Download Poverty - Sociology

Learning objective: To be able to explain which social groups
are more likely to experience poverty.
What is poverty?
How is poverty measured?
Who are the poor in our
society?
Connector
 Work in pairs.
 Read the following statements and for each one decide if it
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is a description of poverty or not and why:
Not being able to go out on a Saturday night.
Having no money left after paying the bills.
Sleeping rough (homeless).
Not being able to have three meals a day.
Having to wear the same clothes and shoes.
Not going on holiday.
Not having enough beds and bedding for everyone in the
family.
Always buying the cheapest food.
5 Mins
Poverty
 Poverty is difficult to define so Sociologists have created
two terms to help them define poverty:
 Absolute poverty is when people’s income is not enough for
them to be able to obtain the minimum they need to
survive such as food, clean water, shelter, heating and
clothes.
 Relative poverty is when people can not afford the general
standard of living of most other people in their society. It
means being poor in comparison to others around you.
 Others argue that poverty also includes not being able to
afford to join a sports club, go out socially or send your
child on a school trip.
Task 1
 Watch the clip of a couple talking about how they
struggle to afford to pay for food and bills.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7641734.stm
 Are they in relative or absolute poverty?
 Why?
10 Mins
Task 2: fill in the worksheet:
Who experiences poverty?
 People who are more likely to experience poverty are:
 Single pensioners – particularly if they rely on the state pension, rather
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than on an occupational pension.
Young people and children – especially if they live in workless, lone
parent families and are of ethnic minority background.
Disabled people – this is because they may need special diets,
equipment and transport which cost a lot yet disabled people tend to b
on low incomes because they face discrimination in employment.
Women - this is because they live longer than men so there are more
female pensioners living alone. Also, they are more likely to head lone
parent families. Moreover, even when women work, they tend to earn
less than men.
Ethnic minorities – this is because they experience racism and
discrimination in employment, earn less and tend not to rely on state
benefits.
20 Mins
Who experiences poverty?
 Other groups at risk of poverty include:
 Lone parent families - low income or on benefits which are
low.
 Workless families – families in which no adult works to
earn a living.
 Families with young children – may have only one parent
working, the cost of childcare is high.
 Those who left school ages 16 or younger – have few
qualifications so find it difficult to gain employment or are
on low income.
Who experiences poverty?
 It can also be argued that most people will experience
poverty at some point in their life through the life cycle
of poverty. This is the movement in and out of poverty
over a person’s lifetime.
Childhood
Youth
Married with
children
Middle aged,
children leave
home
Old age
Poverty line
Poverty
Measuring poverty
 One way of measuring poverty is to measure income. In Britain,
a low income is considered to be the one which is 3/5th below the
income of a family right in the middle of the income
distribution.
 In Britain 22% of the population are below the
poverty line.
 Poverty can also be measured through
the lack of items which are seen as
necessities by the majority of the
population, e.g. beds, savings,
regular meals.
 According to this
Poverty line
measurement 26% of the
population live in poverty.
Median income
3/5 below = low income
Measuring poverty
 In the last 20 years, the number of people living in
poverty has increased, but so has the number of rich
people.
 So, as some become poorer and others richer, there is
greater social inequality. This has happened because
of:
o Increase in the number of workless households in
which there is no earner.
o Increase in the pay gap between the low skilled and
highly skilled workers.
o Changes in taxation which advantages the wealthy.
Task 2: Exam questions
1.
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2.
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Identify two ways in which the poor experience a lower level of
life chances than the rest of society. (2 marks)
Poor health
Inadequate housing
Educational underachievement
Explain what sociologists mean by relative poverty. (4 marks)
Relative poverty refers to when people can not afford the
general standard of living of most other people in their society.
It means being poor in comparison to others around you.
Exam questions
3. Describe one way in which sociologists have tried to
measure poverty and explain why this method might
not be accurate. (5 marks)
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Sociologists have tried to measure poverty through...
the lack of items which are seen as necessities by the majority of the
population, e.g. beds, savings, regular meals. According to this
measurement 26% of the population live in poverty.
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This method may not be accurate because..
people have different ideas on what is a necessity. For example, for some
being able to go out on a Saturday night is a necessity, while for others it is
a necessity to be able to feed their children three meals a day.