3. How does economic change influence S/E

• We can establish levels of social inequality through indicators, which allow us to see social inequality based on age, ethnicity, gender, education, and wealth. Some of these include percentage on free school meals, fear of crime, incidence of crime, quality of housing, level of pollution, access to leisure services, level of income and opportunities to participate in political engagements. 
• The terms quality of life and standard of living are often used. Quality of life in the extent to which a person’s needs or desires are met – this is their opinion. Standard of living is an index which rates the ability of a person to access services and goods, including food & water, clothes, housing and mobility. 
• Factors such as the IMD, Gini coefficient (measures of social inequality within countries 0-1.0), housing tenure and literacy rates can also be used. 
• When these factors vary across a country, area or globally, we have areas of deprivation, which refers to a general lack of resources and opportunities. This can be modelled by the cycle of deprivation, where factors are interrelated. 
• Inequalities exist at all scales from global to local, between urban places and rural places and there can be some variance intra-urban. A single factor in unlikely to explain inequalities at any scale. It is the interaction of several factors which tends to lead to spatial patterns of inequality.
• Wealth is fundamental and can link to many factors, significantly influencing the cycle of decline. The lack of formal qualifications and low skill sets are major obstacles to raising income and thereby reducing social inequality. The cost of living is also an important factor – as disposable income can be reduced.
• Housing and it’s respective quality can also influence and be influenced; income can influence the type of housing & tenure, with this influencing health. Millions live in slum housing in LIDCs/EDCs due to little income. Homelessness also rising in ACs. Second homes & holiday homes of the retired have also increased, pushing prices up for younger people.
• Health can be interrelated with ill-health and deprivation. Sub-standard housing, poor diet, unhealthy lifestyles, and the additional stress of day-to-day living in poverty can take a toll on health. Vaccination rates/access to healthcare.
• Education differences can also be a significant element in creating and maintaining inequalities. Achieving universal primary education was one of the Millennium Development Goals (factors to measure) and most governments invest in education to raise standards of living and quality of life. It can exclude people from accessing education and skills etc.
• Access to services is also important as it can impact their quality of life and standard of living. Stark inequalities at a global scale: number of doctors per thousand people, vaccination etc. North/South divide. Influenced by 3 factors: number of services, how easy it is to get to the service & social and economic factors
• In ACs: SEC led to:

  Social opportunities for people and places

  • People in these countries benefit from cheaper products than if produced locally, due to lower costs from EDCs.
  • TNCs make more profit as EDCs and LIDCs economies grow, people have more disposable income, particularly in the location that the TNC’s HQ is in.
  • Improved environmental quality as polluting mining and manufacturing industries have been moved abroad.
• In ACs SEC led to

  Patterns of inequality for people and places
• People in these countries lose their jobs as the factories and mines are moved abroad to places where land and labour is cheaper
• Those who lost their jobs are often low skilled


  Unable to transfer skills to the knowledge economy
• Well qualified workers


  Benefit from the growth of the knowledge economy
• Those from factories


  Struggle with unemployment, widening inequality
• Not all places are equally affected by SEC: previously industrial cities were badly impacted by SEC leading to structural unemployment and a spiral of decline
• EDCs


  • Social opportunities for people and places
  • FDI from TNCs creates a larger export generated industry, bringing jobs and an economic multiplier effect into some areas of these countries (e.g VW near Sao Paulo)
  • TNCs relocate their factories and customer service creating jobs and increasing the skills/technology levels locally
  • The global shift of industry creates flows of money from TNCs (often owned by people in ACs) to EDCs (where much of the supply chain/manufacturing is), reducing social inequality globally - development gap
  • TNCs may build related infrastructure e.g roads, water treatment etc where they operate
• Patterns of inequality for people and places in EDCs


  • Global shift of industry is unlikely to decrease inequality within poorer countries
  • Jobs usually are in concentrated urban areas
  • May cause rural-urban migration → slums
• TNCs


  • Have disruptive social impacts
  • Some have been exploitative and used sweatshops, forced labour etc
  • Broken UN human rights convention
• FDI from TNCs


  Can lead to regions in poorer countries being reliant on a narrow economic base
• 100,000s work in Mumbai's textiles industry, loss of this would be catastrophic
• Global shift of industry


  Can destabilise food supplies in poorer countries, as people give up farming
• Relocating industries in these countries


  • Creates environmental and social issues, such as overcrowding, poor housing and spread of disease associated with over-rapid industrialisation
• Essen underwent regeneration after deindustrialisation

  Was a coal region, now using diverse business and culture + research. Today the hydrogen industry plays a big role, is 3rd greenest in Germany.
• A Kondratiev Wave is a long-term economic cycle, indicated by periods of evolution and self-correction, brought about by technological innovation that results in a long period of prosperity.
• • Core regions (e.g London & Cambridge, Silicon Valley or Frankfurt) benefit most from economic booms because they are areas of high tech and finance jobs. These can take place at area such as Science Park in Cambridge.
• In a recession government spending, the amount of jobs available, household income and spending fall but unemployment, ill health and interest rates fall.
• • Leisure and hospitality jobs are at threat in recessions as people curtail their spending: these are often sectors poorer groups work with.
• • Lower skilled people find it harder to find alternative work if made redundant - there are few transferable skills which may meet their limited qualifications.
• • London was predicted to suffer a greater % of job losses than Liverpool or Manchester in the Great Recession because Northern jobs are often in the public sector (such as the Department for Work and Pensions) whereas Southern or London jobs are in the public sector such as finance etc.
• The North-South divide has been created by:

  1. The south receives more investment than the north.
  2. Privatisation of state owned businesses in the south helped the economy to grow more quickly.
  3. Closure of traditional industries has hit the north harder over recent decades (Scotland, Redcar, Scunthorpe)
• Evidence of the divide:

  • London has 470 business/10,000 residents while Yorkshire has just 292/10,000.
  • After the 2008 recession, employment in the south rose in 2009, whereas the north continued to fall for 3 years.
  • Deaths from circulatory disease in the north are much higher, 10% more northern and Scottish than southern die of heart disease.
• The government has tried to reduce this by:

  1. National Powerhouse to narrow the gap
  2. Rail improvements
  3. Broadband
  4. Enterprise zones
• The UK has some of the highest regional inequalities of any AC. Bigger even than the East/West divide of Germany and North/South of Italy. Can be modelled through the Gini coefficient,
• The UK Government has measures for tackling social and economic inequalities:

  • Taxation
  • Subsidies
  • Planning
  • Law
  • Healthcare
  • Education
  • Pensions
• Taxation - raises money via tax & NI for the NHS, state pensions and unemployment benefits. Tax is a progressive system while VAT is on all non-essential goods, as well as council tax & stamp duty. Benefits are more progressive, allow the poorest to receive 16x more than net income, while the richest pay 2.7x tax as a share of income. Council tax, however, is regressive, with the poorest tenth paying 8% of their income, compared to the richest 40% is 2-3%. VAT and excise duties however are distributionally neutral.
• Subsidies are given to poorer groups such as:
• Subsidies are given to poorer groups:

  FSM

  Free Child care

  University Finance

  Winter Fuel Payment

  Bus passes

  Universal Credit
• Subsidies will allow there to be a more equal spread of opportunities – with subsidies possibly allowing them to gain extra support for getting into education, which in the long term will boost their income, increase the tax threshold they pay and show a multiplier effect. They will be able to pay it back and the cycle restarts with another person.