Written by Fleur Robilliard (March 2008)
In today’s every expanding society the idea of poverty is far away from many peoples minds. When the term poverty is mentioned, people tend to think of orphaned children in Africa living in absolute poverty. However, poverty in some forms is a lot closer to home than people may think. In the UK there are according to recent figures from Oxfam around 1 in 5 people in the UK without enough money to live on.
In this essay I will demonstrates reasons as to why some social groups are more likely than others to experience poverty. I will initially define the term poverty, I will then go onto suggest reasons as to why some social groups are more likely to experience poverty than others, including the effects that ethnicity, gender and Education has on poverty.
Poverty is a term that has two parts, Absolute and relative. Absolute poverty is where there is a severe lack of resources to the extent that it is at the detriment to the individuals health, food and shelter. On the other hand Relative poverty refers to the lack of resources to participate fully in everyday living that is deemed to be normal in that society.
Social exclusion:
Social exclusion can be defined as being unable to participate fully in society politically, social and economically. As a result of this social exclusion comes discrimination and exclusion from daily activities of society which leads to the individual feeling isolated from society.
Statistics suggest that it is ethnic minorities, women, the elderly, people with disability and single parent families amongst others are those most at risk from social exclusion largely due to the fact that these groups, if unsupported have lower incomes thus, leaving them with less funds to participate in activities that would be considered normal in that society.
Charles Murray and the New Right:
Sociologist Charles Murray is a right wing sociologists who is against the idea of provision of welfare by the state to citizens particularly those who are long term unemployed but who “unwilling to take jobs that are unavailable”. Murray goes on to suggest that the primary cause of this is due to illegitimacy rates which Murray suggests is to be greater in the lower classes.
Murray suggested that it is the individuals lifestyles that cause poverty in the UK’s underclass’s is due partly to the individuals spending habits of the alleged “underclass.” The New Right approach suggests that individuals need to spend the limited resources that they do have more carefully in an attempt to improve their financial situation so that they do not require welfare provided by the state. For example spending money on cigarettes could be spent better elsewhere in order to improve the financial situation despite the fact that it is arguably larger numbers of the lower class‘s who do smoke and whose health suffers as a result.
The new right also proposes that the Concept of William Beveridges welfare or “nanny state” is partly to blame for the existence of poverty. The new Right movement argues that individuals become too comfortable on the benefits that are provided by the state, this causes them to loose motivation to go out and thus become more dependant on state provision.
The New Right goes further to suggest that the existence of the welfare state has meant that when in need citizens immediately uses this state provision to help rather than turning to other friends and family members in the first instance, They go on argue that the provision of welfare by the state should be means tested and take into account all other viable methods of help that could be provided by sources other than the state, this is also more likely to ensure that the individual will go out and get a job rather than to depend on their family for support.
A loss of morality within society is another reason that the New Right suggests to have been the cause of an increase in levels of poverty. As Murray outlined, illegitimacy was citied as one of the main problems that cause poverty in society, the idea of single parent families and divorce goes hand in hand with such a view. It has been argued that today’s society promotes divorce and separation within families which has lead to a “dependency culture” on the state as opposed to the family unit. The New Right perceives the solution to be centred around the promotion of moral practices and family values in this increasingly liberal society, this is supported by the fact that single parent families are often those that are among those on low incomes.
The Socio democrattic approach to poverty:
In contrast to Charles Murray’s and the New Rights views on the causes of poverty, the socio democratic approach points to an unfair distribution of power and wealth in society as the cause of poverty in society under the broader problem of economic stability,
The model suggests that low wages are to blame for poverty, If an individual on a low income was out of work for a period of time they would as a result be less able to deal with the financial and social effects of unemployment. This is something would therefore effect life chances and in the long term lead to the concept of social exclusion and a loss of participation in society.
Poverty has been proven to be a very difficult cycle to break due to the low income that comes with it. The individual has less money and becomes less able to afford to participate in society which limits how they live thier lives, who they can afford to associate with and even where they live. IN the long run it causes a build up of pressure which can even be linked to stress related illness which is detrimental to their health. All the time, the individual is remaining on a low income and a it is becoming increasingly difficult to get out of poverty.
Ethnicity, Education and Gender:
It is not just the idea of a loss of morality and an unfair distribution of wealth and power in society. It can be argued that factors such as gender, age and ethnicity also play a part.
Social exclusion is an idea that has a close link with poverty, the ability to participate in society fully is not only dependant on income. The ethnicity is something that is very much dependent on inclusion in society if it effects the extent to which they can become involved, For example in order to be able to become involved in society, being able to speak the native language and being literate is an important factor to successfully be involved and communicate with peers. Roach and Morrison 1998 researched the relationship between public library use and availability of the afro Caribbean minority ethnic group citizenship rights. They concluded that libraries were a vital part of community participation and that they are vital to effective integration in society. However, if there is a lack of access to these libraries or indeed that the individuals are illiterate this integration and social inclusion cannot occur.
Education is another key factor to be considered when thinking about the reasons why some social groups are more likely than others to experience poverty than others. Educational performance is important due to the effect that it has on future employment and income, Poor performance and a lack of higher education increases the chance of future lower income jobs and can of course lead potentially to poverty and social exclusion.
Exam performance however, can be greatly influenced by the attitudes held by teachers towards the students, It has been argued by sociologists that suggest that teachers label students, be it “bright” or “slow”, they have argued that students who become aware of teachers expectations are likely to perform in line with these views (a Self Fulfilling Prophecy.) This can be added to any biases that teachers may have which may further marginalize individuals from the class.
If these attitudes prove to effect students in a bad way, this can impact their education. Poor exam performance can lead to lower level jobs, with a subsequent lower income. This therefore effects their standard of living and there lifestyle and above all their life chances.
This argument suggests that poverty can also be experienced by some groups more than others due social exclusion and factors such as Ethnicity, Gender and Education.
Discrimination:
Discrimination seems to be the underlying theme in some of the reasons for Social exclusion as a result of poverty to occur in the UK, The idea that disabled people will be less able to get a higher income job due to lack of access or somebody being unable to get a higher paid job due to discrimination by their potential employer on grounds of their ethnicity are all forms of discrimination that could lead to social exclusion and poverty.
However, there are certain regulations in place in an attempt to protect individuals from such discrimination that could lead to poverty at the detriment of their life chances, The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) was put in place to protect citizens from such discrimination, when it was amended in 2005 it only served to further extend disabled peoples rights further into the work place providing guidelines on Education, Employment whilst setting guidelines so that disabled people can use public transport easily.
The Equal Pay Act 1970 is also in place in an attempt to ensure equality between men and women in the workplace bye ensuring that men and women are men are paid the same for equal work of equal value. This ensures that individuals are protected in the workplace when they are employed to ensure that they are paid fairly and hopefully ensuring that they stay out of poverty.
Discrimination on the basis of ethnicity is also protected by the Commission for racial equality and the Race Relations Act which makes it illegal to discriminate against individuals on racial grounds in areas or employment, pay and housing amongst other things such as membership of organisations.
This demonstrates how the Equal Pay Act, The Disability Discrimination Act and the Race Relations Acts are in place to protect the needs of its citizens whilst inadvertently protecting them from social exclusion and poverty.
From these arguments, it is possible to concluded that some social groups are more likely to experience poverty than others due to a number of reasons primarily focuses around life choices that the individual makes despite contrasting views that suggest that inequality in society is to blame for poverty and indeed social exclusion in the UK. It is also important to remember when considering the idea of poverty about the effects that education, health and gender can have on the likelihood of the individual experiencing poverty later on in life and the measures in place that are there to protect them.
Bibliography:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001068
http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/legislation/equal_pay_act.htm
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.poverty.org.uk/
AS Citizenship - Holden-Rowley and Blewitt - Hodder 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1207241.stm
https://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/2059.asp
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/ukpoverty/index.html
http://www.lawsblog.co.uk