natutre of poverty

Question 1

Charless Booth

Answer 1

• carried out a street survey of East and inner city London
• documented and mapped the nuymerical extent of poverty
• Booth applied and absolute approach to poverty (which he set ads an income level below which he reguared as living in poverty)
• concluded that 31% of people he studdied were living in poverty
• Booth was sucessful in setting a alevel of income that was socially acceptable and unacceptable that became recognised as a valid indicator by social policy makers

Question 2

Seebohm Rowntree

Answer 2

• affected by booths work
• wanted to see if the same foundings could be applied outsude of london
• did the same house to house visits (making notes aboout family size, accommodation, cleanliness, respectability and absolute income levels that would distinguish the poor from non-poor)
• adopted Booth’s notion of absolute poverty level
• however he used a “budget standards” approach becasue his income level was based upon:
  . the costs of a very basic diet
  . the costs of buying a minimum amount of clothes
  . rent for a basic level of housing
• Roundree worked out the minimum needed to be healthy and the poverty kine was dran at the income needed to meet these three costs
• concluded that 28% were living in state of poverty
• classed poverty into “primary” and “secondary” poverty

Question 3

Absolute poverty

Answer 3

individuals unable to meet their subsistence need and maintain a healthy life are in absolute poverty

Question 4

Advantages of the poverty line

Answer 4

1.) Its a clear and easy way to measure poverty
2.) It fits in with most peoples understanding of poverty and subsistence living
3.) It allows for easy comparisons of society over time and between countries.

Question 5

Disadvantages of the poverty line

Answer 5

1.) It adopts a one size fits all approach
2.) Basic needs change over time
3.) People living above the poverty line are not immune to deprivation, the closer you are to the line the more deprived you are.

Question 6

Relative poverty (Townsend)

Answer 6

“Individuals, families and groups can be said to be in poverty when … their resources are so seriously below those commanded by the average individual or family that they are, in effect, excluded from ordinary living patterns, customs, and activities.” He used the deprivation index to calculate relative poverty.

Question 7

Advantages of defining poverty in this way

Answer 7

1.) It demonstrates that poverty is not fixed but changes over time and social groups
2.) Broader definition linking poverty to lifestyle rather than necessities.
3.) It overcomes the bluntness of the poverty line by reflecting a degree of relative poverty.

Question 8

Disadvantages of using relative poverty

Answer 8

1.) What contributes as normal or average, poverty is subjective.
2.) Cannot be used to compare poverty over societies.
3.) There is even an absurdity that rich people can feel poor (Amartya Sen 1983)

Question 9

How does the UK measure poverty now?

Answer 9

Households Below Average Income (HBAI)

Question 10

consensual measurements

Answer 10

• initally defined by Townsend
• people lacking the resources or necessities to enjoy the living conditions, ameneties and rituals that the majoority of soxeity take for granted
• the problem is that definitions of poverty are not fixed and can chnage based on the liivng standards of any given society
• also refects that what a pensioner needs is different from a young person (strength)

Question 11

Mack and Lansley

Question 12

Subjective poverty (third measurement)

Answer 12

• people genrally have own feelings about wehter they are poor
• often related to their own reference group
  -idea lined to relative poverty
• can explain why someone can feel poor even if they arent
• reason why approach is different is that it rejects experts and sociologists judements about what poverty is

Question 13

Social exclusion (fourth way)

Answer 13

Term created by the EU in the 1980 to describe the lack of participation of some of its citizens. The main cause of social exclusion is relative poverty e.g. Barry is poor and therefore cant afford to go to the cinemas with his friends.

Question 14

Mclnnes et al

Answer 14

• 50 indicators measuring income, educational attainment, health, fmaily breakdown, crime and discrimination

Question 15

Criticisms of fourth theory

Answer 15

• defects issues away from dealing with poverty
• term was used by con gov between ‘79-‘97 as a way of avoiding doing anything to help

Question 16

advantages of fourth theory

Answer 16

• criticisms potentially unfair as term “social exclusion” can abe sued to chhallange inequality on wider level then just income
• also highlighed the denial of ‘rights’ for instance (lister)

Question 17

summary

Answer 17

• no universal agreement on how poverty should be defined and measured
• but most sociologists and govs use a relative conceptiuon of poverty to decide on a “poverty line”
• largely based on icome
• to distinguish between those who are not poor an those who are

Question 18

sociological explanations

Answer 18

• increasing trend of poverty due to cost of living crisis
• up friom 13.4 million in 2014
• also 4.2 million children growing up in households below the poverty line
• there has also been increase in use of food banks
• who to blame for poverty?

Question 19

individualistic theories

Answer 19

• place blame for poverty on the individual
• people suffered low incomes because they wre unable/ unwilling ti provide adequetly for their own well-being
• this point of view tbinks that soiety shopuldnt be responsible for peovinding for the needs of the poor

Question 20

Herbert Spencer

Answer 20

• this view written about by herbert spencer
• in writting coined phrase “survival of the fittest”
• argued that poor shoukd face cosequences of theur actions
• weak and lazy should be condemed to a life of poverty
• view shown commonly in tabloid newspapers

Question 21

criticisms

Answer 21

• individual expectations are value-laden rahrter than objective
• inherantly iply poor people are ‘different’ which isgores the fact that people move in and out of poverty
• people belong to grouos and societies and their lives are shaped by structural fcators over which they ahve little control
• fail to see poverty as social pheneomenon (‘blsmes the victim’ - Ryan)

Question 22

Cultural explanations

Answer 22

• two theories
• both argue that the poor are the cause of their own poverty
• at most extreame argue that the welfare system makes people dependant by providing alternative approaches to work

Question 23

1. The culture of poverty (Oscar lewis)

Answer 23

• lewis argued the lifestyle of the poor is f=different to others in response to a highly class-statisfied society
  -poverty liofestyles share similaer characteristcs
• circumstances of poverty are similar
• which prioduce similar responces and this develops into a clulture
• (a learned, shared and scoaially trasmitted behaviour)
• fieldwork in Mexico identified that the poor had a particualr design for living
• these are passed on through socialisation
  hard for people to break out of poverty
• theory best explained developing countuires, less significant in developed capitalist economies

Question 24

poor design for living (Mexico)

Answer 24

• individualised feel marginalised and helpless ‘fatalism’
• inability to plan for long term
• desire for immediate employment
  high rate of family breakdown
• lack of participation in social institutions

Question 25

Strengths of Lewis

Answer 25

- based on direct observation - considers the structure of poverty and encourgaes a systematic and integrated resonse

Question 26

criticisms of lewis

Answer 26

- other researchers have failed to identify a clear culture of poverty - Kempson and Joseph Roundtree foundation only found samll proportion of those on low income are part of a culture of poverty - instread barriers prevented the poor gaining employment e.g. age, skills, heath , disability (situational contraints) - dow not explain the orogin of poverty - study too specific to area - almost impossible to find generations of people living in poverty (valentine) and the subcultural constraignts associated with it

Question 27

Dependancy Culture

Answer 27

- development of cultural explanation for pov but extends analysysis much further and introduces new right critique of the US and Uk welkfare systems

Question 28

Murray

Answer 28

- New right sociologist who argued that the only plausible type of benefits is means tested benefits because its a cheaper alternative and has to involve the participation of the person applying for it e.g. searching for a job. This idea is heavily criticized as it does not take into account the struggles of the disabled and old who cannot work. - cultural, economic and welfare chnages create underclass

Question 29

Marsland

Answer 29

- new right sociologist believed that the welfare system was too generous and created a dependency culture. - He argues that the welfare system stops people from aspiring to fill jobs since its they can live a life above the absolute poverty line without doing anything. - also criticizes people for over exaggerating poverty such as the Rowntree association. - His views are heavily criticized because he is said to 'victim blame' the poor. - He is also criticized for his support of means tested benefits which actually increase poverty since people are usually worse off working in low paid jobs.