Introduction
The City of London is also being referred to as a metropolitan city or a square mile city, and is known to be the smallest ceremonial county in term of population density and the area covered and it geographical size is one square mile ((1.12 sq mi). It is found within the greater London and is among the 32 boroughs of the Greater London. The local authority has some responsibilities as being the custodian for the city police and has the ownership of city boundaries falls under their jurisdictions. The city is headed by the mayor who is elected and he is responsible for the day today of the running of the City (Donna, 2005).
London city is a major hub for business and financial activities in the world and can only be compared to the leading cities in the world like New York in the United State and Tokyo city in Japan. The total population for the city is about 8,000 and as per the year 2000.It has over 320,000 people working there in the financial sector.
The city of London was awarded the 2012 Olympic Games bid after defeating various cities in the race. This race started long time ago because the committee bid three but failed i.e. In Manchester city on two occasions both in the year 1996 and 2000 and Birmingham city in the year 1992.This indicated that the IOC had faith in the London city strong bid compared to other cities which bid (Hunter, 2004).
Functionalism and Conflict Theory of the Games
This is a theory stress on the interactions between the society and culture in relation to contribute and maintaining a social unity. Talcott Parsons define functionalism is; “the interaction in term of social, psychological and cultural and focuses on the problems that affect the society integration”, but this definition has ignore that society being shaped by history. While conflict theory this is bases on the theory that the cause of crime is as a results of social and economic problems in the society (Abrahamson,1978).
Criminal systems in UK are thought to be for the powerful elites to protect themselves to from those who don’t have i.e. the poor. One hand it is believed that with these games, the crime will greatly reduce because it will reduce unemployment to the local population. Economist says for every one person visiting Britain, ten jobs in all sectors of economy is created. The visitor will need, hotel to sleep in, he will need to travel, he will need to watch this games. All this sectors will require people to serve in thus creating employment. We know lack of employment among the youth is the driving force of crime and substance abuse in all Cities in Britain.
On the other hand I don’t think with this games crime will reduce. There are rampant corruptions in all sectors of the economy and government, from the judiciary to the executive. Street Crimes with minor monetary values like a television theft are punished severely while financial thefts who steal billions of pounds are treated leniently. We found that the other day British Member of Parliament where found to be abusing the expenses claim privileges. Since then no member of parliament have been convicted of any wrongdoing although this was corruption of high order (Reinert, 1984).
Since time in memorial women under capitalism systems have been under male dominations in homes and offices in the world and specific in Britain. Radical feminist is looking at the mistreating of females in all sectors of economy. Women have been known to be weak and most vulnerable in the community. Many attacks on women are happening all over Britain because of this norm. At the moment in East London crime against women has greatly increased and the government is still doing nothing to control this rise in conflict against women. With these games I don’t think women will be protected from these potential attacks from men, during this time people will come from all walks of life and they will think differently about women (Hylton, 2009).
Functionalist evaluation
The gains that will come from these games as a result of this games which reaches part of the citizen cannot justify the expense used for this games. The IOC condition which requires every host nation to generate long term benefit for the city even after the games have ended cannot be achieved. The 2012 Olympic Games are going to incur long term expenses to the local citizens; this will include checking inflation prize of various commodities including the basic price like food and the upkeep of this new ‘white elephant’ stadium which will not have direct use to London city and its population even after the games ( Lampman,2006).
The way the law makers in Britain does approach homelessness, especially in the city of London, is to produce housing for the poor but in reality those chances when they are created are taken by the poor but not are taken up by the poor but not the destitute ones but not those who leave in the street.
The constitution of Britain proclaim basic need for all that include ‘the right to shelter’ but this policies produced by the government and aid agencies do come with a cost tag, no matter how the government want to help in term of housing the poor cannot afford. Studies have shown both in India and China during a major event like Olympic that most homeless when are resettled become worse off compared to when they were on the street and are not fully compensated by the authority involved in the resettling plans ( Turner,1997)
Marxist and Feminist evaluation
Britain today is defined by consumer culture; individualism but the citizen has lost interest in politics and activism. At the moment gender struggle in the country remains an issue in the public domain especially the demand for equality in the country.
Firstly, the country is being defined by the current individualism that is found in the social and political domain. The issue of individual is a subject to pressure (Riordan, 1980). Secondly the popular culture where women are called to exercise themselves in the society cannot be realized when women are still dominated by men in the society. But we all know that in Britain women are known to be better managers than their counterpart i.e. men (Freeman,2004).
Symbolic Interactionist evaluation
Symbolic interactionism is defined by Hewitt as; “it help people to define their day to day experiences and they will want to identify themselves to a certain behaviors and realities in a certain social setting” like in a stadium cheering on a team. (Jarvie,1973) shows his study; how a person will visibly and verbally identify himself with the image of a team when that team performance is good. People will identify themselves by wearing the team clothing and the common word “we” the will use each time they refer to their team. In this way they want to be associate themselves with that a particular (Preuss,1978).
Self constructs will influence a person when he want to describe himself to a particular team and this will influence the self esteem of a sport fan emotions. “Sport atmosphere like in a stadium offer a perfect environment for spectators to enrich their social lives. (Baer, 2001), “the kinship with the group (fellow fans) can contribute greatly to a sense of self, where self is psychologically intertwined with the fate of the team and other fans”.
Sport will influence the general interest of a person attending a certain game. For example fans know the accepted behavior when the opponent is about to score in a soccer match, they will be loud and rowdy but when a player from home team is scoring they will be quiet (Tallman,1988).
Products or activities as a result of symbolic influence can have three characteristics. Firstly they must be seen for the fan to purchase them, sometimes the fans might not be a position to buy that a particular product. Secondly the brand or the product should be many so that the fans will have many options to buy and lastly the product should be personalized so that the fans should be identify himself to a particular player in a team. A good example is a Manchester United fan wearing a Manchester United jersey to be identify with the team (Dadhich, 2002).
Conflict evaluation of the games
As a result of constructions of this new stadiums in the East London. Some constructions companies have reported difficulties in procure constructions materials and building tools. At the moment in East London the demand for new housing is extremely high as a result of these games; with this effect of demand for new housing is the cause of these artificial demands in building materials (Guerin,1989).
The building of this new housing is having more impact, when we compare to the preparations for Olympic Games. This is actually a blessing in disgust to the constructions industries in this area, it has boost business in these areas and we see more companies both multinationals and local companies setting up shops in these areas (Frederick,1992). These inflated prices for housing will have a positive effect on East London. Regeneration of East London will increase the economy of this place thus this will improve housing and infrastructure in this area.
Their have been broken promises from the government to the local business group around East London. Shops have been closed due to this effect a good example is the closing down of Cambie Street for construction of infrastructure; tomato Fresh Food shop is a good example of such a shop (Lloyd, 1984). With this I think it is killing the community spirit because it is a way of creating unemployment in these areas. Their significant losses from these constructions of infrastructure because such project usually last for more than eight months. The existing shops which have not been affected by this infrastructure have recorded a drop in sales during this period; this is as a result the public is shying away from this area due to narcisstic atmosphere (Shepard, 2009).
With all this problems the Olympic committee in charge of organizing all this has not taken responsibilities for the damages done to businesses in these areas. I believe this games it was supposed to be a win situations for all but it not the case. In East London before the bid property was cheap to buy but with these games we have seen foreigners have taken almost all the properties in East London, no average citizen in East London can buy apartment for 300,000 pounds.
Many homeless people have been displaced. With no place to live and the effect of crime and the use of contraband drugs is rampant in this area. The violence in these areas is rising and this has affected teenage under the age of 18 years, gangs are increasing as a result of poverty in this areas but the government is doing nothing to address these problems (Gullestrup, 2006).
Socio-Culture Impacts on Environment
Vibrant places will be created as a result of building of new stadiums, infrastructure and houses in places where it was under privileged.This will help this will create peaceful coexistence in these places and people would want to live and work. After this games. Various places have being connected as a result of building of bridges on waterways. Railways and roads infrastructure has been improved to ease transportations from one place to another. This will help millions of spectators all over Britain to get to stadiums (Ashraf, 2006)
On climatic changes that is a great concern to the world.100 hectares of green space has been planted and designed to minimize the occurrence of floods in the valleys and the biodiversity has been improved in all places including parks. On environment, a new company has been contracted to help to source on materials that will create low carbon emissions during the construction.
The media and brand companies will gain from these games. At the moment we are seeing multi companies rushing to set up their shops in the East London, a good example is coca cola which is one of the official sponsor of 2012 Olympic, the studies have show that the profit they will make after this games will be in term of millions of shillings (Roche,2002).
Women and the various groups which have been neglected for so long have not been considered for these games. A good example is women boxing, women rugby which has not been considered to be included in this games. Although this games exits. These games will have an effect on tenants in East London. Previous major games in the world as results of constructions will displace low income tenants because the rent will be high for this people thus there will be inadequate housing for this people.
The city will experience congestions as results of people coming from different places in the world. Also we see the influx of people from other cities in Britain going to the East London to look for work in construction sectors and other services industries. This migration will add to the insecurity in this area like car thieves and burglary and prostitutions because people from different world will need these services when they are in Britain.
Socio-economic impacts of London 2012
The governments want to get credit for this ambitious project of the Olympic Games. Back in the year 2000 at the annual society of construction law here in Britain Lord Falconer spoke that with this ambitious project will contribute in developing East London because this project focused on transportation and the building of millennium village. He went further by saying this was done without involving the taxpayer’s money. The governments want the people to believe with these projects it will provide a means for people to break away from a series of exclusion (Toohey, 997)
Stratford area being one of the venues for the Olympic Games will see development of the place. We are seeing the property market around Stratford area rising. Economist believes properties rise by 5% annually due to transformations of Strafford into a business center. With constructions of better transport infrastructure will link various Britain cities and Major European cities like Paris. One of the largest park in Europe is being constructed as a result of this game, inside that park there will be 200 retail outlets, recreational facilities like fitness clubs as well as cinema halls. Also inside this park construction of international Hotels that will host the visitors that will come to this games. Better construction transportation infrastructure will be ideal for connection both in Britain and internationally preferred.
The Labour party will try to rebound from the recent losses in popularity decline in Britain. The Labour party would like to campaign for the next general elections with the success of these games. They will want to take credit for these constructions that is taking place because they are power at the moment. Also other parties in Britain will want to be associated with these games to help them to rise to power in the next general election.
These games will bring the citizen of Britain together. It is believed that 80% of population will watch these games whether direct or indirect i.e. through the screen that will be installed in major parts of East London and many people will be attend the opening of the Olympic games. With this crowd will come to celebrate and cheer the hero’s that will bring medals to Britain.
Global threat by terrorist in the world and the bombing of Britain a few years ago, security in Britain will be beefed up. We have seen more and more patrols by police in major and sensitive places in East London and Britain as a whole, installations like airports and railway stations. There doing this to protect the citizen and international visitors from threat of terrorist.
All this does not work ,when the Olympic games were held in Sydney Australia in the year 2000,they ended up using twice over the pre-bid amount. During the games in Athens the total budget was five times what the committee has budgeted. Let us revisit the commonwealth games which where held in Britain recently. The government the government had to provide emergency cash of up to 105 million pounds. With this bid being awarded to the City of London, The IOC has strict regulations that the host city has the responsibility for the games to start as planned (Hawkes,1990). This implies the City of London is locked into paying whatever it cost for it to be ready to host this games as preplanned by the IOC (Hauser,1997).
Long before the Olympic Games the Lower Lea Valley development have been in place this included the constructions of a new park. We know that this area is a migratory route for birds and it also a habitat for various wildlife (Stoll, 2009). The charity organization i.e. The River Leas Trust working in that are to conserve the environment have told the committee which is in charge of the games that landscaping the area is inappropriate because it will interfere with the habitat of the place (Chall, 1998)
The cost of hosting this games have been revised since 2002,People in East London don’t have faith in this promises i.e. the creation of about 3000 jobs as a result of construction led ‘regeneration’. Same promises where made when millennium dome was being constructed. Yes! Good sporting facilities will be available to east London but these constructions have a minimal effect on the economy and the employment in the east London. The amount spent in building these new stadiums is much compared to the amount this stadium will bring as revenue (Cavendish, 2006).
The creations of 4000 new affordable housings, the government must consider the tenants in east London. in the year 2002 during the Olympics in Sidney city we saw the rent in that city increasing at a higher rate and landlords started evicting tenants when the Olympics games were nearing to start (Visvavidyalaya, 2007). With this the so call investments their was a crisis in housing sector as a result of this inflow of investment in housing (Connolly, 2008).
Already housing cost have already started to rise based on this possibilities and the affected group of people are the voluntary and community based groups i.e. Hackney community Transport which provide transportation for the community for those routes that private bus companies cannot operate because those route are not profitable. This organization cannot operate in Newham, which is found in East London. Because it cannot afford the rental cost of a garage for it vehicles (Cashmore, 2007)
The idea that Olympic Games in London city will boost tourism. This claim is based on the tourism experienced during the Olympic Games in Sydney. At the moment London is a major tourist attraction in the world that the difference between Sydney and London City. The people who will benefit from this increase in tourism is not the common workers who are employed in this hotels or the community who leave in the London city, but the business people who are involved in tourism are the ones who will benefit from this profit as a result of tourism (Buhle, 2003)
According to the British government that this games “will encourage young people to take up sport so to become an Olympians” this is not the case because the allocated money in the London city will be drained away. We also see only small number of athletes will be in the squad that will participate in these games. The ‘dream’ of participating in these games by young people has many scandals, from usage of high performance drugs to bribery also there is mistreatment of athletes by the coaches (Bloom, 2000)
Conclusion
The 2010 Olympic Games will be achieved despite all this concerns from human rights and community organization protest. We know that the committee in charge of these games have promised stunning games in less than two years. I believe this is a challenge to the committee but in order for the dream to come true they must partner with the local population and they should also consider the international community because these games belong to the whole world (Clegg, 1996).
Although they are being held in Britain. Specifically East London and particularly Britain as a whole should start taking personal Pride for these games let them concentrate on the positive side of this games and not the negative aspect of the games because we believe not all the groups will get satisfied. Lord Coe said “This games to me, he takes personal pride in the Olympic being held in London City. When he drive through the Olympic park created as a result of this games and imagine what sport has created for the whole East London, it will be exciting if the whole community of Britain to be part and parcel of this games” (Azuma, 2003)
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