Inequality

Question 1

Growing inequality of what resources? (6)

Answer 1

• Income
• Education
• Health
• Employment
• Housing
• Clean environment

Question 2

Capitalism and inequality

Answer 2

Competition for resources produces winners & losers.

Question 3

Intersectionality and poverty

Answer 3

Gender, age, ethnicity, location, family type, labour market participation intersect to show common themes in poverty.

Indigenous people, single mothers, low income earning, rural, those with disabilities, aged people, homeless, migrants are common features.

Question 4

What is poverty?

Answer 4

Poverty is essentially the lack of the means to live. At the heart of any consideration of poverty lies the issue of what is needed to live ‘a decent life’ and, more fundamentally, what it is to be human

Question 5

Neo-liberalism ideology and poverty

Answer 5

-Places blame on the individual (e.g. they’re lazy, don’t want to travel to find work, they’re not looking hard enough, etc).

Question 6

Societal structure, privitisation and poverty (2)

Answer 6

Defective social arrangements, such as lack of education opportunities for individuals, reinforce poverty and inequality.

Privatisation = public education and health become second best. Benfits those who are born in the position to afford it (gender, race, age dependant).

Question 7

Employment and poverty (2)

Answer 7

Cuts in employment + increase in casual and part-time work = greater vulnerability for many working-class individuals.

Rising wages for the top, while wages remain stagnant for the bottom.

Question 8

Causes of increasing income & wealth inequality (3)

Answer 8

• Tax avoidance by large corporations and political allies.
• Rising wages for the top, stagnating wages for the bottom.
• Australia has an ineffective welfare system. A huge portion of Australians under the poverty line are receiving benefits, but it is inadequate to improve quality of life.