Management of Cultural & Demographic Issues (Edexcel A Level Geography)

Measures of Income

• Rapid demographic and cultural change can lead to various economic and social issues in urban and rural areas, including:

  • Conflict and tension

  • Unwanted changes to the built environment e.g. gentrification and regeneration

  • Social exclusion

  • Increased pressure on services e.g. education and healthcare

  • Higher levels of deprivation and unemployment

  • Increased house prices

• Issues in rural and urban places need to be managed carefully to achieve a positive outcome

  • A sequence of steps will be followed to enable the development of a suitable plan, which can be monitored, evaluated, and revised if necessary

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A change management model

• The success of management strategies used to reduce cultural and demographic issues can be assessed using economic measures of: 

  • Income e.g. household income and percentage of people on minimum wage

  • Employment e.g. type of employment and unemployment rate

• Different areas can then be compared by looking at the variations within each measure

• Economic indicators can be analysed in combination with demographic indicators, such as age and ethnic diversity, to provide more information about a place

UK Working Age Unemployment by region and ethnicity (2016)

• In the majority of regions, Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) workers are twice as likely as white workers to be unemployed

  • This suggests that there are still levels of discrimination in areas across the UK

Reduction of Inequalities

• Social progress can be measured by:

  • Reductions in inequalities between areas and within them for different groups of people e.g. age and ethnicity

  • Improvements in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) e.g. a reduction in health deprivation

  • Improvements in demographic changes e.g. life expectancy

Comparing two wards in Liverpool

• Speke and Garston are situated next to each other in the south of Liverpool

• Despite their proximity, social progress for the two wards is significantly different:

Social Indicators for Speke and Garston

• The data shows spatial inequalities within Liverpool

• There is evidence of social progress in Garston since it became a separate ward from Speke in 2022

  • Many independent shops are opening on the High Street, bringing the community together

  • Councillors are funding a Youth Team to help encourage children to be proud of their local area

  • Private investment (e.g. a new LIDL store) is reducing unemployment

• Speke has experienced significant challenges due to deindustrialisation and high unemployment, however, there is some evidence of social progress:

  • The charity, Speke Training and Education Centre (STEC), houses over 20 charities, businesses and community organisations to help support the local community

Political Engagement

• The success of cultural assimilation by immigrants (first, second and third generations) can be assessed using a range of quantitative data

Potential Measures for Assessing Cultural Assimilation

Community engagement

• There are variations in the level of community engagement, which can be measured through:

  • Local and national election turnout

  • The number of community activities 

  • The number of supported local community groups

• In the 2019 UK general elections, the election turnout was 67.3% 

• An estimated 9.4 million eligible voters (2019) in the UK are not registered to vote

  • BAME groups are some of the least likely to be on the electoral roll and therefore can’t vote

• Only 52% of ethnic minority groups chose to vote, suggesting that:

  • Some of these individuals feel socially excluded from their community and have little influence

  • There are possible language barriers due to lower levels of assimilation

• The development of community groups by minorities is a strong indicator of community engagement as it shows they feel invested in the place

  • Local charities fundraising to help vulnerable people in the local community 

    • For example, STEC helped a refugee family from Afghanistan integrate into Liverpool life with English language lessons

  • Residents of an estate may form a group due to growing inequalities or social issues e.g. to reduce racism

• A low level of segregation within a community indicates that people have started to integrate with other groups

Hate crimes and racism

• A reduction in the number of reported racist attacks towards ethnic minority groups and religions indicates that people have assimilated into the community

Amount of Reported Hate Crimes (Race)

• The hate crime data suggests that ethnic minority groups are more likely to be victims of racism in Liverpool than in Shetland