Poverty and social exclusion

Overview

Absolute poverty, relative poverty and consensual measure of poverty.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define absolute poverty.

   Model answer

   A condition in which a person lacks the resources for the basic necessities of physical survival.

2. 2

   Define relative poverty.

   Model answer

   A condition in which a person's resources fall so far below the standard of their society that they cannot take part in its ordinary way of life.

3. 3

   Which measure of poverty is most commonly used in Britain, and why?

   Model answer

   Relative poverty, because in a wealthy society exclusion from the normal standard of living is the meaningful deprivation.

4. 4

   How is the standard relative low-income threshold defined?

   Model answer

   As a household income below sixty per cent of the median income for the year, adjusted for household size.

5. 5

   What did Townsend add to the measurement of poverty?

   Model answer

   He measured deprivation directly, by whether households could afford items and activities regarded as normal in their society, rather than by income alone.

6. 6

   What is a consensual measure of poverty?

   Model answer

   One in which the public is asked which items are necessities, and poverty is defined as lacking several of them because they cannot be afforded.

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