Poverty and deprivation

Overview

Absolute and relative poverty, Rowntree, Townsend's relative deprivation and its critics, groups prone to poverty, the culture of poverty, Murray's underclass, social exclusion and globalisation.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is absolute poverty?

   Model answer

   Absolute poverty is lacking the minimum needed for physical survival, such as adequate food, shelter and clothing. Seebohm Rowntree measured poverty in this way in York, publishing his findings in 1901.

2. 2

   What is relative poverty, and how is it measured officially in the UK?

   Model answer

   Relative poverty means having too little to reach the living standards normal in one's society. The UK government counts households below 60 per cent of median income as in relative poverty.

3. 3

   Who was Peter Townsend, and what did he publish in 1979?

   Model answer

   Peter Townsend was a British social democratic sociologist who helped found the Child Poverty Action Group in 1965. Townsend's Poverty in the United Kingdom appeared in 1979.

4. 4

   What did Townsend mean by relative deprivation?

   Model answer

   Townsend argued people are deprived when they cannot afford the diet, activities and amenities customary in their society. Poverty is exclusion from ordinary living patterns, not bare survival.

5. 5

   How did Townsend measure deprivation?

   Model answer

   Townsend surveyed over 2,000 households using a deprivation index of twelve items. Items included having had no week's holiday away in the past year and having no fridge.

6. 6

   Give one criticism of Townsend's deprivation index.

   Model answer

   David Piachaud argued in 1981 that the items reflected choice as much as poverty. A vegetarian who never has a Sunday joint is not deprived.

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