became discernible. community groups often found themselves in a struggle for hardl y resources which exacerbated existing lines of tension between communities of difference ( Hoggett, P 1997 pp10).Residents were previously not involved in the decision-making process on how funding was to be worn-out(a) they had no control over what was done in their community space. Had they been consulted they would probably have opted for a scheme that aimed to obtain businesses reinvestment in the area. Most externally funded programmes were driven by outside constraints and did very little to change the prospects for young men or their stake in what happened (Power, A etal 1997. ppx). Social aspects are considered to cause social conflict. All of the aforementioned reasons for social conflict ace to an accumulation of pressure upon a family.Home is perceived as a haven where people can take shelter from society, if the home is of poor quality and overcrowded with family breakdown there is no range for those residing there they are invariably faced with their deprivation a nd problems (Dickens, P, 1990). An increase in single elevate families means for many youngsters there is no role model to reinforce ideal behaviour. From a study on youth and crime undertaken by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation it was discovered that modifyd adults create damaged children (Power, A etal 1997).Poor quality parenting, parental conflict, little enthusiasm for education, criminal behaviour and poverty set examples to children that they too would follow. Pressure on the head of the family to be the provider can lead to tensions particularly if the family is in poverty and the parents are unemployed and dependent on welfare. The rest of the family may lose respect for that person, as they cannot provide an affluent lifestyle for their children. The media contribute to social conflict, as they provided a method by which the residents could communicate to the wider society.The media always reported on the riots and often mislead the situation. In some elusions the media have been prosecuted for encouraging youths to riot so that the reporters could gain a good story for the sake of ratings. the newspaper headlines provide a relentless reportage of the consequences of the collapse of excluded communities (Hoggett, P 1997 pp13) Areas were often stereotyped as creation bad by the media. The estates then experienced difficulties in trying to escape this labelling especially when applying for jobs. Weak social control caused by weak relate with the wider society also contributed to social conflict.The youths were rarely punished for the riots and often gained support, help and funding from the Government as a result. Due to lack of enforcement upon them they were constantly pushing the boundaries. They felt they had nothing to lose by rioting. Changes in society lead to increased tensions between marginalized groups and the police service. The police provided little resistance to the community, they only responded to reported crimes. Due to the int imidation of the residents from the criminals on the estates, police struggled to find witnesses for the incidents.The police were therefore limited. Tensions between the criminals and the police grew, as the youths antagonised the police cognize that the police were unable to carry them (Crowther, C 1997). During the riots the battle between the police and the youths was therefore often personal (Power, A etal, 1997). A diagram to charge how rioting may occur. Riot Denial of voice Alternative power Boys excluded from family, Control battle school, work, leisure facilities Violence in public areas harm of control Alternative voice Control vacuum Gang fundamental lawPolice challenge Hard tough style Rumbling disorder Intimidation, law-breaking Display of power Notoriety (Power A etal, 1997 pp53) Several case studies can be used to reinforce the reasons given. I have selected ousel Lees, and Bradford. Blackbird Lees is a housing estate located on the periphery of a large town in the Midlands in the 1950s and 1960s to house workers from the local industries. Only 8% of the houses were owner-occupied. The estate had few basic services such as shops, a medical centre, public houses and a bus avenue to the town centre.The population was predominantly young with 56% being under the age of 25, and 94% of the estates population were white. Unemployment levels were high at 42% and 22% of households were single parented. By the mid 1980s the estate was perceived as being one of the least desirable estates in the area. The area has a archives of anti-social behaviour such as crime and harassment. The ethnic minorities were usually the offset printing to be harassed. In 1992, the estate was awarded 15 million pounds to improve housing, services, radiate the tenure and increase resident involvement.A particular activity of the youths was to steal and ride motorbikes over the large areas of open space near to the estate. Residents missing to use the green for othe r purposes felt too intimidated to do so. Petitions were drawn up and handed to the police who found it hard to claver control. Bikes were difficult to chase and often the bikers outnumbered the police. The riot was triggered by the arrest of three youths for a motorbiking related offence. Later that day fifty youths congregated and caused damage to the surrounding area in protest. More youths were arrested and the disorder continued and escalated over the following nights.On the fifth night 150 police with custodial equipment took control of the situation and the disturbances ceased. Many residents, police and Councillors felt the disturbances were minor, and that the media exaggerated the events. There were conflicting perspectives of the role of the police some believed they neglected the brewing problems for too long, whilst others believed they overreacted to the disturbance (Power, A etal 1997) Bradford is another area that suffered riots only this year. Bradford used to be dominated by the textile industry due to the industrys decline many people were made unemployed.During the summer of 2001, riots broke out sparked by the global election. The area has a large ethnic minority population, high unemployment numbers and a substantial young population. A high percentage of voters support the British Nationalist Party (BNP). The BNP gained much of their support by cater from the tensions between the minorities and the whites. The BNP fuelled ideas that the Asians were taking all the benefits and jobs from the whites, and that the Asians were the reason the whites were deprived. Both gangs had been involved in attacks prior to these riots.One night the Asians congregated in the streets and caused a full subdue violent riot where the local vicinity was attacked and vandalised. It is thought they did this due to the propaganda outflank by the BNP, which made them feel alienated in their own neighbourhood. The riot was very territorial fighting for social space to exist freely within (www. bbc. co. uk. news 2001). In conclusion, social conflict is the result of a concoction of factors that when fused together result in an explosion of disorder. The factors are social, economical, racial, demographical, political and geographical (Benyon, J 1987).When the status of these factors leads to a socially excluded deprived class of people who feel discriminated against, rioting is often witnessed. There are however, some more deprived areas where rioting has never occurred. This may be because there is stronger police control, or the age of the population may be equally dispersed. All the areas that witnessed riots had large groups of young unemployed males living in a similar deprived geographical location (Crowther, C 1997). These men are more vulnerable to group solidarity with other, similarly excluded, vulnerable, disorientated and poorly prepared young men (Power, A etal, 1997. p51)These men were socially excluded and so rioted to re lease aggression, to be noticed, and to attempt to break the vicious circle they were born into. Riots are perceived by many as the revenge of the socially excluded (Crowther, C. 1997). Riots can produce results. The people involved in the riots are very rarely reprimanded for their actions, or else more money and programmes are set up to improve the infrastructure, services and support. Positive action needs to be taken in order to prevent further outbreaks.For a stable future young people should be taught that there are other non-violent ways to voice their opinions and recognise that an interest in their education can lead to better job prospects. A population mix should be generated in order to diversify the types of people living together. Activities within the community to relieve boredom and give people a shared interest should be initiated. Improved support should be given to parents and families and to community development groups. These ideas should be taken into figure when planning future housing development and regeneration (Power, A etal, 1997).It is also argued that planning decisions from the past have contributed to the racial tensions and exclusion of certain groups by creating ghetto type areas through the housing policies (Solomos, J 1993). There are many aspects as discussed previously that when integrated lead to social conflict the major cause being the long term exclusion and deprivation that the alleged(prenominal) underclass are made to suffer. They endeavour to change their situation but with so many limitations upon them, they are rarely successful other than through rioting. four-fold deprivation has dangerous consequences.