Free Custom «Social Sciences History» Essay Paper

Aberdeen is a city located in Scotland. This city resides towards the north of River Dee and towards the south of River Don. This city extends 71.2 square miles. The city resides on many hills with theoriginalcity growing from Windmill hill, Castle hill and St Catherine's hill. It is the third most popular city in Scotland and 25th in the United Kingdom. It has an estimated population of about 210400 people. The city has a long sandy coastline.

To what extent have social conditions in Aberdeen changed since 1851? This investigation aims at describing how the social conditions in Aberdeen have changed over the years since 1851. It ishighlyrelevant togivean explanation to changes in the social conditions of this City since 1851. This investigation focuses on describing the reasons for the changes, which have occurred in the social conditions of the people of Aberdeen over the years. Thegeneraltruth is that this City has seensubstantialchanges in their social conditions. The main task ahead is figuring out why this has happened. It is alsofundamentalthat thisinvestigationcomes up with reasons explaining how the changes have taken place over the years. Finally, it iscrucialto explain whatforcehas led to these changes over the years.

 

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This experiment will focus on the general history of the City of Aberdeen from 1851 to the present. This willcoverthe population of the City from the year 1851 topresent. It ishighlysalient toshowwhether the population of these City has increased or decreased over the year. In addition, it isindispensabletodescribewhether the change is a positive change or a negative change, giving any pertinent information about the change. Thisinvestigationinvolves carrying out research in books and sites over theinternet. It involves akeenstudy of the City of Aberdeen in Scotland.

This is a highlydetailedresearchtopic, which will take a lot of time. The reason behind the research taking a long period is that, information may be scattered and it takes time to gather all the pieces of information. Besides gathering, one requires toputthe information together andcomeup with a satisfactorypieceof research, which willcoverall the necessary areas. The main sources of information on thisinvestigationinclude books and some website information. After getting all the necessary information in this research, a report to that effect with adetailedconclusionis written. Finally, areferencefrom where all the information regarding the research will bebeneficial. It willactasevidenceof the areas in the books where all the information in the article derived.

Social conditions can be defined as, the state of a particular society as it exists.Usually, social conditions refer to a society as a whole in reference to the geographic or thepoliticalcondition of the given region.In the 19th century, the major regions in Scotland werebasicallyurban centers.Aberdeenregionwas among the biggest towns in the region as is the case today.

When looking at the social conditions of the people in Aberdeen, it isimportanttodividesocial conditions into three. It iscrucialto take a look at this topic from the following angles. Firstly, it isfundamentaltoconsiderthe health situation in this city during the period. Medicine and surgery made agreatadvancement in the region as at that period. In 1851, bearing in mind that the Aberdeenregionlacked improved medical conditions; the life expectancy for men approximated to be 40 years. Women had a life expectancy of 44years while one out of seven children estimated to die before their first birthday. This statistic wasveryshockingbut attributed to the poor health standards witnessed among the residents of this region. There was an increase inpressurefor the limited medical facilities in this region.Outbreaks of diseases were a common thing among the people and, this saw that many people succumbed to the conditions.Diseases such as tuberculosis were a common phenomenon in the region. This disease saw the death rate increase rapidly in the region. However, in the year 1861, a Scotsman by the name Alexander Fleming discovered the penicillin to Tuberculosis and this ensured that this hazard brought tocontrol.

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However, thisdiscoverydid not ensure that the mortality rate reduced. There was stillgreatpressurefor the fewavailablemedical facilities in the region. Rapid growth in population led to overcrowding and, this region led to increased industrialization activities. This industrialization brought about the unprecedented problems ofpublicsanitation. Shared facilities andpoorsewage systems meant that diseases spread dangerously. In the 1880s, those who were not able to afford medical fees relied onhousehospitals. These hospitals weremainlyfunded through donations and in order for them toadmita poor person had to bedestituteand disabled. In the year 1900, there was an improvement in thegeneralhealth facilities. This attributed to improved sanitation and better sewagemaintenance.

However, typhoid still remained amajorkiller for the people in the region. Health insurance schemes discovered in 1911 and thisgreatlybenefited individuals earning 160pounds and below. In 1951, TB increased its killing power and this caused shortages in the number of hospital beds in the region. This forced the Scottish to take the necessaryactionof airlifting its patients to Switzerland for treatment. In 1971, there was anintroductionof the emergency contraceptive pill. This was so because the birth rate in the Aberdeenregionwas increasing tremendously. This ensured that the birth rate fell tremendously. By the late 20th century, the killer diseases such as typhoid, diphtheria and cholera werecompletelyeradicated. However, there was anintroductionof new killer diseases such as Cancer and Coronary heart diseases. In 2001, smoking was one of the greatest killers in the rejoin representing 24 percent of the deaths. However, medical facilities and sanitation have tremendously improved up to this date.

The second topic of discussion when looking at the social conditions in Aberdeenregionis the living conditions, of the people.Living conditions of the people in Aberdeen, (mainly families) can be described to be hard.Miners who hadverylarge families builttherehouses out of granite with two to three rooms. They did this in order tosupplementtheir incomes. However,majorityof them lived in towns. The sleeping arrangements in the cottages werehowever, very complicated with many children sleeping in one bed. There was no indoor supply of water or bathrooms. The only method of heating during this period was throughopenfires. However, small businessmen, entrepreneurs and mine captains were among those who could afford more spacious houses. During theexpansiveindustrialization period, many new estates built.There wereelaboratetransformations of the older estates making them moreelaborate.The mining industry improved in the 19th century making the copper minesexpandto the rural areas. Many rural areas in his region were inbetter condition. These entailed housing families with more rooms having bedrooms which wereveryovercrowded. Many towns had increased cases of prostitution. Prostitution made many womenpregnantout of wedlock.This was a response todesperatetimes which made women, look for means of sustainability.

Crime, prostitution and rioting, were only one of the sides of life among the mining community. Mining villages and towns were also places where problems could be forgotten. Thisis donethrough attending of events organized by thelocalchapels such as, penny readings, bazaars and evenimprovementactivities. The main aim of these activities was to help people to forget their problems and focus on the task ahead. Currently, living standards among the people in Aberdeen have improved with people's living standards rising higher by the years.This hasreallymade the Citygrowto being the third most popular City in Scotland.

The third and the last topic of discussion in thisreportare family life of the people of Aberdeen since 1851 to the present year. Historical demographers have since long been debating on the nature of households in Aberdeen since 1851. Originally, many families adopted farming as a main source of income andlivelihood. It was thehousehold'sdutyto provide the required labor for the production of food in the region.Many households some forms ofexistencewith the extended family having a majority of the people in Aberdeen.These families were many since there was a need for people to provide the required labor for the production of food in the farms. Household families' compositions wereveryimportantsince every household required to have enough man-power toensureasubstantialproduction in thefamingsector. Historically, agricultural activities includingfarmingand livestock keeping supported the families in terms of rent payment and maintaining them.Many agricultural activities made possible due to the fact that there was sufficientsizeof land available in the rejoin.People, in those times, livedverysimplelives and these made it possible for them to carry out their farming activities.

However, everything seems to have changed since that time. Families in Aberdeen have since shifted from extendedfamilyset up forsimplefamilies. This attributed to the fact that most people in Scotland havemainlyadopted Christianity as the main religion in the area. Christianitymainlyadvocates forsimplemarriages and criticizes polygamy. Therefore, families are majorlysmall. In addition, due to improvement in the level of technology andadvancement, people have shifted from farming being themainto industrialization. In addition, urbanization has discarded anypossibilityof family activities carried away since most oflargetracks of landare built.

According to statistics from statistical data sheet ofmajortowns in Scotland, the mortality rate in 1851- 1860 estimated as follows. Out of 2397 births recorded that year, therewas estimated71 deaths recorded. This gives amortalityrate of about 29. 6%. This rate increases rapidly over the years. This attributed to factors such as the killer diseases and thewidespreadpoor health conditions over the years. The greatest figures ever recorded were in the year 1925 where there was a 53.6% mortality rate recorded. However, these figures went down over the years to approximately 21% as witnessed in 2001. Majority of the people who died were the young and the old people. Thiswas attributedto the smokinglifethat adopted by a majority of the people in this City.

In addition, statistics show thatemploymentpatternhas changed from 1851. In 1851 more than 705 of the people in Aberdeen carried out agricultural activities.This attributed to the availability oflargetracks of land andrequiredman power for that kind of job.Therewas a significant decline people over the years. This encouraged by the rapid growth in industries such as the textile industries. However, as these industries increased in number, the general population of the region reduced.The number of workers recorded in the region were, 380000 workers in 1851.These numbers grew over the years to 879000 workers whichlaterincreased to 1,902,000 workers in 1950.In the 20th centurythere wasgreatdiversitywitnessed in theemploymentsector has several forms of employment emerged. This included theemergenceof sectors such as the transport sectors. People became more open minded in terms ofemploymentand these led to theestablishmentof more sectors of the economy.

In addition toemployment,household's sizes played amajorrole in determining the history of Aberdeen over the years. In 1851, most of thehouseholdsettingwas rural.Due to the large tracks of land available, many of the residents lived in large sized houses where thefamilysettingwasbasicallyextended.Many families werelargein order to provide therequiredman-power for the production process. This setting has since changed over the years with many families beingsimple.