3a Flashcards
Define social inequality
unequal distribution of factors such as education or health across a population
What is the difference between quality of life and standard of living
Quality of life
the extent to which people’s needs and
desires (social, psychological or physical) are met. This can be seen in areas such as the treatment of people.
Are all people treated with equal dignity and do they have equal rights? Does everyone have reasonable access to services such as health care, education and leisure?
Standard of living – the ability to access services and goods. This includes basics such as food and water, clothes, housing and personal mobility.
What is deprivation
When quality of life and standard of living is low and a general lack of resources and opportunities
What is the poverty cycle
Quality of life in economic, physical, social and political terms
What are the ways of measuring social inequality
- Income
- Housing
- Education
- Healthcare
- Employment
How does income measure social ineqality
A measure of income inequality within a population, ranging from zero for complete equality, to one if one person has all the income.
A higher gini index means greater ineqality, with high-income individuals recieving much larger percenetages of the total income of the population
What is the index of multiple deprevation?
7 domains of deprivation - Income, Employment, Education, Health, Crime, Barriers to housing and services, Living environment.
Relative deprivation as compares each neighbourhood to others in the country. Neighbourhoods ranked against one another.
Uses:
* Compares small areas across England
* Identifies the most deprived small areas
* Explores different types of deprivation
* Compares larger areas
Cannot be used to:
* Quantify how deprived a small area is Identify deprived people Say how affluent a place is
* Compare small areas in other UK countries (eg. Wales)
* Measure real change in deprivation over time.
What is the human development index?
It is based on economic and social indicators:
* Income adjusted to take account of purchasing power in the country
* Life expectancy at birth
* Education using the adult literacy rate and the average number of years spent in school
ranges from 1 (most developed) to 0 (least developed). A high index equates to 0.8 and above; medium index from 0.5 to 0.79; and a low index is less than 0.5.
The HDI highlights the great inequalities that exist between countries in both economic and social terms.
What is GDP
Total value of goods and services produced in an country in a year
What is GNP
total economic output of a country, including earnings from foreign investments
What is GNP per capita
divides the GNP by the population of the country
What is relative poverty
When households recieve half of average household incomes.
They still have some money but not emough the afford more than the basics
State the factors which influence the relative level of social inequality between places
income
housing
healthcare
education
access to services
How does income influence the relative level of social inequality between places
How does housing measure social ineqality?
Being able to afford accommodation of an adequate standard is closely related to income.
At all scales social inequality is evident in the type and quality of housing people occupy. Housing tenure is an important indicator of social inequality. In many ACs this is achieved through borrowing money in the form of a mortgage which is normally from private landlords while others rent from a local authority (council).
How does education measure social inequality?
Formal education is provided by schools, colleges, apprenticeships and universities. Informal education can be gained from doing something in the home or workplace, for example, learning how to cook at home or watching an older brother or sister milk a cow or repair some machinery. The acquisition of skills can be underestimated if only formal qualifications are measured. This is particularly true when studying societies in EDCs and LIDCs.
Contrasts in literacy levels give an indication of inequality in education. Literacy is a measure of the ability to read and write to a basic level. Globally there are clear contrasts among countries in levels of literacy and especially in terms of gender equality
How does healthcare measure social inequality
The measure of number of doctors per 1000 people
is often used to describe health inequality between places at the global scale.
In the UK, ‘postcode lottery’. Depending on where you live, the level of medical
provision through the National Health Service varies. In part these differences may reflect the priorities of Health Care Trusts and differences in morbidity and life expectancy.
How does employment measure ineqality
Whether a household includes someone who is in receipt of regular income has a profound impact on the standard of living and quality of life.
Unemployment is the obvious measure. In ACs, it is generally the case that rural places have average incomes below those in towns and cities. In urban areas in LIDCs and EDCs millions
of people make a living by working in the informal sector of the economy. This offers a relatively easy way into employment but has drawbacks as they have to work 10 hours a day and still can only afford to live in slum settlements. Social inequality exists at all scales. It is clear that an individual’s life chances are closely related to where they live.
Why and how does pattern of spaical ineqality vary
5 reasons
- Wealth
- Housing
- Health
- Education
- Acess to services
What is spacial ineqality
There are inequalities between urban places and rural places and there are also contrasts at the intra-urban scale
Describe spatial ineqality
Contrast
north south divide
Give an example of inequality on a regional and local scale
regional:
rural urban divide
local:
london’s wealth gap (wealthiest boroughs are K&C whereas poorest are Newham)
