Danielle India Allen-Chhokar
Bromley High School GDST
Young Geographer of The Year Competition 2016
‘How is Britain Changing?’
The first records of civilisation in Britain dates back to 950,000 BC and ever since Britain has been
constantly evolving through change in culture, advances in technology and trade. In contrast, Britain
the landmass itself has constantly being undergoing change through natural processes such as coastal
erosion morphing the coastline into an entirely new shape. All of these factors combined work
together to shape Britain as we know it today. However in my essay I am going to explore the human
geography of Britain and how our evolving demographics are influencing British society and our
everyday lives.
In recent years Britain has undergone a rapid change of social structure. The social structure of Britain
has historically been highly influenced by the concept of social class, with the concept still affecting
our society today. Before the Industrial revolution in the 1800s, British society was divided
hierarchically within a system based on the innate transmission of the occupation and social status of
our predecessors. However, since the advent of Industrialisation, social structure has been in a
constant state of adaptation and now factors other than birth such as education and careers are more
important aspects of shaping one’s identity. British society has experienced significant change since
the Second World War including an expansion of higher education and home ownership. The 2011
Census Analysis, A Century of Home Ownership and Renting in England and Wales shows in 1918 77%,
of households were rented, however from 1953 ownership started to increase at a faster rate than in
previous decades and by 1971 there was an equal percentage of households owning and renting.
Unemployment rates correlate with this as they show that pre-World War 2 in 1938 the
unemployment rate was 12.9%, however in the years following the war unemployment fell
significantly to only 1.8%. This data combined demonstrates that the economic welfare of individuals
and households in Britain has dramatically changed over the course of the past century. Britain used
to have a rigid social structure with limited mobility and integration between the different classes; the
only way to climb the ‘social ladder’ was through marriage. However today in Britain we have a far
more fluid social hierarchy and this can be analysed by looking at the 2013 ‘Great British Class Survey.’
Class as a multi-dimensional construct was defined and measured according to the amount and type
of economic, cultural, and social capital reported. Our new model of British society includes seven
classes:
Danielle India Allen-Chhokar
Bromley High School GDST
Young Geographer of The Year Competition 2016
I have complied the results from
the ‘Great British Class Survey’ in
a hierarchical pyramid in order to
convey the different classes in an
appropriate; comprehendible
structure.
-reference:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/
21970879
By analysing this chart we can draw conclusions about the changing social society of Britain. 20th
century middle-class and working-class stereotypes are out of date, only 39% of participants fit into
the ‘Established Middle Class’ and ‘Traditional Working Class’ categories. Today our society is made
up of 7 different classes compared with only 3 classes: ‘Upper,’ ‘Middle’ and ‘Working Class’ before
and during the Industrial Revolution. This strongly emphasises the large shift in the typical
conventions of class and social structure showing how British society is progressively becoming more
integrated.
An ageing population has been established in Britain and acclimatising to this trend constitutes both
economic, social and political challenges mainly caused by a high dependent population relying on a
smaller working population. The trends causing this demographic change are firstly, a declining
fertility rate. Currently the birth rate stands at 1.90 per woman compared with 2.69 in 1960,
consequently indicating that woman today are having fewer children than in previous generations.
The main reason for the declining birth rate is that woman in today’s society are more focused and
driven by their careers, in April to June 2013 around 67% of women aged 16 to 64 were in work, an
increase from 53% in 1971 according to the National Statistics. The Guardian reported that the
number of one-child families has increased by almost 700,000 in 15 years and The Office for National
Statistics said larger families are under pressure because of ‘the greater challenge of combining work
with childcare with three or more children compared with one or two’. Secondly, rising longevity in
Britain is mainly due to major advances in healthcare such as chemotherapy and vaccinations against
diseases such as measles and polio. The life expectancy in Britain in 1960 was 71.13 years, this has
now significantly increased to 81.50 years. Around a third of children born in 2012 are expected to
Danielle India Allen-Chhokar
Bromley High School GDST
Young Geographer of The Year Competition 2016
survive to celebrate their one hundredth birthday whereas only 1% of those born in 1908 lived to 100.
Consequently, with a large dependant population this puts strain on the UK economy due to
increased expenditure on pensions and social services such as the NHS because as one grows older
they encounter an increased amount of health problems, hence visits to the G.P and hospital become
more frequent in elderly generations which comes at a cost to the Government. This is where we
encounter the ‘basic economic problem’ because in this case the Government has a vast array of
services to provide for the population but unfortunately its funds are scarce. In order to be able to
continue spending on services for the elderly population, the Government will have to increase
revenue and this is most likely to be obtained through increasing taxation from the working
population and possibly increasing the age of retirement itself so there is a larger proportion of
people of working age. The opportunity cost in this situation is the funds that could have been spent
on the young and working population such as investing in education and infrastructure, however a
greater proportion of these funds are being spent on our ageing population at a cost to the remainder
of society.
Noticeably, Britain is changing
ethnically and culturally. I have
decided to research my local
area The London Borough of Bexley to identify changes in British
society on a smaller scale and consider whether they are
representative of changes taking place on a national scale. Bexley
has an overall population of 231,997, 84.6% of the population are
White, 5.6% Black African and 2.3% Indian. The number of
residents who were born outside the UK has increased from 17,726
in 2001 to 32,630 in 2011 which represents an 84.1% rise. However
this needs to be viewed in the context of Bexley having a
Fig. 1. London Borough of
lower proportion of residents born outside the UK
Bexley Wards
(14.1%) than the London average (36.7%), which is a
significant difference. White British continues to be the
predominant ethnicity within Bexley making up 77.3% of the
population (can be seen in Graph 2.) However, the proportion of White British residents has
decreased by 7% between 2001 and 2011, this decrease was mirrored across London where the
overall White British population decreased by 14% over the 10 year period. London’s 4 largest ethnic
groups are represented by the pie charts seen in Graph 2. ‘Other Asian’ has seen the largest growth
across London, increasing from 0.5% of the total population in 2001 to 1.5% in 2011. By anaylsing
Fig. 2.
this data we can clearly
see that as time
progresses London is
becoming increasingly
multicultural with the
percentage of diverse
ethnicities calling it
home increasing every
year. The integration of
different cultures within
Bexley is noticeable as it
influences the built
Danielle India Allen-Chhokar
Bromley High School GDST
Young Geographer of The Year Competition 2016
environment . On high streets in Bexley specialist shops and restuarants have emerged ranging from
halal meat butchers to Afro-Carribean hairdresses all to accommadate the interests of the cultual
groups in the local area. In comparison to the rest of London, the trend of highly concentrated regions
of particular cultures and ethnicites is clearly established. Ealing, West London has an established
Polish community with Polish folklore events being heavily involved with the Ealing community and
shops such as Mleczko Delikatesy and ‘Taste of Poland’ being present on the high streets. The largest
concentration of Indian people in all of London can be found in Southall, West London, having a huge
Punjabi community made evident by the majority of Southall Broadway being centered around
catering for this community such as Indian cinemas and dozens of Indian clothing stores. Bexley in
contrast does not have highly concentrated regions of certain cultures comapred to other parts of
London but overall Bexley’s demographics are becoming more diverse and culturally indifferent.
However, on a national scale Britain is not culturally diverse in all regions. According to the 2011
Census results, White British people make up the largest percentage of the population in rural areas,
such as Copeland (99.3%) in Cumbria, Ryedale (99.4%) in North Yorkshire and North Devon (99%). The
reason behind such a high ethinic minority in these areas is due to their less attractive appeal to
migrants seeking jobs. London on the other hand, with its accepting nature of other cultures and wide
job opportunities is why migrants choose to
relocate there. Overall we can clearly observe
that London in particular is continually accepting
Reference:
http://www.viewsofthew
more cultures and evolving leading to the place
orld.net/wpindentity of certain regions to become primarily
content/uploads/2016/06
associated with them. In contrast, the majority
/EUreferendumCartogram
_LeaveRemain.png
of the rest of Britain on a national scale is
homogenous with ‘white British’ being the
dominant ethnicity.
Currently, Britain is undergoing a major
geopolitical change; its exit from the EU. The UK
made its first application to join the EU in 1961
as it was quickly apparent that there was a
danger of political isolation within Western
Europe and commonwealth states. Becoming
part of the EU enabled Britain to become more
efficient and competitive with access to the
common market. The Brexit debate has long
been a parochial one, focused largely on the
implications for Britain. The withdrawal of one of
the EU’s largest member states would almost
certainly be a defining moment in the history of
the EU with wider knock-on effects for NATO,
European security and international relations.
The UK’s economic place in the EU is substantial.
Britain constitutes 14.8% of the EU’s economic
area, with 12.5% of its population. The national
political discourse before the referendum
demonstrated a naïve grasp of geographical
ideas. One argument posed stated that British
Danielle India Allen-Chhokar
Bromley High School GDST
Young Geographer of The Year Competition 2016
people necessarily have a different outlook to mainland Europeans; our island status creates a
division in our mentality. The belief that the English Channel dictates Britain to be a separate entity
was based on the mistaken assumption that physical geography determines our political and cultural
outlook. Geographical ideas such as identity were oversimplified as identity has been represented as
something that is fixed and exclusive, however many of the ‘remain’ voters could have considered
themselves to be both British and European. From the map we can observe that the whole of London
and culturally integrated communities such as Leicester voted remain whereas the majority of the
rest of Britain voted leave. The rest of Britain is ethnically homogenous. Boston, Lincolnshire is now
home to a higher proportion of eastern European immigrants than anywhere else in England and
Wales, 10.6% of the Lincolnshire’s population of 65,000 comes from newer EU countries such as
Poland, Lithuania, Latvia or Romania. The town has been named as the least integrated place in
England and Wales by a Policy Exchange report. The local economy in Boston is agribusiness farming
and Polish specialist stores and supermarkets such as Wodka delicatessen are dominant on the high
streets. In such homogenous areas with more traditional views, the British community quickly became
resentful of the ethnic communities in times of mass migration to their area causing a divide in the
community. Consequently, during the Referendum the ‘leave’ vote won due to the majority of Britain
excluding (London and areas such as Exeter and Leicester) expressing its resent and dissatisfaction of
migrants to the UK through therefore opting to leave to EU.
In conclusion taking into account all aspects of Britain’s current demographics and recent geopolitical
events we can clearly observe that Britain is constantly evolving and changing. Britain, London in
particular is a hub for attracting a broad range of migrants from across the globe, bringing alongside
their cultures and unique lifestyles. Consequently British society today encompasses a wide
assortment of people and values shaping Britain into the country as we know it today.
Bibliography:
Fig. 1/Fig.2: http://www.bexley.gov.uk/census2011 The data compiled in this report is of a high level of
reliability due to being carried out and reported by the Bexley Council.