Disparate life chances in central Sheffield

This thesis explores the nature of the global/local nexus: how economic globalisation influences a particular locality and the lives within it. Consequently it addresses the relative neglect of the local and the specific in discussions on economic globalisation and its effects. The research asks two questions: how does economic globalisation influence urban inequality within a specific location? Secondly, how are the life chances of people living within the specific locality influenced by economic globalisation?In order to capture the complexity of change the research draws upon multiple methods for the analysis of a single city case study of Sheffield and selected residents. Chapter one discusses economic globalisation and British social and urban inequality. Chapter three introduces the Sheffield city case study to contextualise the dialectical approach that is taken in this research. Descending further from the global to the local, chapter four (a community profile) contextualises the contemporary forms of urban inequality through an examination of contradictory urban forms: public degeneration and private regeneration. Two disparate forms of housing tenure are selected - a post war residualised council estate and a private adjoining gentrified district: Contemporary social inequality is examined through an analysis of life history interviews with males residing within one of the two respective housing developments. These males left secondary education during the 1980's when economic globalisation emerged.Analysis of the life histories (chapter five) draws on thematic matrices as well as the material from the previous chapters. The research findings highlight the dynamic nature of urban and social inequality under the aegis of economic globalisation. The role of 'marginal gentrifiers' is highlighted, but the very efficacy of the term gentrification is challenged when used to refer to those who reside within such developments. The notion of an inner city council estate 'underclass' is also challenged.