Societal and community level – a social ecological approach

Question 1

Working with changing communities, how a Scottish community has evolved since the 1950s.

Answer 1

Tim Bell and his colleague, two community-based practitioners, describe how practice with children, young people and families is linked to wider social and economic issues, how it changes across time within society and communities, and how individuals relate to each other.

Question 2

1.Extent to which practice is influenced by socio-economic change.

Answer 2

◦Post-war decline of the docks led to a diaspora (migration of people) out of Leith to other parts of the country and world.
◦Economic revival in the 1990s resulted in new building and development. Lots of expensive apartments were built but in the recession following the crash in 2008 lots of property prices slumped.
◦At different points in time, Leith has absorbed new influxes of migrants. More recently, globalisation has meant more people coming into Leith to work.

Question 3

2.How practice is influenced by changing attitudes in communities.

Answer 3

◦Leith appears to have been portrayed historically in a negative light and constructed as a dangerous place to visit.
◦It is suggested that people living in the more expensive new apartments do not mix with the rest of the community. People in the more traditional housing are more likely to interact with their neighbours.

Question 4

3.How practice needs to respond to the way communities are structured.

Answer 4

◦There appears to be diverse groupings of people in the community linked to global economic changes. This includes a long-standing white working-class population and a third-generation Asian population who settled in the early 1950s. It also includes Asian, African and Eastern European populations who are linked to more recent migration. It is also suggested that some of the people in the more expensive apartments may be from the USA and Australia.
◦There appears to be hostility towards some families and consequentially among children, inhibiting them from going out to play in the community. This suggests an actual experience or fear of discrimination, particularly among the recently arrived population.

Question 5

Poverty is mentioned as a feature of some people’s lives in the community, producing negative outcomes for children’s health and education

Answer 5

It is also suggested that inequality impacts on everyone’s lives in the community.