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Old 02-19-2009, 05:11 PM   #40
DanaC
We have to go back, Kate!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 25,964
Quote:
Originally Posted by glatt View Post
But does the poverty cause the social attitudes, or do the attitudes cause the poverty?
I'm inclined to think that the economic pressures came first. The areas I was talking about follow a farly common pattern for the old industrial North: textile town, strong working-class culture, loses its manufacturing during the 80s and 90s. The town becomes effectively a dormitory town (in our case for Leeds and Bradford) and service industry base, the old textile communities adapt or die. In the case of the two areas mentioned, they died. As the town struggled with high unemployment in the 90s, areas of high depreivation began to form. The old social structures that came with the working-class culture of old have dissolved in those parts of town, but not been replaced by anything. Those areas become the cheap and nasty areas which is where the poorer families end up.

Economic and social collapse in some areas has left a hell of a legacy. It is all encompassing. The schools expect less of their pupils, parents have lower expectations of their children. Family breakdown, exacerbated by unemployment, debt etc, leaves kids without the parenting and support they need. They then become more likely to parent in the same way (without some kind of intervention). The sense of dislocation amongst some of these communities is palpable.
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