Neighbourhood websites lead to social segregation, says study |
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Wed, 17 Aug 2005 13:05
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LONDON: Websites that give area-specific socio-cultural and other details may be indirectly contributing to widen the gap between rich and poor in Britain, a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said. The Foundation is concerned about such websites providing data on neighbourhood income levels and ethnicity to house hunters.
Existence of similar websites in the U.S. has led to segregation of people and less cohesion among various communities as those with high incomes increasingly preferred to live in the same area, the
foundation said. Of course, the Internet-based Neighbourhood Information Systems (IBNIS) allow house hunters to identify areas with the best schools or lowest crime rate, but this can lead to the society becoming more segregated, the foundation warned.
Prof Roger Burrows, who headed the research team from the universities of York and Durham for the study, said the technology available can not only sort people according to basic data such as their incomes, but also according to individual tastes, consumer preferences, lifestyle habits and so on. "Until recently these segmentation processes have been largely invisible to the public, but with the
emergence of IBNIS, it is entirely possible that people will start using them to sort themselves out into neighbourhoods where their neighbours are less diverse and more like themselves."
In the U.K., searches are still not possible based on characteristics of neighbourhoods, but there are a few commercial websites that provide information based on postcodes, while the Office of National Statistics gives detailed information on the demographics, deprivation and employment levels of neighbourhoods. The foundation said it is just a matter of time before sites with powerful neighbourhood search capabilities come up.
Burrows said, "While no one would want to prevent public access to neighbourhood information, we should recognise the potential implications for disadvantaged neighbourhoods and the people who live in them."
He suggested that such websites must be made to specify their sources and clarify how the information was compiled. The residents of a particular neighbourhood should be given an opportunity to challenge the information about their neighbourhood in case it is wrongly portrayed.
Social scientists insist that there must be a mix of rich and poor in a particular area to ensure that the living standards of the poor are raised.
The foundation identified four main types of IBNIS sites -- commercial websites offering neighbourhood information to attract sponsors and advertising; sites that serve the marketing industry with geo-demographic data to target selected consumers; sites providing data on neighbourhoods for policy makers and researchers planning regeneration initiatives and other social programmes; and sites run by charities, political groups and community organisations that offer detailed information for community development work, environmental improvement, or campaign activities.
It said mixed income communities can promote social cohesion. The data the website present using social sorting technology should not lead to greater segregation between communities as it may totally jeopardise the process of social cohesion.
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