Social Inequality Flashcards
How is poverty measured?
Households below average income (HBAI) - households with less than 60% of the median income
What is absolute poverty and how many people experienced it own 2015?
Households have less than 60% of the medium income of 2010/2011 - 12.9 million people in 2015
What is relative poverty and how many people experienced it own 2015?
Households have less than 60% of average income for that time - 13.5 million people in 2015
What was the income for houses living in relative poverty in 2017?
£16,000
What is persistent poverty and how many people experienced it own 2015?
It is when someone is currently in poverty and has been for two or three years preceding - 4.6 million people experienced persistent poverty in 2015
What fraction of families ‘don’t have a socially acceptable standard of living’ according to the guardian?
2/5
What is the poverty cycle?
The fact that the opportunities to break out of poverty are limited. Children who grow up in poverty are less likely to do well at school, less likely to get a good job and less likely for their children to be born out of poverty thus continuing the cycle.
What is the poverty trap?
It is extremely hard to get out of poverty and people in poverty tend to remain poor as the pay for part time or unskilled work is minimal, sometimes even less than benefits
How many people in the Uk are at risk of going Hungary according to a parliamentary inquiry into Hunger in the Uk?
4 million
How many food banks in the UK are operated by the Trussell Trust?
420
What is the difference between rich and poor in spending on food and beverages?
The poorest 10% spend 25% of their income of food and beverages
The richest 10% spend just 4% of their income of food and beverages
What is the minimum income threshold?
A measure which shows the minimum income to not just survive but actually participate in society (1 holiday a year, attending weddings, children participating in activities).
What is destitution and how many people experienced it in 2015 in the UK?
It is when people lack two or more essential items because they cannot afford them (food, shelter, heating, lighting, clothing, toiletries) - 1,252,000 in 2015
What groups are at the highest risk of social exclusion?
- Immigrants
- Single parents
- Lower classes
- Elderly
- Disabled
How many people cannot afford to take part in normal social activities considered necessary by the British population?
7.5million
What is the Gini Coefficient and what is the Uk, Norways’s and South Africa’s values?
It measures income inequality from 0-100. 100 would mean one person owned 100% of the income while 1 would mean everyone owned an equal amount.
In 2017 these very different countries inequality was shown:
The UK = 38
Norway = 25
South Africa = 60
What are treadmill families?
They run but don’t get anywhere because they are held back by a social mobility problem or social barriers holding the back.
What % of doctors come from working class backgrounds?
4%
It takes just one minute for the world’s top billionaire to earn…
The average yearly salary of a European
Causes of poverty for the elderly
- The state pension is only £122 a week
- The pension age is increasing
- They may never have escaped the cycle of poverty they were born into
- Many women in the 70’s and 80’s gave up work to stay at home but it has affected their pension
- Many elderly people do not claim their rightful credit (1/3 of people entitled to pensioner’s credit do not claim it)
- House prices are high and pension credit has not risen with the rise of housing costs.
Impact of poverty for the elderly?
- 1 million old people find themselves in fuel poverty
- Every year 24,000 people die due to cold weather
- Socially isolates them and can make them feel lonely
What is fuel poverty?
When a household has to pay more than 10% of disposable income to heat their house
How many children are living in poverty?
4 million
Causes of child poverty?
- Parents are unemployed (often due to not being bale to afford/find child care)
- Parents are working but underemployed or underpaid
- Inadequate social security benefits - ongoing webform reform are a major contributing factor to child poverty
What is shocking about 63% of children in poverty and what does it show?
They are from a family where someone works - shows that employment is not a route out of poverty
What children are at higher risk of being in poverty?
- Children living in households where someone is disabled have a 36% risk of experiencing poverty
- Single parent families have a 47% chance of experiencing poverty
- Households with more than two children have a 39% chance of experiencing poverty
Impact of poverty of a child’s health
- Infant mortality is 10% higher
- 3x more likely to suffer mental health problems
- more likely to suffer chronic illnesses
Impact of poverty on a child’s education
Pupils entitles to free school meals:
- Less than half achieve 5 GCSEs
- Less than half have a good level of development after their reception year
- By the age of four they hear 32 million fewer spoken words than their better-off peers
How many families can’t afford to send their children on school trips and what is the effect of this?
1 in 10 - it causes social exclusion and can isolate the child, stop them from fully participating in their education
How are the government looking to reduce/help child poverty?
- Baby box scheme - makes sure all children have a place to sleep, clothes and books to read from day 1
- School Uniform grant - makes sure all parents have the funds to buy their child good quality and well fitting uniform
- Feeding children during holidays - when free school meals stop in the holidays families can struggle, the gov’t are attempting to stop this
Causes of poverty for the working
- Being a single parent
- Cutbacks on benefits
- Many people working on the minimum wage
- Zero hour contracts
- Inflation - increasing costs for good and services
- Job insecurity (40% of those in low paid jobs are in a different job 6 months later)
How many workers live in poverty?
3.7 million
