Economic Change 

Globalisation has led to the world's economy becoming ever more interconnected. 

Advances in technology and communications led to the global shift in the 1960s. 

This inevitably led to the decline in manufacturing in ACs in Western Europe and North America and unemployment 

Although the UKs economy has shifted to the tertiary sector, in many parts of the country this hasn't led to the replacement of jobs lost in the secondary sector. 

This partly explains the patterns of social inequality across the UK. 

The globalised world economy goes through cycles of booms and recessions as shown in the diagram with GDP growing over time. 

During booms and strong economic growth, core regions (such as London) benefit from the growth, with higher wages and low unemployment. 

During recessions, governments receive less income through taxation, unemployment levels rise and wages stagnate. 

In the most recent global recession (2008 onwards) the Conservative/Liberal Democrats coalition brought in an austerity package aimed at reducing the country's public spending deficit by cutting public spending. 

There have been numerous protests due to the severity of the cuts to some public services and the impact this has had on some of the most vulnerable groups in society.