TMA 01

Clare Swan - (B6446618)

Outline some of the ways in which inequalities have been made and remade in South Wales.

In this essay I will be looking at the inequalities, which is the unequal distribution of valued social resources within a society or between societies and how they have been and remade. I shall be looking at the legacy of coal, gender inequality and the redevelopment of Cardiff Bay. The presence of coal affected many aspects of life. Many different people earned their livelihoods through coal, directly or indirectly. Shops served a thriving community.

There were clear inequalities between the roles of the woman and the men. The work in the deep mines constructed a particular sort of masculinity, of the miner being necessarily a physically strong person coping with heavy work, dirt and dust. This was linked with the feeling of honour and being the bread winner. Wives were based at home taking supporting roles to husbands and children. The 1984/5 miners strike marked the transformation of the traditional roles of women and men. Barbra Williams, the wife of a miner tells us that woman were good enough to work behind the bar at the Meardy Social Club but they were not able to sit within the bar. At the same time, both woman and men came together in solidarity during the miners strike. The strike resulted in a high-profile role for the miners’ wives. Whilst the men were on strike the miners’ wives like Barbara Williams felt they had to take action too. Barbara says “Our men that weren’t fighting for a better wage or better conditions, they were fighting to keep jobs within the community and to keep the community alive, so thats why I think it was important that us woman got involved” (‘Making and remaking social lives: in the presence of coal’, 2009, scene 2). Barbara became a prominent figure and found herself representing the miners’ wives across the country. After a year long strike the miners returned to work, defeated, the strike had many long-term consequences. Coal was now being imported and that continued.

Young people in Maerdy faced many of the same pressures that exist in all communities, like drink and drugs. But as society changed and is made and remade, the issues were tackled. Richard Pugh explains “ There’s a problem with drinking but the drugs are going quieter now. When I was younger, when I was growing up there used to be loads and loads of drugs, but now its just drinking. Most of the people are hanging around in the park drinking so, used to be it ain’t that much any more they’ve all moved down the valley”. Natasha Leigh Pike says “ When I was younger I used go up the park or up the gulleys to have a drink with the girls but now, it’s because all the youth clubs are opening, now I don’t think you see much of it as, anymore”. (Making and remaking social lives in the presence of coal 2009)

We can see the legacy of coal in the inequalities between different parts of Cardiff. For example the wall which separates Butetown from the Millennium Centre developments which there is a visual representation of the differences between the two areas and the people who inhabit and use them. We can also see in the DVD that the people who lost out due to the decline of coal is stretched across Wales from Rhonda to Butetown.
The inequalities people felt also varied based on whether they were in Butetown or they stepped outside it. They did not feel discrimination in Butetown in the ways that did outside. The social and economic distinctions that made Butetown different meant that racial or ethnic distinctions were not as bad. Betty Campbell gives us a sense of this when she says that everybody respected everyone within Butetown but outside of the area they were looked down upon.(Learning Companion: Introducing the social sciences - part 2, p34). Betty says “ We knew that outside of the area we were looked on as if we were nothing in Butetown - that was coming from the whole of Cardiff; mind, some people still think the same thing now. But, and so it didn’t matter whether you were Christian, Muslim, black or white, you lived in the Bay and if there was problems outside the bay you all stuck together. (‘Making and remaking social lives: in the presence of coal’, 2009).

The redevelopment of Cardiff Bay is one of setting forth the attempt to find a new identity for Cardiff after the disappearance of coal. Not all attempts at regeneration have been successful. In the 1960’s the victorian houses of Butetown were demolished and replaced by tower blocks but this worsened, rather than solved the problems of social life of a declining economy. The houses were small small units so the larger extended families that people had lived in, either had to be split up or had to be squeezed into the smaller housing. People could no longer have lodgers, who had been traditionally used to supplement families incomes. There were fewer places where people could just come together with a loss of sense of belonging. The new architecture of the houses had the social effect of making people feel more distant from each other. Differences grew more marked.(Learning Companion: Introducing the social sciences - part 2, p35).

The legacies of coal in Meardy and Cardiff have been different.The Rhondda and Cardiff are both areas that thrived due to the presence of the coal industry but now this coal has left its legacy, it is no longer present the same way. There is still some coal export industry but as the deep mines have largely closed and there are few open mines coal does not offer employment for the many that it did in the past. People have to remake their lives. Both areas have rebuilt themselves but in different ways. Cardiff has received a lot of money for redevelopment, Rhondda much less so.(Learning Companion: Introducing the social sciences - part 2, p35).

Word Count: 1000.

References:

Blakeley, G., Bromley, S., Jefferies, E., Meegan, J., Raghuram, P. and Staples, M. (2009) Learning Companion, Introducing the social sciences - part 2, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

‘Making and remaking social lives: in the presence of coal’, (2009) Exploring Social Lives [DVD], Milton Keynes, The Open University.

I have found the subject of coal interesting in how one small black lump can bring inequalities and how it also brings people and communities together and can also pull them apart.

I have found it extremely difficult to get a grip on the essay due to family illness, it has felt like thing after another. I do not particularly feel this one of my strongest essays but the understanding of the key question and material is in my head, but not paper!