Download Poverty - Miss Rose Sociology

1) What is poverty and how is it measured?
Learning objective: What’s your target?
(D)
Define the key terms absolute/relative poverty, wealth and income
(C)
Explain different methods of measuring poverty
(A*-B) Criticise different methods of measuring poverty
Write you definitions of:
Absolute poverty:
Relative poverty:
Poverty differs from time to time and society to society
Using a relative approach means we will always find poverty in society
Except in what type of society?
Defining poverty is difficult but important
How we define poverty affects how we measure it and how to tackle it e.g.
how far the government are prepared to go to tackle it with policies etc
Seebohm Rowntree
• Rowntree was extremely influential in defining poverty
• He devised research at the beginning of the twentieth century to
define whether people were in poverty or not.
He defined people as belonging to a category:
above the poverty line (out of poverty)
or below the poverty line (in poverty)
He argued that people needed:
• Food
• Clothes
• Shelter
These were the minimum for existence.
The poverty line was drawn at the point where a minimum was
needed to ‘maintain health’.
Below this level = Absolute Poverty
Problems with using absolute poverty
Even though you have the basics like food, water and shelter,
you may be in poverty compared to those around you.
This is relative poverty.
Townsend 1899, Poverty line and relative
deprivation
• He worked out a family budget based on the cheapest food and clothes -> meet the
basic requirements.
• Medical advice on nutritional requirements and the food that could provide these.
• Allowances for rent, fuel and a small amount of ‘sundries’
• He worked out an allowance according to the size of the family which he called the
poverty line.
• Households whose total income fell below this line were defined as being in
poverty.
He asked detailed questions on 60 indicators of deprivation.
• These included
- Refrigerator
- Lack of an annual holiday
- Carpets
- A joint for Sunday roast dinner.
- Poverty is not just based on income -> exclusion from ordinary activities and
customs
Criticisms
•
•
•
•
Using a poverty line is too simple and is not accurate.
People may be only 1p over the line and classed as not in poverty
What some people view as essential others may see as luxuries.
What is considered necessity changes over time (e.g. carpets)
How the UK government measure
poverty
UK Government measurement:
• Measure: Income after housing cost
• Low income = those below 60% of the income of the median
income for the population
• 22% of UK population are below the poverty level
Look at the chart p310
The National Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey measured:
Income levels
Lack of items seen as necessities by majority
Subjective measures – people considering themselves as living in
poverty
According to this 26% of the population live in poverty
Exam question practice
1) What is meant by
absolute poverty? (4)
2) What is meant by
relative poverty? (4)
3) Suggest one type of
poverty and explain how
it could be measured. (5)
4) Suggest one way of
measuring poverty and
explain one problem
with it. (5)
Vocabulary
• Poverty line
• Absolute poverty
• Relative poverty
• Necessities
• Basics
• Relative
deprivation
• Average income
2) What are the causes and effects of poverty?
Learning objective: What’s your target?
(D) Identify different groups that may experience poverty
(C) Explain why some groups in society are more likely to experience poverty
than others
(A*-B) Criticise the effectiveness of government attempts to tackle poverty
Starter: Which areas of the UK do you predict will have the
highest rates of poverty?
Link to exam: Describe one area that may be more likely to experience poverty and
explain why this may be (5)
The Elderly
People with disabilities
Children and poverty
Women and poverty
Single parents
Ethnicity and poverty
• Living on state pension
• Limited means of income
• Health problems can cause expense
• Cost of private healthcare
• More likely to experience discrimination and not get a higher paid job
• More likely to be in low skilled, low paid manual work – racism/
discrimination
• Culturally seen as socially unacceptable to claim benefits they may be
entitled to
• Under achievement at school – less qualifications – lower paid work
Women
Married women rely husbands
Fewer women have occupational pensions
Women live longer, their pension has to last longer.
Women earn less than men on average.
Women are more likely to be single mums.
• Only one income
• More likely to be in part time, lower paid work to fit around child care
• Benefits not high enough to keep single parents out of poverty, but a soon
as they earn more money they lose their benefits.
- Disabilities make it difficult to find work, may be restricted
with choice of work/ face discrimination.
- There are extra costs such as adapting the home which very
expensive.
- Changes by the conservative government means that benefits
were lower for people with disabilities.
children
- Rely on parents income, who may not have enough
money to give them. (don’t work)
- Children in single parent families are more likely to
be in poverty
- Arrival of new children, can push parents into
poverty.
- Young people may be put off going to Uni by the
debt they will accumulate. (Graduates generally earn
more than those without higher educational
qualifications.)
No child poverty by 2020
At the Labour Party conference, Gordon Brown
said child poverty "demeans Britain" and repeated
his party's pledge to halve child poverty by 2010,
and ultimately to end it.
We have lifted 600,000 children out of poverty, we
are introducing free nursery education for all two,
three and four year olds and have seen an
increase in educational outcomes at all ages.
Local authorities and other service providers had
to help it raise family incomes, encourage people
to apply for tax credit and benefits and help
parents work.
Link to exam: Describe one way that the
government has tried to reduce child poverty and
explain how successful this policy has been (5)
Low income family describe how they struggle to afford to pay for food and bills
There are currently 3,900,000
children in the UK that are classed
as actually living in poverty, which
impacts on every aspect of a
child's life.
The campaign to end child
poverty classes households as
being in poverty if they are living
on under £10 per person per day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7643250.s
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"A child in poverty is 10 times
more likely to die in infancy, and
five times more likely to die in an
accident.
"Adults who lived in poverty as a
child are 50 times more likely to
develop a restrictive illness such
diabetes or bronchitis."
Link to exam: Describe one group that are likely to be in poverty and
explain how it could affect their life chances (5)
What causes proverty?
Factor that explain increase:
• Increase in proportion of workless households -> Unemployment
peaked at over 3 million in 1993 -> dropped in 2014 to 2.33
million
• Increase in pay gap between low-skilled and high-waged workers
• Changes in taxation – reductions in the rate of income tax which
benefits the better off
• Demographic changes – increase in groups with low income =
pensioners and lone-parent families
Culture of poverty
• Poverty was seen as part of their culture and way of life
• The poorest section of society were socialized within subculture of poverty
• Socialisation = unable to break free from poverty
This culture = set of values to cope with their position
• People can do little to change their situation so may as well accept it
• Live for the moment, don’t worry about tomorrow
• There is no point saving up of planning for the future
• Fatalistic
Values
• Help them adapt to their situation but also stop them from escaping
• Are passed on through family = persists over generations = Cycle of
deprivation
Cycle of deprivation
Child is born into
poverty
Become parents of
deprived children =
cycle continues
As adults they live in
poverty
Material and cultural
deprivation
Less likely to perform
well in school = less
qualifications
Future opportunities are limited =
likely to have unskilled, low paid jobs
or be unemployed
Welfare Dependancy & the ‘underclass’
New Right approach:
• Emerged in 1980s-1990s
• A group = attitudes and values differ from
mainstream society
• Long-term poverty – unable to gain a living
Symptoms of the underclass:
• Crime
• Extramarital births
• Unemployment
‘The undeserving poor’
• Welfare reform = dependence on the state –
‘from cradle to grave’
• State is too generous = welfare dependancy
Critics:
Creates a label = ‘blame the victims’
Such stigma distances people further from society =
less likely to change
Social Exclusion
People are in poverty through no fault of their own.
Cannot participate in:
Consumption: purchasing goods and services
Production: participating in social or economical activities
Political engagement: decision making
Social interaction: community, friends, family
For example, cannot afford a television or to go out to the cinema with friends.
Marxism and poverty
Social structure and poverty
• Poverty stems from class-based inequalities
• Poverty is a product of capitalism -> generates extreme wealth for
bourgeoisie and poverty for proletariat
• Poverty is a social problem –> wealth is not
• Fear of poverty ensures people keep working in low-paid jobs
Remove poverty
• The only way is a revolutionary change
• Replace capitalism with an economic system with communal ownership of
the means of production
However
• Poverty, inequality and differences in wealth still exists within communist
countries
Unemployment
•The recession has caused people to lose their jobs through no fault
of their own
•Benefits are too low to keep people out of poverty
To what extent would sociologists agree that if people are in
poverty they only have themselves to blame (12)
It is peoples own fault they are
in poverty
It’s not peoples own fault they
are in poverty
Culture of poverty
Welfare dependency
Cycle of deprivation
Social exclusion
Marxist views
Unemployment
To what extent what sociologists agree that if people are in
poverty they only have themselves to blame (12)
It is peoples own
fault they are in
poverty
It’s not peoples own fault they are in poverty
Culture of poverty
Cycle of
deprivation
Welfare dependency
Unemployment
Social exclusion
Marxist views