State 5 key factors affecting variation in terms of ethnicity
Political
Environmental
Economic
Social
Technology
What are political factors affecting variation in terms of ethnicity
Govt policy
What are environmental factors affecting variation in terms of ethnicity
trade winds, isolation
What are economic factors affecting variation in terms of ethnicity
job availability, cost and distance, proximity to market
What are social factors affecting variation in terms of ethnicity
attitudes towards migration
What are technological factors affecting variation in terms of ethnicity
routes available, means of travel, e.g. number of flights / knowledge of destination
Define homogeneity
population is all the same
Define heterogeneity
population is diverse and mixed up
What is the pivotal reason for slough becoming ethnically diverse?
1) initial migrants (bridge-headers) establish an enclave community in a few houses/streets
2) family/locals move to the area to live/work with
Shops/cafes/places of worship established and community grows, attracting other migrants
3) Language/religious groups stay together to help preserve shared identity (people feel safer from racism with their own ethnic community around them.
Why is slough (langley) diverse in other ways
- Migrants may earn low pay and be attracted to low cost housing near work.
- Wealthy migrants are attracted to live in desirable expensive areas where they feel safe and have the shops/entertainment/ education they desire near to them.
- As more migrants move in, previous residents may move elsewhere as they feel less welcome, intensifying the level of segregation, tension or crime.
- Migration can also affect reported gender. (lots of migrants are males of working age), lots of child bearing age
Economic activity can affect mental and physical wellbeing
On a global scale, what factors affect variation in population
Mainly physical geography
On a local scale, what factors affect variation in population
its increasingly political, technological, and then social (1:1 interaction)
Compare variation in urban and rural areas
- Urban areas have more jobs, housing, services (health / education. BUT:
- Rural areas attract certain types of people, e.g. elderly / wealthy / families
- Rural areas have low population / threshold anyway…
- …so if you can attract one group, and enough of them, that’s a threshold.
By variation in population characteristics what do we mean
gender and ethnicity
- variation in these both IN and INBETWEEN settlements
How can different levels of cultural diversity be explained
By social clustering, accessibility to key cities, physical factors and government planning policy
How does accessbility affect levels of cultural diversity
larger cities are easier for new migrants to get to than rural areas, especially those close to major transport hubs and ports like London and Liverpool
- slough lcose to M25/M4, LONDON and heathrow
How does gov policy affect levels of cultural diversity
- Govt encourged workers from commonwealth (india, pakistan, caribbeans etc) to migrate to Uk when wrokers were need (windsrush generation of afro caribbean immigrants who came to uk from 1948)
- Uk membership of EU meant migration to Uk from european countries drastically increased to expansion of EU in 2004 (accession 8)
What is social clustering
segregation
Positive reasons for social clustering
Accommodating difference
Helps social group to keep cohesion
Keeps cultural values
Keep cultural specific amenities and services
intermarriage
same ethnic group stay close together
gov policies
Negative reasons for social clustering
Helps protection against attack
Lack of trust
Discrimination – e.g. job/income related / estate agents
Language barriers
Why might exclusion occur
The majority (e.g. conservative, white middle class society) might think other (racial) groups don’t share the same values as them.
Therefore… they treat other (racial) groups as outsiders, i.e. (sub)consciously take action to exclude them.
State the invasion (majority forces minority) theory of social clustering
1) Start your thinking with the centre of a city / town (or just a particular space)
2) The new / minority group (e.g. ‘African American) move into this space – and over time you get greater degree of filling.
3) Different groups have difference tolerances – minority groups prefer mixed, majority tolerate up to 10% change.
4) At about 35-50% change, the tolerance that the majority (‘whites’) have for ‘blacks’ dissolves… and ‘whites’ leave (white flight).
5) Typically ‘whites’ moves outwards towards the suburbs (they have choice, i.e. money and can afford to move).
Describe the filtering theory of segregation
Stage 1 - Staring Points and Assumptions
Majority (‘White’) don’t mind the minority (‘Blacks’), if the minority group remains in the minority (15-20%),
Like theory 1, the ‘majority group’ like mixed communities, but minimum threshold of tolerance is 30% presence of the minority group.
Stage 2 - Changes start to occur
The minority (Black) population starts to grow
At 15-20%, when houses become available, replacement majority families decide not to buy.
House prices come down…
The minority group (Blacks) can enter the newly vacated areas and at 20-30% black, you reach tipping point
Stage 3 – Long term transition
Having crossed the 30% threshold, the minority community builds rapidly, and becomes the numerical majority.
Quickly describe succession/invasion
Process by which new immigrants to a city move to and dominate or take over areas or neighbourhoods that were previously occupied by older immigrant groups.
