'Assess the reasons why some social groups are more likely than others to experience poverty.'

Written by Adil Siddiqui

Introduction
In this essay I will analyse the possible reason why certain groups may experience poverty then others.
To do this I will look at the political climate and how that may have affected certain groups experience poverty. In addition I will look at other issues race, religion, class etc. I will also be looking and other factors such s as education, home background.
I will be focusing my essay on poverty within the U.K and the possible reason s behind it but will mention poverty in other parts of the world.

Poverty
There are two type of poverty: absolute and relative.
Absolute poverty is when an individual a lacks the basic resources to maintain and adequate diet, accommodation and clothing. This is where the poverty is so apparent that there is not enough even for the basics to live off. In my view this would be probably be in countries in the 3rd world. However it does not mean that there is e not cases of absolute poverty in some western countries but the majority of poverty in these countries will tend to Relative.
Relative poverty is a type of poverty is when the individual will have the basics but not much else i.e. not any luxuries. This would therefore harm people for taking an active part in society. Through the lack of resources available to them due to the current situation they find themselves in.

Working class
The first social groups I will focus on will be the working class. It has been said that we live in classes system in this country however I this is not the case. As there is a lot of stigma attached to being from a certain background in this case working class. Since the early 1980?s there has been a lack of certain jobs from certain industries. The closure of the mines factories ship building factories and steel factories. Have all had a devastating effect on the working class. As there has been a sense of confusion and uncertainty within the working class especially men. As their role has had to be revised within their household or family. As before boys tended to l leave school early with little or no qualifications to join what their fathers did in the manual workforce. Also the fact that now in places such as Sheffield there has been an influx of the retail sector replacing the mining, steel etc. It may have lead to some men finding it hard to deal with it as this is something almost alien to them. With women in some cases being the main bread winner. This may have lead to some members of the working class to turn to drugs, alcohol or anything addiction related which may have eventually lead to poverty. As they have had no other choice and may have felt almost ashamed to learn new skills that are needed as it was not seems as being a ?man?. As there is still a lot of prejudice and discrimination in some parts of the country. Which could be another factor leading to poverty. As it seems that it could be a never ending cycle with sons following their fathers in joining the dependency culture or worse.
However as mentioned before we tend to have the majority of poverty in this country which is relative and with the help of welfare system there is a chance of rectifying this issue. I myself I think it is going to take a lot more time for this issue to be dealt with but it has improved over the last decade or so. This will take time and slowly generation by generation this issue will not be as apparent as a change like the one in the early 1980?s is bound to have an effect on a social group.

Ethnic Groups
The next group I will focus on will be ethnic groups. I will be focusing on the differences in education attainment between the various groups and how this may lead to some groups facing poverty.
Education does splay an important part in determining someone?s future and if someone is already from a lower income family it is even more important to do well in education. If we use some statistics to show where each ethnic groups is at in terms of education. This a quite gap between some ethnic groups for instance pupils from a south Asian origin could be seen as doing quite badly . As Bangladeshi and Pakistani pupils seem to be at the lower scale but on the other hand Indian pupils are at the top in all most every subject. This can be seen when both Indian boys and girls have 52% and 55% respectively in both males and females in regards to % with over 5+ gcse A-C. However overall it was the black pupils that achieved the least mount of gcse overall. Which is a huge problem as a good education can help end this cycle as this trends continues. As statistics have shown that Black and ethnic minority men make up 19% of the male prison population - between two and three times the proportion in the general population. Black and ethnic minority women make up 25% of the female prison population - over three times the proportion in the general population. Some of the people in prisoner a certain percentage may have been suffering from some form of poverty or even social exclusion which may have lead them to take part in such crimes. One of the reasons could have been the relationship between the teacher and her pupils as many sociologists have found that they have a general set of middle class values and backgrounds. This may have lead to prejudice or discrimination form teacher and lead to some ethnic groups forming an anti - school sub culture. An anti school sub culture is when some students have totally rejected the whole system of education and its principles and rules.
Other factors to consider are the lack of opportunities that may have been given to certain ethnic groups 10 - 20 years ago. As in decades before there was nit legislation allowing equal opportunities to be shown by employers, schools etc. This may have forced many to turn to crime, addiction, drugs as they had no other choice at that time. Another factor to consider would be the amount of family support or lack of it given. As traditional Asian households are quite close knitted and over 20% are extended families while the national averages is around 2%. Whereas on the other hand people in other ethnic groups there family support may not be there.
Also it is not only prejudice that is apparent in the schools even organizations like the police tend to stereotype and discriminate especially among young black men. Although it has improved considerably over the years but there is still a problem. This say have lead to many forming an anti sub culture towards the police as they themselves have had bad experience with the police which therefore may eventually lead to crime and poverty.
However things have changed in recent years and there is help available as once again I think that if some of these ethnic groups were to experience poverty to would be the latter (relative)

Conclusion
In conclusion I have only touched upon two certain groups that may experience poverty and the reasons why the may experience poverty. However I do believe there are places where there is absolute poverty but I don?t think it is that apparent anymore as it used to be. As after time things have improved for both groups but there are still some issue that need to be dealt with to help prevent them becoming a bigger problem in the near future.
As we live in a welfare state we are fortunate that some social groups plights are as bad as it could be have they were living in another country with no welfare state and a democratic elected government. For instance some ethnic groups have only been in this country for 50 years and some less so after a certain amount of time things will have improved even more so for them. The same could be said for the working class as generations are taking on new work and values that were unheard of 50- 60 years sago. This will help eradicate the issue of them falling into the cycle which would eventually lead to crime, poverty or worse.