Distribution Of Poverty, Wealth And Income Flashcards
Disposable income
Income after paying tax
Discretionary income
What is left after tax, bills, food and travel costs
Attempts to redistribute wealth
Attempts to redistribute wealth
The government have introduced various measures over the years to tackle the inequalities in life chances and redistribute wealth and income more equally. These include:
Inheritance tax : tax payable on money inherited when a relative dies
Capital gains tax- intended to reduce profits from dealing in property and shares and is payable when these are sold
• Income tax - Payable on both earned and unearned income and it increase your wages increase
Percentages of poverty
The distribution and extent of poverty in the UK - social groups
14.6 million People living in poverty in the UK, socio economic factors shape your experience of poverty.
• 33.6% of all children live in poverty
• 50% of those in poverty are on low incomes or without a job
• 16% of pensioners are in poverty
• 46% of lone parents are in poverty
• Your ethnic background can increase your likelihood of being in poverty - 65% of Bangladeshis are in Poverty compared to 45% Black African and 25% Indians.
Those who are disabled make up 28%of those in poverty
Ken way and palmer
Number 1 - Ethnicity and Poverty
Kenway and Plamer (2006) found that people from MG on average are much more likely to be in poverty than white British people. Almost half of children from EMG live in low income homes compared to ¼ of white British children. However, there are substantial differences between different ethnic groups; Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Chinese are more likely to live in poverty than white people. There are a number of reasons for this:
Factors of poverty
- Low pay - This may be a large factor in Pakistani and Bangladeshi households where only the male works and the women do not. This could be due to the practice of purdah, women are kept separately from men.
.2. Unemployment - this is higher amongst Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Black Africans and
Black Caribbean’s
- Family types - Pakistanis and Bangladeshis tend to have large families and combined with low pay this increases chances of being in poverty. In both Black African and Black Caribbean families there are more lone parents according to Modood. He also suggested that South Asian families are more likely to be traditional with only men working.
- Underachievement in education - Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Caribbean boys are more likely to underachieve at school - this could be due to an ethnocentric curriculum ( when the curriculum only focuses on the culture and history of the white majority) - according to Ball.
- Racism in employment - means that some cannot get jobs due to their background- Wood found this in is research into discrimination in employment; he sent two applications with the same qualifications but different surnames, Evans and Patel, he found he got invited to more interviews with the surname Evans highlighting discrimination in the selection process.
Davis and Moore
Davis and Moore (1967) argue that inequalities in wealth and income and values are needed to maintain society. They argue:
bind society Some positions in society are more functionally important fogether than others in maintaining society. These require specialist skills that not everyone in society has the ability to acquire.
Those who do have the ability to do these jobs must be motivated and encouraged to undertake the lengthy training with the promise if a future reward of high wages. There must be a system of unequal rewards to make sure the most able people get the highest positions.
Gans
Gans (1973) argues that the existence of poverty has important functions for the stabin of society. This is because:
- The existence of poverty makes sure that the most undesirable, dirty and dangerous jobs are done as people do these as they have no choice.
- Poverty creates job occupations; such as social workers, debt advisors etc.
- The threat of poverty keeps people working even if for low rewards, it also reinforces values of a hard-honest days’ work.
- Some sectors thrive on having a high number of people in these low paid roles e.g. the health service and clothing industry.
Weber
Weber (1864-1920) was a social action theorist, he believed that inequalities in wealth and income exist due to the different market situations of individuals - the different skills a person has and how much that is worth; if it is a rare or needed skill it will be worth more.
Some people have skills, talents and abilities that are in demand such as scientists or doctors. Some people get rewards for other talents such as football or being able to entertain others through singing or acting. In our celeb-based society these celebs get high rewards for their skills.
Poverty arises when a person is in a weak market situation - they may lack the skills needed to earn the reward of pay or may have barriers that stop them acquiring those skills.
Milliband and Westerguard and resler
Milliband and Westerguard and Resler
Marxist explanations like those adopted by Miliband (1974) and Westerguard and Reser
(1976) suggest that wealth and income inequality and the existence of poverty lies in the private ownership of the means of production - key resources like land, factories and business which are needed to produce goods for society.
The concentration of ownership means that all of this is owned by a small number of the upper class (bourgeoisie) - this makes them a lot of unearned income.
Key Marxist arguements
Key Marxist arguments:
• Wealth and income is concentrated in the hands of the ruling class and this creates inequality
• Poverty is inevitable in a capitalist society
• The working class keep the inequality going by working for the ruling class through cheap labour
• The existence of non-working poor keeps wages down as there are always new workers looking for low paid jobs
• Poverty divides the working class into us and them and helps maintain a false class conciseness.
