The People

                                                         THE PEOPLE    

                                       THE BATTLE OF THE CLASSES

                                       By CHIGOZIE UK IBE. STUDENT NO:U0943369                   


                        



                                                                        VS






INTRODUCTION:BRIEF HISTORY OF STRATFORD


Stratford is a district in East London, England, in the London Borough of Newham. It is located 6 miles (9.7 km) east northeast of  Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the
London plan.It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, in the county of Essex, which transformed into an industrial suburb, following the introduction of the railway in 1839. As part of the growth of London in the late 19th century, Stratford significantly expanded and increased in population, becoming the centre of administration of the Borough of West Ham in 1886 and it has formed part of Greater London since 1965. The more recent economic history is underpinned by a move away from railway works and heavy industry towards becoming a significant commercial and cultural centre. Stratford is the location of the London Olympic Park and is currently experiencing regeneration and expansion linked to the London 2012 Olympics.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratford,_London)


STRATFORD IN RECENT HISTORY

Stratford has always been a town, for working class people, which was transformed into industrial suburb with the introduction of the railway in 1839, as part of the growth and expansion of London as a city in the late 19th century. And until recent years circa 2007, when it is was confirmed that London would be hosting the Olympic Games in summer 2012, was still  majorly considered to be a town built and catered to the lower working class to middle class people. Whether or not the same could be said now in my opinion is very questionable and debatable.

I was born in East London, Hackney to be precise, so Stratford was always around the corner, even though I was raised in Tottenham and Edmonton (both in North London) most of my life, I always had an idea of what Stratford was like. Now since I was a child growing up I always considered Stratford to be a place for working class people, with people from diverse backgrounds and ethnic origins; for example to me, you had your traditional East End English people ("cockneys") to your Asian people (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan) to your Black people ( African- Caribbean people: Nigerians, Ghanaians, Jamaicans, St Lucians, Dominicans, Trinidad and Tobagans and Barbadans or Bajans) etc.......  And my earliest memories were of Stratfrord shopping mall which ironically people seem to forget since the intoduction of The Westfields Shopping Centre, and the Stratford Rex ( a popular nightclub predominantly catered to those who were of African-Carribbean origin.)  

                                  




                                      STRATFORD SHOPPING CENTRE

 


       STRATFORD REX

 


 BATTLE OF CLASSES: WORKING & MIDDLE CLASS VS 'BOURGEOUISE' UPPER CLASS

It seems to me that there has been an emergence of almost a new influx of class into Stratford as an area predominantly since London won its host bid for the Olympics 2012 and Stratford was chosen as its host town and base for all the main events. Whereas before we have seen that it was viewed by many to be a traditionally working class town, there have been attempted plans to rejuvenate the area and industrialise it further by attracting people of a more wealthier and higher class. Circa 2007, there have been a lot of jobs and job opportunities created with the creation of the Stratford Westfields Shopping Centre and various other businesses created in the area. A significant amount of the private sector workforce have relocated their offices and expanded to the area, possibly because of the Olympics and the potential opportunity for a growth in business and revenue, and also there have been a lot of properties and housing development projects geared towards these working professionals and businessmen/women. This is evident by the costs of these properties as most of these properties people from the working to middle class simply cant afford. Some of which can be seen below, in the picture below.





         AN EXAMPLE OF A HOUSING DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN STRATFORD                                                                                     















 

Future housing

Planning for people

Thousands upon thousands of people will be moving to Stratford over the coming years, and the area and its developers are working hard to create the kind of housing that will accommodate them.  Apartments adjoining the Stratford’s rejuvenated centre with all its arts, entertainment and retail opportunities; Georgian-style terraces of family dwellings in the northern quarter of the Olympic park; and modern Scandinavian-style houses  lining the waterways to the south.
Canalside housing and in parkland, homes in the Athletes Village, homes in the urban heart of Stratford City.  Homes to rent, homes to buy, affordable part-rent/part-buy homes.  All enjoying the incredible connectivity, infrastructure and facilities which this fast-growing area has to offer.  All developed with a consciousness of the urgent need for a low-carbon, energy efficient future and benefiting from a menu of eco-innovations: green roofs, heat pumps, maximised insulation and combined heat and power systems.
And many conceived and designed by some of the world’s leading urban architects.
Stratford’s new developments will offer housing for every age and income.  They will sustain and strengthen the youthfulness and diversity of the area, they will dovetail with Stratford’s history and heritage, and they will be built with respect for its existing communities.
Stratford is planning for the future - by planning for people.

HOW TO IDENTIFY CLASS? SIGNIFYING AND CODING

How does one identify class? How does one determine what class a particular person or a group of people belong to is a particularly intriguing and poignant question, and underlying issue here. Are there certain hegemonic discourses and predominant opinions on what attributes or characteristics that belong to a certain class? I attribute class to a number of things and I believe a number of people do the same. We live in a society today where a lot is judged on appearance and presentation, so one is judged on how they look, what they do, and how they do it. In reference to class, I would associate class with not only race, because the temptation is to associate class with race but to certain extent I believe that it is no longer that relevant, i mean 50 years ago if you were asked what a traditional middle class was or looked like, you would be tempted to say, English, White and perhaps lived in a household with 2.5 children in a house with a car. However I believe this is no longer the case, as today in 2012, there are a number of middle class people in London and all around the U.K, who are from ethnic backgrounds or minority groups. However with reference to those who I say are from the 'Upper class' or 'Bourgeouise' group of society, I would traditionally say, these people are natives of the country, so in this case, White, dressed in fine suits or attire, smartly presented, very articulate in how they present themselves and the way they talk, normally drive flash and expensive cars and own their houses as oppose to mortgages. These people may carry expensive suitcases and mobile phones and digital devices such as Iphones, Ipads or Imacs.

  However I do believe an ethnic person or a person from an ethnic minority group could attain or belong to this class if they had the wealth and were well enough positioned in society, for example a person of position such as a Doctor, Politician or Lawyer (Barrister) or Judge (QC). Though whether or not a person of colour or from ethnic group would be regarded as a member of this social class, remains to be seen because in my opinion I do not think White members of a "Upper class" sect of  lets say a English society would fully embrace a member of an ethnic minority as their true social peer.

BATTLE OF CLASSES CONTINUED (THE THEORETICAL APPROACH)

One could argue that this battle of classes is closely linked to associated with the concept of  'Mode of production' or  'Economic structure'.
According to (Wright, Class counts, comparative studies in class analysis) there are times, when the claim that class (or closely associated concepts like 'mode of production' or 'economic structure') is 'more important' than other factors is a substantive thesis, not a heuristic device. Classical materialism is the most elaborated instance of such an argument. As G.A Cohen (1978) has forcefully demonstrated, the part of historical materialism that is built around the base/superstructure metaphor ascribes explanatory primacy to class through the use of functional explanations: the base (the economic structure conceptualized in class terms) "functionally explains" the superstructure. What does this mean? It means that super-structural phenomena take the form that they do because this form helps to reproduce the existing economic structure. This is quite akin to functional explanations in biology where a given trait of an animal is functionally explained by its effects in helping the animal survive and reproduce. Why are the bones in the wings of birds hollow? because this enables them to fly. The beneficial effect of hollowness (lighter wings) explains the fact of hollowness. 

In the social case, the functional explanation embodied in historical materialism means that various social institutions; certain features of the state, certain features of the state, certain aspects of ideology, certain kinds of laws and so forth; are explained by the fact that they generate effects which help reproduce the economic structure. Since the economic structure is itself composed of social relations of production which collectively define the class structure, this is a form of class primacy.
(Wright, Class counts, comparative studies in class analysis) 
So with reference to Stratford and its rejuvenation and transformation into an industrial, commercial town, one could argue that this is indeed deliberately intended to attract people from a higher class which in effect represent the 'ruling class' in which case would be MPs, local leaders and government & government appointed officials in office, to increase growth in the economy.


One could also argue that Stratford being invested into and transformed; is an attempt by the 'Borgeoisie' to maintain their power. According to (Giddens and Held, Classes, Power, and Conflict, Classical and Contemporary Debates) the Borgeouise cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition for all earlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the borgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind. The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. it must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere.


One also must look at the idea of modernizing the notion of class, and the theory of the role of class playing a part in the production of modernity. According to (Eder, The New Politics of Class) Durkheim relates the process of social differentiation to the conditions producing it. According to Durkheim's theory, it takes demographic growth and increasing social density as the central causal variables for the progressive dissolution of collective consciousness (and the individualization resulting from it) thus the key to explaining modernization is ultimately demography. The alternative theoretical approach to Durkheim is that of Marx. Marx's theory states that the evolutionary change of society (a change that has been conceptualized by later theorists as differentiation and rationalization) is the product, first, of the contradictions between the forces of production and the social relations of production and, second of the contradictions between social classes. Ultimately, contradictions are the causes of modernization (Godelier 1973)



 STRATFORD WESTFIELDS SHOPPING CENTRE
 




STRATFORD UNDERGROUND STATION

 


 Above is a picture of a typical busy day at Stratford Underground Station. Now here is a clear example of a mix of classes and ethnic groups in Stratford,  all of this encapsulated in this picture. In addition, as a UEL student I travel to and from Stratford to get to University everyday and in the morning and especially in the evening I see so business professionals of a higher class walking around even sometimes more so than the traditional working class people who live and are based in that area.
                                     







                                                     BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratford,_London) Accessed on the 12th November 2012.
2. Class counts, Comparative studies in class analysis, Erik Olin Wright, published in 1997, printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge.
3. Classes, Power, and Conflict, Classical and Contemporary Debates, Anthony Giddens and David Held, published in 1982, in London, printed in Hong Kong.
4. The New Politics of Class, Social Movements and Cultural Dynamics in Advanced Societies, Klaus Eder, first published in 1993, Sage Publications, London.