London Housing The research was undertaken to study the link between inequality and depravity, poverty and crime in the housing structures of London. The study found that there is wide spread economic disparity in London. This divide is evident in the living styles and the types of housing structures that people live in. The council or housing estates of the city are primarily the residences of the lower income families. This depravity among social classes creates strain within the residents many of whom resort to antisocial activities. Being influenced by socio-economic factors, some individuals also resort to crime. Thus, the estranged council and housing estates that are home to the lower economic demographics have turned into high-crime areas.

Table of Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Inequality distribution in London

Deprivation and inequality in London

Crime and Housing/neighborhood

Strain theory

Literature Review

Relations between poverty, crime and neighborhoods 10

Neighborhood and housing estate defined 16

The Strain Theory 18

Other Forms of Strain 22

Cases of neighborhood Violence 25

The link between poverty and housing circumstances 28

The impact of poverty on housing 28

The impact of housing on poverty 29

London-Housing and Crime-evidence from Publications 30

'Gang wars made estate a no-go zone for police -- until they found a supergrass' 31

'Council estate decline spawns new underclass' 31

'Southwark Council spent £140k on 'Berlin Wall-style' fence around housing estate' 32

Income & Wealth inequality in London 32

Methods and challenges to the study 33

Findings 35

Conclusions 36

References 38

Appendices 44

Introduction

While class and economical situations are often linked to criminology and creation of criminal intentions, the influence of neighborhoods, schools and peers are also considered to be factors driving youth and others towards crime. Over the years much research has been conducted in the sociological aspect of crime and more often than not, such research efforts have been illuminating. A social relation is basically defined to be class. Economic, social, and political power is the most important elements that are associated with class. Derived from these factors is, in general the housing, school, college and the other related facilities that people use (Devine and Heath, 2009). This is because more often than not, class is the distinction that decides how laws are framed, the way various institutions are organized, and the distribution of resources available in the society.

The relationship with other classes in a society and the resources allocated in the society can influence the way individuals react to each one another (Buechler, 2011). The resources mentioned can be both material and cultural in nature. The class situation that comprises of the economic, social, and power factors is dependent on the community and is subjective and can change over time. Since in most cases class is related and associated with money and power, most people judge class by the type and the geographical location of the housing of such people and the ability of the individual or their families to buy and provide material support and comfort, the school children of such people or families or group attend and the nature of qualifications (Mauro and Carmeci, 2007).

Class is also defined by in general by the professions that people enter into and the age that they enter such profession and the type of leisure activities that people engage in. Hence it can be said that the class of an individual or a group of people is indicated primarily by the area and nature of housing and residence and the life style that such people lead. Mostly it is argued that people of the so called upper class in society have access to more of the social resources, power, and facilities. In most cases the class distinction is generic and the housing and the geographic location of the housing is the first stage of distinction of people in a society (Devine and Heath, 2009).

Inequality distribution in London

London is considered to be one of the largest urban zones in the European Union as well as the capital of the United Kingdom. The population of the metropolis, according to the Census of 2011 is 8,173,900 (2011 Census: Key Statistics for England and Wales, March 2011, 2012). But this population nearly doubles when the population Greater London urban area is taken into account. According to the 2011 census, the population of London grew by more than 430,000 people between the years 2001 and 2009 (Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk, 2015). London is a truly...

2010) and has people from 41 different countries whose population is more than 10000 in the city.
Another interesting fact that shows the diversity of the city is the 45% of the state funded primary schools English is the second language of instruction while other languages are the primary languages for the educational environment. In the terms of the ethnic mix of the population of London, there has been an increase in the population of Asian and Chinese residents in comparison to the white inhabitants between 2001 and 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics (2011 Census: Key Statistics for England and Wales, March 2011, 2012). The interesting fact is that this ethnic division in the population is the development of clusters across the city. Such clusters or groups of ethnic people tend to cluster together and settle down in specific localities and even in housings.

There are certain areas in the city that have a predominance of blacks and other areas where there is a predominance of Asians and Indians and concentrations of white populations in other places. Most often this clustering is also based on the social class, the financial ability, and the power of an individual. This means that apart from ethnicity, social class also defines clusters of homes and residential areas in London. Since London is a city with a varied social classes and ethnic structures, the distribution of such clusters is also varied significantly since the start of the 21st century. The huge area included in London's borders includes 32 boroughs and 624 wards.

Deprivation and inequality in London

According to Noble et al. (2004), the Index of Multiple Deprivation as developed by them, indicates some of the sections of London are ranked among the worst in the whole of England in terms of certain aspects like income and housing, education, training and skills. The degree of deprivation varies from one area of the city to another (Darity, 2008). The index indicates that the most deprived populations in the above mentioned aspects lie in the in eastern, north and north-western parts of the city which consists of boroughs of Brent, Hackney, Islington, Newham and Tower Hamlets. According to the GLA Intelligence Unit (2011), poverty has touched almost one child in three in the city of London (Children in Poverty: Intelligence Update 14 -- 2011, 2011).

This is indicative of the high degree of variation in the social structure within London. There is a 40 percentage point difference in the proportion of children in poverty between one of the poorest of the area of the city-Hackney when compared with one of the richest neighborhoods of the city- Richmond. In terms of the living environment with respect to housing, London also has a very high degree of deprivation (Leeser 2011). In terms of income equality, the city of London also has one of the biggest disparities in the European Union. The inner London area has the most unequal income distribution in the entire country with more than 28% of population included in both the top and the bottom rank of income generation and distribution. This is evident in the boroughs of the city where many boroughs have a mixture of very wealthy and very poor wards and neighborhoods.

Crime and Housing/neighborhood

According to criminological research over the years, is has been shown that crime and the perceptions about crime are not randomly distributed over geographical areas (Wo, 2014). Researchers like Wikstrom and Sampson (2003) state that early findings in the study of criminology indicates that the rates of crime, criminal behavior, intentions and perceptions are directly linked to the areas and neighborhoods that have a disadvantageous position in terms of economy and social resources (Armstrong, Katz and Schnebly, 2010). Other researchers have also confirmed that the individual perceptions about crime and the influence of the local and surrounding environment have a profound effect on the level of crime (Armstrong, Katz and Schnebly, 2010) More studies that are based on advanced statistical data and approaches and analysis like multilevel modeling and the use of more contextual data are being conducted that clearly indicate the effect of a neighborhood and the importance of the role of influences of a housing or neighborhood on the development of criminal intentions and the individual perceptions about crime (Crawford, 2010). (Refer Appendix 1 & 2)

Strain theory

As already discussed, there are huge disparities in income and social class and status based on accessibility to social resources in many portions of London. While some wards of the city are wealthy, a neighboring area would be among the very poor. This has also created clusters of homogenous communities in terms of place and area of residence (Merton, 1938).…