Outline the evidence that individuals in the contemporary UK experience different life chances

Question 1

1.1

Answer 1

The Acheson Report (1998) found that, among professionals, 17% (men) and 25% (women) reported a long-standing illness. Among unskilled workers, the figures were 48% (men) and 45% (women).

Question 2

1.2

Answer 2

Life expectancy at birth has increased over the past 30 years among all social classes, but the greater gains have been made by the middle classes. Between 1972-76 and 1992-96 the life expectancy gap between professionals and unskilled manual males widened from 5.5 years to 9.5 years, before narrowing again to 7.4 years in 1997-99.

Question 3

1.3

Answer 3

Unskilled manual workers are twice as likely to die before men in the professional classes.
Infant mortality rate (live births who die before the age of one) is doubled in the working classes in comparison to the middle classes

Question 4

2.1

Answer 4

Poorer people are also the most likely to become the victims of crime. The Acheson Report notes that, in 1995, 4% of affluent suburban families were burgled, compared with 10% of families living in council and low income estates

Question 5

2.2

Answer 5

Approximately 80-90% of offenders found guilty or cautioned are male and consequently, male crime generally outnumbers female crime by a ratio of approximately 5 to 1. At least one-third of men are likely to be convicted for a criminal offence compared with only 8 per cent of women.

Question 6

2.3

Answer 6

Prison statistics show an over-representation of African-Caribbean men and women in prison, i.e. approximately one tenth of male prisoners and one-fifth of the female prisoners in UK prisons are African-Caribbean yet this ethnic minority group only makes up 2.2% of the population. Black people are also more likely to be ‘stopped and searched’ than other groups.

Question 7

3

Answer 7

• Unskilled workers are four times more likely than professionals to commit suicide.
• Surveys show that, within a country, richer people are happier than those on lower incomes (Donovan and Halpern, 2002).
• An increase in personal income brings higher levels of satisfaction. However, the overall levels of happiness in the UK have not altered much over the last 30 years, even though the country has become much wealthier. This may be because high levels of inequality are associated with low levels of satisfaction.