The Identities of Brighton, Its Residents and Its Prospective Visitors - Assignment Example

TMA 03: Part Tables to 4 show different aspects of the population that inhabits Brighton. Certain assessments as to the nature of social relationships as well as the types of personal relationships could be made by analysing the data displayed in these tables. Table 1 shows that the percentage of males to females in Brighton is typical of England and Wales as a whole, with the male population being the lower of the two. The significant difference is seen in the population density, which is a high 30 people per hectare of land in Brighton. Considering that Brighton is a city, this relative high density is to be expected. The population density for the South East region and the whole of England & Wales drops to 4.2 and 3.75 respectively. This is understandable as these larger regions are comprised of wide-open country sides and commons which are usually sparsely populated. Consistent with this urban/rural divide, we see that the average household size is barely above 2 in Brighton (suggesting a nuclear family setup) whereas it increases to 2.36 for the entire country. Table 2 breaks up the population across various age-groups. We can deduce from the table that Brightons population is relatively older when compared to the whole of England & Wales considering that the city is home to a lesser percentage of children under 16 and a higher percentage of people over the age of 85. The comparative numbers for population aged 20-44 is an anamoly to the aforementioned assertion. Only by jointly considering tables 1 and 2 could we safely arrive at a conclusion. Table 3, which deals with marital statistics is also on expected lines. Consistent with urban lifestyle patterns the percentage of married couple in Brighton is significantly low. It is also evident that more marriages end up in divorce and that not all divorcees marry again. These statistics also reflect the family values that the people of Brighton identify with, which is decidedly more liberal when compared to the entire region. The corresponding statistic for rest of South East as well as England & Wales reflects the more conservative family values held by people living in the countrysides. Table 4 is an extenstion on Table 3 and further breaks down the nature and composition of households. Nearly 40 percent of Brightons households are occupied by singles and only 24 percent of the households are occupied by married couple. This imbalance is quite the opposite in South East and England & Wales, where married couple households outnumber single person households. As we would expect in a city such as Brighton, more than 11 percent of the households are occupied by co-habiting couples, a phenomenon that is less prominent in the other two regions. Single parent households with dependant children are also higher in Brighton than in the other regions. The only anamoly in the table is the data that lone-parent households in England & Wales is higher than those in the South East and Brighton. In sum, the data displayed in the four tables quantitatively measure the various cultural, social and economic facets of the city. (word count: 520) TMA 03: Part 2 The information gathered from the official Brighton tourist website tries to qualitatively represent the nature and feel of the city. For example, some of the qualities used in describing the city is consistent with the quantitative information displayed in Tables 1 to 4. This includes descriptions such as “vibrant, colorful, creative,... cosmopolitan, compact, energetic, unique, fun, lively, historic, young, exotic and free-spirited” (www.VisitBrighton.com, 2010). Here, Brighton is being projected as a prime tourist destination for the youth. These words assign an identity that is similar to that of New York. In other words, most of the adjectives given in the text are intended to create an image of Brighton that resonates with the values, lifestyles and identities associated with an iconic city such as New York, or for that matter London. While tourist experience in a city such as Brighton could be classified as culture tourism (as opposed to nature tourism of the rural regions), by virtue of its cosmopolitanism and over population the city is bound to lose some of its traditional identities as it steadily becomes more culturally homogenized (Taylor, 2009, p.163). While the information in the website does include the word culture, the cultural experience in Brighton will be decidedly less authentic than what is being claimed. Conspicuous by its absence are certain negatively valued identities. Considering that the text is taken from an official tourist website, one can expect the projection of the citys positive attributes at the neglect of its negative equalities. Extending this point further, it is fair to assume that there are sections of Brighton that are inhabited by poor and underprivileged people, where street crime and illegal activity is higher than the rest of the country. These locales could possibly pose a threat to the safety of a tourist, but there is no mention of this in the text. Tables 1 to 4 that is perused for this assignment does not deal with the statistics pertaining to crime and civil disturbance in Brighton and the broader regions of South East and England & Wales. But it is common knowledge that crime and civil disturbance rates tend to be higher in cities when compared to towns and countrysides. Hence, it is fair to state that the text excludes certain negative identities while reinforcing benign identities. This also indicates the sort of identities that are negatively valued in British culture and those that are positively valued. Going back to the list of adjectives that are used to describe Brighton, one can assume that the words “cosmopolitan, fun, young and free-spirited” imply a liberal identity to the people and the place. As was learnt from Tables 1 to 4, Brighton city is home to many single-parent and co-habiting couple households, the underlying family values being qualitatively captured by the words mentioned the text. The text also gives an unmistakable urban identity to Brighton. In the last two centuries, since the introduction of industrial production processes, Britain has steadily become more urbanized. People from the countrysides have gradually moved into cities and towns nearby. Almost all the attributes that were used to describe Brighton represent this urban identity. It is a well documented fact that urban identity is closely associated with the concept of alienation, which refers to the loss of identity resulting from disconnection of people from their native lands (Hinchliffe, 2009, p.222). In the VisitBrighton text, we see this aspect of Brighton being excluded, indicating that alienation is a negatively valued identity. Moreover, the description of Brighton in the text implicitly suggests an over-crowded city. Conspicuous by its absence are the words tranquil, idyllic, serene, etc which are applicable to a rural tourist setup. Hence we could assert that the tourism experience in Brighton is one of fast-paced, urban, consumerist experience, which is distinctly different from nature tourism that is usually associated with rural landscapes. Also excluded from the text are other aspects of city life such as violence, disease, crime, pollution, individualism and decadence. In the textbook, we learn how Frederick Engels account of nineteenth century Manchester refers to the same kind of negative identities that are common to cities and urban spaces, including Brighton (Hinchliffe, 2009, p.227). Further, the words “famed nightlife” that was used to describe Brighton could be understood to mean cocktail parties, adult entertainment events and other escapist fares that are considered to border on decadence. Since these are negatively valued by society at large their mention is underplayed in the tourist information text. It then stands to reason that Brighton is not an ideal tourist destination for the entire family, especially young kids and old people. This implies that the tourist information text is addressed to young people in the age group of 18-35 who are usually single or into co-habiting relationships. This makes marketing sense too, considering that this is the age group that is computer and Internet savvy and is most likely to stumble upon VisitBrighton website. The designers of the website also presumed that this age group is more predisposed or willing to be high consumers and thereby prefer Brighton as their tourist destination of choice. And finally, based on the evidence gathered from the four tables and the VisitBrighton website, the cost of living in the city is quite high. To the extent that this is true, the types of visitors that it aims to attract are from the educated, professional classes, who have sufficient disposable income to embrace the consumerist culture evident in Brighton. The economic aspect of urban/rural divide is quite significant, for though rural landscapes offer a more laidback and leisurely tourist experience, it is not as blatantly consumerist as Brighton. (word count: 947) References: Stephanie Taylor, Who Do We Think We Are? Identities in Everyday Life (Chapter 4 in Making Social Lives), Published in 2009 by The Open University Press, ISBN 978 0 7492 1641 2. Steve Hinchliffe, Connecting People and Places (Chapter 5 in Making Social Lives), Published in 2009 by The Open University Press, ISBN 978 0 7492 1641 2. Jovan Byford, Living Together, Living Apart: the social life of the neighbourhood (Chapter 6 in Making Social Lives), Published in 2009 by The Open University Press, ISBN 978 0 7492 1641 2. VisitBrighton, The official tourism guide to Brighton, information retrieved from on January 10, 2010. Read More