A document covering AQA Spec point: 3.2.3.3 Social and economic issues associated with urbanisation - Issues associated with economic inequality, social segregation and cultural diversity in contrasting urban areas.
Strategies to manage these issues.
Includes details about social segregation an...
Social and Economic Issues Associated with Urbanisation
Economic Inequality
Economic inequality is the unequal distribution of money amongst a population.
Economic inequalities are higher in the developing world than in developed countries. This is
because many developing countries lack the resources to support their poorest citizens,
whereas most developed countries have welfare states and a benefit system.
The main issues of economic inequality are:
● Political and social unrest e.g rioting, a key example being the French Revolution.
● High levels of crime, drug use and violence - For one, heroin addiction is more than
three times as common in people making less than $20,000 per year compared to those
who make $50,000 or more, and higher levels of education are also linked with lower
rates of addiction.
● Health problems - inequality can lead to poor levels of sanitation and health e.g due to
malnourished children or the spread of water-borne disease in slums.
Some argue that a key feature of many cities in Africa, Asia and South America is the
increasingly large wealth gap between the rich and poor residents, known as economic
inequality. In Mumbai, this can be seen where the world’s most expensive homes tower over
one of the largest slums in the city, Byculla, an area inhabited by some of Mumbai’s 9 million
slum dwellers.
Inequality exists to some extent in all urban areas. The wealthy and poor tend to concentrate
spatially which is known as social segregation. The reasons for this include:
● Housing (developers often build houses for a certain market in mind), wealthy people
can also choose to live away from poor people as they can afford the luxury of pleasing
environments with many services whereas poorer people have less choice.
● There is also an ethnic dimension to social segregation. Many ethnic groups originally
come to the country as new immigrants. When they first arrive they may suffer
discrimination and be either unemployed or employed in low-paid jobs. They may be
only able to afford cheap housing so hence cluster in certain, often poorer parts of the
city.
Poverty and inequality can be measured using the Index of Multiple Deprivation which
measures deprivation at small-area levels across England. The index of deprivation is based on
37 separate indicators which are combined into 7 domains:
● Income
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