Does Poverty Exist in the Uk?

Does distress Exist in the Uk?Does need exist in contemporary Britain?The answer to this question depends to a large extent on how beggary is defined and amount of moneyd. It is, like numerous sociological issues, an essentially oppose concept and as such, there has been much debate around what merely establishs pauperization. all the same, even accepting that want itself de nones different things to different good deal, it can quiet down be argued that poverty or indeed poverties are a veritable enigma in Britain today which need to be addressed by government and society in order to optimise equality in our society.How should we define poverty? It is useful firstly to refer to most wide apply definitions. Charles Booth writing in 1889 was one of the first to search the area of poverty when he published a elaborate cover that one third of Londoners were alive in dire poverty. By poverty he was referring to a deprivation of basic requirements to sustain a physic ally hefty existence and sufficient food and shelter to make assertable the physically efficient functioning of the body (cited in Giddens, 2001, p236). This is referred to as subsistence poverty- literally not having the means to survive. Benjamin Rowntree referred to primary poverty and secondary poverty. By primary poverty he meant those who were unable to afford a basketball hoop of necessities for merely physical efficiency. Secondary poverty referred to those who had more income than those active in primary poverty but who st calamity fall behinded poverty lifestyles. (cited Flaherty et al 2004, p16)An other(a) widely quoted definition of poverty is Townsends. In 1979 he stated,Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities and form the living conditions and comforts which are customary, or are at least widely treasure or approved, societies to whic h they belong. Their resources are so seriously below those commanded by the sightly individual or family that they are in effect, excluded from ordinary living patterns, usage and activities (cited Flaherty et al, 2004, p17).Whilst the World Bank described poverty as the inability to enter upon a minimal standard of living, the UN defines poverty as followsPoverty has various manifestations including lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods hunger and malnutrition ill health limited or lack of access to education and other basic services increased morbidity and mortality from illness homelessness and wretched housing unsafe environments and favorable discrimination and exclusion. It is to a fault characterised by lack of participation in decision making and in civil, loving and ethnical life. It occurs in all countries as mass poverty in some developing countries, pockets of poverty amidst wealth in developed countries, loss of livelihoods as a result of economic recession, sudden poverty as a result of disaster or conflict, the poverty y of low-wage fermenters, and the utter mendicancy of people who fall outside family support systems, institutions and safety nets (Flaherty et al 2004, p13).From this locate of definitions can be seen the release amid absolute and copulation poverty. positive poverty is based on the notion of subsistence which in itself is defined as the minimum amount needed to sustain life. As Alcock points out however, it is a contradiction to say someone is living below subsistence levels because, how can those without generous to live on, live? (1997, p68) The answer of course is that they do not- or at least not for very long. In contrast relative poverty is, in Alcocks words, a more subjective or social standard (1997, p69). This is the poverty which Townsend refers to where poverty and deprivation are judged in the stage setting of the society in which an individual lives. Townsend also looked at poverty in considerations of how it affected an individuals ability to engage in social activities. From this the notion of social exclusion was developed and definitions of poverty broadened to allow various types of deprivation.Townsend developed a deprivation index based on items which he saw as necessary to the whole of society and apply these along with income levels to measure deprivation. However, there are some problematicies with this approach. For ex goodly as Baldock et al point out, where one of the deprivation indicators was not eating cooked meals, some people may prefer to eat salads and sandwiches from choice. (Baldock et al 2003, p119) Therefore it is difficult to differentiate where in some instances people may choose to be without what Townsend considered to be a necessity. Mack and Lansley further developed Townsends belong by coming up with a consensual approach outmatch poverty. They asked respondents what they considered as necessities and fro m this feedback they measured poverty which they defined crucially as an enforce lack of socially perceived necessities (cited in Baldock et al p119). By referring to socially perceived necessities they avoided having to make judgements on what constituted necessities.The difficulties with subsistence approaches to poverty is that it is inevitable that at some point an arbitrary decision will have to be made about what exactly is needed for subsistence. On the other hand, the problem with the relative measure of poverty is that where a society may have a small section of extremely wealthy people, the level of what is considered to be poverty relatively may be artificially high.For our purposes, it is easier to work with Sens assertion that if there is starvation and hunger then, no matter what the relative picture looks like there clearly is poverty (cited Flaherty et al 2004, p17).However it is measured, it is clear that poverty exists and is even becoming a more vivid problem in contemporary Britain. Flaherty et al cite statistics which reveal that between 1979 and 2001/2 the weighs of people living in households with below 60% of the median income later housing costs rose from 7.1 million to 12.5 million, that is, from 13% of the population to 22% of the population (2004, p31). Nearly a third of children in the UK live in poverty and this figure is even higher in Northern Ireland. In March 2003, 7.6 million British people were living on the safety net of benefits of income support or the dividing lineseekers allowance. By the mid nineties, Britains child poverty rates were third solo to the USA and Russia (2004, p69).The measure used to determine poverty by the British government is based on the Household Below Average Income Statistics. The HBAI looks at data along a number of income thresholds. The 60% of median income after housing costs, adjusted for family size, is a measurement tool used as a proxy for income poverty. As Flaherty et al state, it is an explicitly relative measure which looks at how people at the bottom of the income distribution have fared in relation to the median (2004, p31). As well as being used by the British government, it is also the headline indicator used by the European union to determine those who are at risk of poverty.Although the poverty we refer to here is largely to do with income and having the basic necessities in life- the term poverty is also used to describe people who are absentminded out on elements of social life which may be considered classic by others. For lawsuit, cultural poverty or educational poverty. Whilst education is accepted as a basic human right, not having an education does not necessarily mean that a person cannot live a healthy and happy life, whereas not having food and warmth does. These poverties might be more aptly described in price of social exclusion. Blakemore highlights the differences between social exclusion and poverty. Firstly, social exclusion focu ses on relationships to society rather than veridical resources. Secondly social exclusion normally refers to exclusion from educational opportunities or from the labour market. Thirdly, remedies for social exclusion are different than those for poverty (2003, p85)What bod of people are at risk from poverty? Whilst it would seem immanent to assume that unemployed people would be most at risk, this is not the case. Bilton et al (2002) outline which groups o people are more liable(predicate) to suffer poverty and assert, it is people in low-paid, insecure work who constitute the bulk of those below the income poverty line. The second largest group of people apt(predicate) to suffer poverty are the elderly. because life expectancy has increased, earlier seclusion has become more common and state pensions have reduced in real terms, the elderly comprise an ever larger section of the poor. poor life chances continue through old age. Another group at risk are lone parent families a nd although less common, large families. In addition those who are sick or disabled are also more conquerable to poverty(Bilton et al 2002, pp78-79). Millar argued in 1993 that three factors have contributed to the egress of poverty a significant level of un traffic the increase in low-paid work the growth of precarious or flexible employment (cited Bilton, 2002, p79). Such employment patterns tend to optimise profit and boost the economy but the downside is that vulnerable workers especially in unskilled occupations, are lacking in job security and all the benefits that brings.Another question which must be asked is whether it is doable to escape poverty. This depends on social mobility which Giddens defines as the movements of individuals and groups between different socio-economic positions (2001, p229). The express seems to suggest that whilst those most at risk of poverty may be liable(predicate) to always be vulnerable to extreme poverty, many people suffer regular period s of unforesightful-term poverty. As Jenkins et al state, from a energizing perspective, one may distinguish three groups the persistently poor, the recurrently poor, and the temporarily poor (cited Flaherty et al 2004, p47) Jenkins et als studies over a number of years (1991-1999) found that a pattern emerged of one of relatively short poverty spells for the majority, but relatively long spells for a significant minority. For many people life events can be the push factor in or out of poverty. For example exit from family poverty is most likely to come through finding paid work whilst a mixed bag in household composition is more likely to assist a lone parents familys exit from poverty. (Flaherty et al 2004, p48)In conclusion, the evidence is ample to show that poverty is a very real problem in Britain today whether it is measured in relative or absolute terms or whether it is conceptualised along lines of deprivation or exclusion. What is perhaps most worrisome is that as a so ciety, Britain is becoming more unequal than ever before. For example between 1979 and 1995, whilst the incomes of the richest ten percent of the population rose by 60%, the incomes of the poorest tenth fell by 8% (Hills 1995, cited Baldock et al 2003, p121). This was still the case in the late 1990s when, according to Gordon et al, the disposable incomes of the poorest and richest groups were still edging unconnected (cited Blakemore, 2003, p78). Those who are most likely to experience a reduction in income levels include ethnic minorities and women. Children are also more likely to suffer the worst effects of poverty. In 1999, Blair promised to end child poverty in a generation. It remains to be seen whether this will be achieved although with a mandate for a third term, it can only be hoped that important work already carried out to tackle child poverty will be consolidated. Some policy changes have already begun to make a difference in child poverty but poverty as a whole is still an issue which needs more time and resources attached to it if poverty is to be eradicated.ReferencesAlcock P, (1997)Understanding Poverty 2nd Edition Basingstoke PalgraveBaldock J, Manning N, Vickerstaff S (2003) Social Policy London Oxford University PressBilton T, Bonnett K, Jones P, Lawson T, Skinner D, Stanworth M, Webster A, (2002) Introductory Sociology quaternary Ed Basingstoke Palgrave MacmillanBlakemore K, (2003) Social Policy an introduction Buckinghamshire Oxford University PressFlaherty J, Veit-Wilson J, Dornan P (2004) Poverty the facts 5th Edition London Child Poverty Action separateGiddens A, (2001) Sociology Cambridge Polity Press