PATTERNS & TRENDS Flashcards
What trends can be identified in income distribution? (I)
There was a slight narrowing of income inequalities, but during the 1980s, inequalities in income rose sharply.
What are the four forms of wealth defined by the ONS? (W)
- Property Wealth.
- Physical Wealth.
- Financial Wealth.
- Private Pension Wealth.
What did the 2012 annual Sunday Times Rich List suggest about wealth in the UK? (W)
The richest 200 families had between them total wealth averaging £225 billion.
Give two problems with measuring wealth. (W)
- Calculating the value of assets is difficult.
- Obtaining data about wealth is not easy.
How much of the wealth in the UK belongs to the poorest 50%?
Have only 10% of the wealth of the UK between them.
What does research from Atkinson reveal about social class and wealth?
Reveals an increasing proportion of national income now comes from inherited wealth.
What is absolute poverty?
A lack of basic essentials needed to survive physically; these include adequate food, clothing, housing and fuel.
What is relative poverty?
Judging whether a person’s income is so far below that expected by the majority of people in society that they are excluded from a normal lifestyle.
What does the HBAI define low income as being?
Below 60% of the median.
What did the Trussell Trust suggest about food poverty in 2014?
4.7 million people were in food poverty.
What are the two ways that sociologists measure social mobility? (SM)
- Intergenerational mobility - mobility between generations.
- Intragenerational mobility - movement between classes by an individual during their working life.
What is an open society?
And what is a closed society?
Open: great deal of social mobility.
Closed: little or no social mobility.
Give two problems of researching social mobility.
- Studying the mobility of women. E.g. Goldthorpe focused only on male heads of households.
- Classifying occupations. Sociologists do not agree on how people should be classified by occupation.
What did Goldthorpes Oxford Mobility Study show about the period after WW2?
There had been considerable upward mobility. One possible explanation for this was the introduction of free secondary education after 1944.
Who did Goldthorpe study in the Oxford Mobility Study?
10,000 men.
What Saunders’ state in criticism of the Oxford Mobility Study?
Argued that we should focus on absolute rather than relative mobility rates.
What does feminists Stanworth and Abbott argue about the Oxford Mobility Study?
Criticised its focus only on men.
Goldthorpe argued that there was no need to research women as in most households men were the main wage-earners.
What does Savage and Egerton’s NCDS study show about social mobility in Britain?
The study was based on the class that people had reached by 1991. Unliked the OMS, it included the mobility of women.
What does research Wilkinson and Pickett demonstrate about countries with the highest levels of income inequality?
Also have the lowest levels of social mobility.
What did the bsa state about identification with class?
60% considered themselves ‘working-class’ while 40% considered themselves ‘middle-class’.
What did the SMC state about class inequality in work and employment?
Even when people from disadvantaged backgrounds land a professional job, they earn 17% less than their privileged colleagues.
How much less were individuals who were on free school meals paid after graduation in comparison to those who were not?
Five years after graduating, students who were eligible for free school meals were paid 11.5% less than their peers.
What did the SMC find about social mobility since 2014?
Social mobility has remained virtually stagnant since 2014.
