Work, Poverty and Welfare

Absolute poverty

lack of minimum requirements for survival

Rowntree

set up major studies on poverty in the UK 1899, made a list of essentials needed for life

classified poverty

however… doesn’t allow wasted food, assumed the cheapest price was available, he was of a different class

he did publish two more after these criticisms in 1941 1951

Bradshaw

made budget standard measure of poverty

this was more effective as it calculated based on people actual spending, however has still been criticised for being too low (therefore not a true reflection)

Relative poverty

in relation to others in their society

however this means that there is always poverty and rises and falls based on the rich as well

Relative deprivation

Townsend

devised a ‘deprivation index’ (60 things central to life) and then 12 which were essential to all citizens

Subjective poverty

peoples own evaluation on how much money they need

Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey (2000) matched the same amount of people considering themselves in poverty as the scientific consensual approach

Social exclusion

the government said that its caused by a wider range of things associated with poverty (e.g. unemployment, low education)

PSES (2000) found age and disability were the main causes

causes a ‘spiral of disadvantage’ (Department of Social Security)

e.g. children born in poor areas, school

Wealth v Income

wealth is the value of all possessions, however many rich families have inherited wealth

for the majority, money comes from income and not wealth (this can be from benefits or work)

Ethnicity and poverty