Social Sciences - Making Social Lives - Essay Example

Topic: Social Sciences - Making Social Lives Affiliation: Change is perceived to be as good as the rest. The social concept of people and their lives has evolved with time differently and across different cultures and regions. This is also notable among infrastructure, cities and the environment in which we live. Different streets have separate outlook, structural differences and environmental differences, races of people, business entities and even sizes. The City Road serves various regions and can be categorized as a busy road in the area.

This road however has major contrast from the Monrovia Street located in the outskirts of one major town. The street is used majorly by the town dwellers and serves as intersect to the bigger town. The population of the dwellers is dense, and there are cases of congestion in the region. Several business ventures have been operated, and it is characterized by much movement during the day. Several notable differences from the City Road can be drawn based on the activities being carried out, and when they are performed, transport facilities available, infrastructural adjustments and the population content (Bromley, 2009, p.48). Time and space differentials provide a broad network of analysis of a region which is used for evaluation of development procedures.

The notable differences arising within Monrovia Street relate to: Activities- the populace is active and mainly busy during the day, as opposed to night. Business ventures usually close on time to avoid the many cases of theft in the region. The region is underdeveloped meaning that the labourers form the biggest part of the workforce and few offices are available as opposed to those around the city. The activities along the street vary at different times of the day. During the morning hour people engage in jogging, preparing breakfast along the street, travel to job areas, sale of goods to passers-by and even collecting information and control of traffic.

At midday the streets are congested by users and people seeking various venture and personal gains. The night activities are few with the closure of enterprises and movement to homes (Milton, 2009, p.103). Contrary to these, activities along the City Road differ largely at night where other people move along the streets to offer goods at lower prices and even illegal transactions such as prostitution. In the city road, the activities at night to some individual may run concurrently due to proper lighting and the large supermarkets may still operate since there is enhanced security.

Along the city road, travellers may also seek rest and recreational facilities which are not available along Monrovia Street. Population- the people found within the said street are many and the population is composed of both the old and the young. There is evident congestion in the area since the rural urban migration has led to settlements in the area due to cheap housing. The population growth rate in the street has risen gradually to create a mixed populate, encompassing various races and tribes (Clarke and Bromley, 2009, p.74). Historically, the street was dominated by the middlemen and blacks, but it now includes the whites and the Asian people.

Transport facilities- based on time, Monrovia Street has had a revolution in the transport and communication sector. Traditional modes of transport like the use of horses have changed to the modern way encompassing the use of automobile. Communication has changed from messengers and letters to use of information technology that provides a fast and efficient mode. The road structures have evolved from the use of poor roads with potholes to tarmacked roads that have increased the comfort of road users.

Currently there are regulations and the police force to ensure that traffic laws are observed and that road user adhere to laws set which is contrary to the earlier period where laws were not set or adhered to because road users were few (Bromley, 2009, p.117). The transport facilities are however few, and the roads are spaced as compared to those of the City Road and even serve fewer agencies. Infrastructural facilities- buildings in the vicinity differ from previous times ones based on the size, structure and colour.

While the traditional buildings were smaller, on ground level and had similar coloration, the current buildings have been characterized by multicolour for purposes of advertising, tall flat buildings whose structure is complex. The time aspect had brought a revolution in the construction process where buildings are put into drawings by architectures before they are built, a situation that was absent in the recent years and where construction was based on imagination (Wetherell, Taylor and Yates, 2001, p.94). Besides, buildings now harbour different kinds of enterprises, and this is more along the City Road, as opposed to the street.

The time span and the space available thus provide bases for change formation and give a mode of determining such differences. References Blakeley, G, et al. (2009), Introducing the Social Sciences, Part One: Learning, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bromley, S, et al. (2009), Exploring Social Lives, London: The Open University. Clarke, J, and Bromley, S, (2009), Making Social Lives, London: The Open University. Milton, K, et al. (2009), Introducing the Social Sciences: Learning Companion 2, London: The Open University.

Wetherell, M., Taylor, S, and Yates, S, (2001), Discourse Theory and Practice, London: Sage and The Open University.