UK Social Trends Quantitative and Qualitative Discussion

UK Social Trends Quantitative and Qualitative Discussion on Residency Table I provides a basic breakdown of the types of residences in which Britons live and how these are distributed based on region. This denotes that specific selected regions are predisposed toward certain residential options.

In a chart which accounts for roughly 22% of all residents in England, the table notes that detached homes are most common in the regions of the East Midlands and the South West, suggesting greater open spaces and a more suburban distribution of homes, whereas terraced homes are most common in Yorkshire, Humber and London, implying a denser cluster of urban dwellers.

Among the Tables relating information about residential and demographic distribution in the U.K., perhaps the most compelling of these is Table 2, which offers some examination of the ownership and rental distribution of Britons according to ethnicity. Here, we can see that there are clear distinctions in ownership status factored upon race or ethnicity. For White British or otherwise White residents, there is a rate of 33% outright ownership and 39% ownership with a mortgage.

By contrast, only 28% of Indian, 20% of Pakistani and only 4% of Black African immigrants own their own homes outright, with 45%, 44% and 27% respective owning their homes with mortgages. From this, we can observe that there is a greater propensity toward outright ownership where lengthier residency in the country has occurred. Likewise, we can see that ethnicity impacts ownership status, with only 11% of Whites privately renting while 19% of Indians, 18% of Pakistanis and 29% of Black Africans are still privately renting.

Table 3 offers a breakdown of the house sizes of Britons based on the number of rooms in a residence. Here, the table offers this distribution as it has shifted from 1991 to 2009. One of the trends which is most directly observable is the relative decline in the number of 2 bedroom houses, which shifted from 22% in 1991 to only 10% of houses in 2009. This change relates most directly to the high uptake of flats in the UK. While 74% of residences were houses in 1991, these only accounted for 50% in 2009.

Simultaneously during this period, only 26% of Britons lived in flats in 1991 as opposed to 50% today. Part II: Our research characterizes the act of being one's neighbor as constructed on a number of paradoxes related to modern dwelling. Particularly, the text by Byford offers an extensive consideration of the seeming contradiction between the desire for 'good neighbors,' -- often characterized as such by their quiet and their relative inconspicuousness -- and the desire for a sense of community.

The text by Byford indicates that in a large part, the dynamics of modern dwelling are based on finding a balance between these desires. Byford notes that "neighbours, in enacting the relational identity of 'a neighbour,' are continuously engaged in the process of constructing, modifying, breaching and repairing boundaries, both physical and symbolic, between the 'home' and the 'street.'" (Byford, p. 252) Byford makes the case that our relationships with our neighbors are generally channeled through this constantly shifting line between.