Introducing the social sciences

Difference can be referred as a point or way in which people or things are dissimilar. As we human beings are all different in many ways and can be indentified according to many criteria: gender, age, personalities, standard of living, believes cultural, social and ethic differences. Differences should be of no importance, but become so when they are coupled with the circumstance of inequality. Inequalities often are referred to people’s unequal access to economic and social resources. On City Road there are many differences and inequalities among the people, who live, work and enjoy the street. The existence of the Food Bank is a clear example of them.

As shown in the film people visiting the market have the freedom of being able to purchase and chose what they like, where people attending the food bank do not have that freedom and choice as to what they would like .Another example can be seen in the experience of somebody suffering with physical impairment, a person like Stephan Sweetman . As the majority of the people find it easy and freely to move around in Stephen’s case we can see he doesn’t have the same privileges and the abilities to move around freely due to lack of facilities provided on City Road for people with physical impairment. City Road seems to be constantly changing and evolving with respect to race, culture and business. The accommodation of the new cultures and the changes has had an effect on local business and people.

What have you enjoyed and what have you found challenging about starting this module? What I have enjoyed at starting this module is that has given me a good view of my life and my surroundings ,and what I found challenging about the module is how it forced and provoked thoughts and unable me to think broader then I normally would .

Write no more than 100 words in your tutor group forum describing a street which you know? Garratt Lane is a fairly busy road in the Borough of Wandsworth; London. The road is four kilometres long and connects Wandsworth High Street to Tooting Broadway, and is the major north-south route in West London. Garratt Lane has mixed usage along its length, in the north contains newly developed stores with a large shopping centre and a mixture of restaurants and bars, and in the south is more residential. The road is very cosmopolitan with different races and nationalities living on it, which makes it very relaxing and refreshing to see the blend of different cultures living together on one road.

References:

The Open University (2014a) ‘The Life and Times of the Street: Part 1’ [Video], DD102 Introducing the social sciences. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=443760§ion=2.3 (Accessed 6 June 2014). The Open University (2013b) ‘The Life and Times of the Street: Part 2’ [Video], DD102 Introducing the social sciences. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=443760§ion=2.7 (Accessed 6 June 2014).