Sociology for social workers - assessed task: ‘Building a Community Profile’

Part A: a qualitative account of the place where I live (word count: 750)

By the time you write this up, you should have read some of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation research, which draws upon accounts by people of the place they live, why they live there and what being part of that place is like. In Part A, this is what we want you to do about the place where you live. You should structure this account around the ideas which we have raised during the module – in other words it is a ‘semi-structured’ account. This should be supported by visual data (photographs) which provide another source of information about where you live – you should select your
photographs carefully to reflect the 5 concepts and you should include up to 25 in Appendix 1 (NB: 25 is the maximum).
The questions you should answer in writing your account are:
∙ Are there any spatial expressions of wealth and/or relative poverty? By this we mean are there areas, which are obviously wealthier/poorer than others?
∙ How do these differ in appearance? To protect people’s identity, it is preferable to take pictures of buildings only and if people are included, faces should be in a non-recognisable form.
∙ What amenities exist where you live?
We want you to think about amenities in relation to the sociological concepts we have introduced – this is in part a way of structuring your thoughts, and partly because it will also focus you for the final part of the task.
Who are the main employers in the place? Do people who live in the place work there or not? If not, where are they likely to work? Or are a lot of people without work? What type of work are people likely to do –full-time, casual, average waged, low waged, high waged? What are the public transport links like?
What are the schools like? Are there accessible child care facilities? Are there a lot of families in the place, or is the population older? What sort of shops are there? Where do people do their routine shopping? Are there any leisure facilities? Are there banks, estate agents, post offices, pubs, restaurants for example?
What are the main places which demonstrate a sense of community identity? These could include places of worship; sports clubs or social clubs; or, public halls. Where are the places that people meet to create and sustain their social networks?
If there is a spatial distinction, do the amenities reflect this or not? If you live in an area where there is no spatial contrast between rich and poor, then how far do you have to travel until you see one? Is there evidence of interaction between the contrasting areas?