Social Inequality Flashcards
1
Q
How is poverty measured?
A
Households below average income (HBAI) - households with less than 60% of the median income
2
Q
What is absolute poverty and how many people experienced it own 2015?
A
Households have less than 60% of the medium income of 2010/2011 - 12.9 million people in 2015
3
Q
What is relative poverty and how many people experienced it own 2015?
A
Households have less than 60% of average income for that time - 13.5 million people in 2015
4
Q
What was the income for houses living in relative poverty in 2017?
A
£16,000
5
Q
What is persistent poverty and how many people experienced it own 2015?
A
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
6
Q
What fraction of families ‘don’t have a socially acceptable standard of living’ according to the guardian?
A
2/5
7
Q
What is the poverty cycle?
A
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.
8
Q
What is the poverty trap?
A
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
9
Q
How many people in the Uk are at risk of going Hungary according to a parliamentary inquiry into Hunger in the Uk?
A
4 million
10
Q
How many food banks in the UK are operated by the Trussell Trust?
A
420
11
Q
What is the difference between rich and poor in spending on food and beverages?
A
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
12
Q
What is the minimum income threshold?
A
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).
13
Q
What is destitution and how many people experienced it in 2015 in the UK?
A
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
14
Q
What groups are at the highest risk of social exclusion?
A
- Immigrants
- Single parents
- Lower classes
- Elderly
- Disabled
15
Q
How many people cannot afford to take part in normal social activities considered necessary by the British population?
A
7.5million
16
Q
What is the Gini Coefficient and what is the Uk, Norways’s and South Africa’s values?
A
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
17
Q
What are treadmill families?
A
They run but don’t get anywhere because they are held back by a social mobility problem or social barriers holding the back.
18
Q
What % of doctors come from working class backgrounds?
A
4%
19
Q
It takes just one minute for the world’s top billionaire to earn…
A
The average yearly salary of a European
20
Q
Causes of poverty for the elderly
A
- 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.
21
Q
Impact of poverty for the elderly?
A
- 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
22
Q
What is fuel poverty?
A
When a household has to pay more than 10% of disposable income to heat their house
23
Q
How many children are living in poverty?
A
4 million
24
Q
Causes of child poverty?
A
- 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
25
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
26
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
27
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
28
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
29
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
30
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
31
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)
32
How many workers live in poverty?
3.7 million
33
How many people were employed on zero hour contracts in 2018 and what do 1/3 of them want?
883,000 - more hours
34
What is the impact of poverty on the working?
- Stress and ill health
- Social isolation
- relationship distress (workers in poverty are more likely to separate)
- Cannot buy their own home
- Cannot pay into pension
35
What are the 5 giants and what so they aim to do?
- Want - Poverty
- Ignorance - Education
- Disease - Health
- Squalor - Housing
- Idleness - Unemployment
They were created after WW2 as part of the Welfare State to provide service from cradle to grave to tackle all of these giants
36
What do the Conservatives believe about the cradle to grave system and what kind of view is this?
They believe it creates and nanny state and a dependancy culture - it is the individuals responsibly to secure a decent quality of life - this is an individualist view
37
What do Labour believe about the cradle to grave system and what kind of view is this?
They believe that the state has a responsibility to provide for the weakest in society - we should all pay national insurance in order to fund this - this is a collectivist view
38
How much does the government spend on welfare each year?
£264billion
39
How much of the welfare budget goes to pensions?
46%
40
What kind of benefits exist to help those in need?
- Child benefit
- Housing benefit
- Winter Fuel Payment
- Cold weather Payment
- Universal Credit
41
What are some cons of Universal credit
- huge delays in claiming it and between changing from old benefits
- housing money doesn't go straight to landlord - can cause rent problems
- claiming done online - confusing process for old people especially
- too much responsibility on claimants
42
What did New Labour do to build a welfare state of the 21st century?
- Invested a record amount of money in the NHS
- Set goals to half child poverty
- Allowed tenants to buy homes previously owned by the council
- Introduced a national minimum wage
- (Jeremy wants to increase minimum wage to £10)
43
What is the National Minimum Wage and what has been its positive effects?
- Introduced by Labour in 1998
- £7.38
- single most successful government policy
- affects 1 million worker directly
- Reduces the gender inequality gap and the gap between BAME and white workers
44
What is the National Living Wage and what has been its positive effects?
- "the only wage based on what people need to live" not survive
- Conservative policy in 2016
- OPTIONAL - not law
- £8.75 (£10.20 in London)
- Immediate pay rise for 1.8 million workers
45
What is Welfare Revolution?
In 2010 the Conservatives took power in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and were re-elected in 2015. During this time they made major changes to the benefits system called the 'Welfare Revolution'
46
How much did the government announce they needed to save in public spending by 2015?
£81billion
47
Who was the work and pensions secretary from 2010-2016 and what was his motto?
Duncan Smith - 'make work pay'
48
What was George Osbourne's slogan for the Welfare Revolution?
'Strivers not skivers'
49
What was different about benefits from 1979 and what did David Cameron think about this?
Sending was 3 times higher and Cameron believed it needed to be Brough back under control and reduce the dependancy culture and encourage a work ethos
50
What 5 policies were introduced in the 2012 Welfare Reform Act?
- Changes to Housing Benefit - 'Bedroom Tax'
- Introduction Universal Credit
- Personal Independence Payment (Payment for people with illness or disability) + Work Capability Assessment (Interveiw with independent health professional to see if you're entilted to PIP to reduce number of claimants)
- Individual Benefits Cap - capped at £26,000 to make sure work always paid more
- The Work Programme - Requires those unemployed for more than a year to enrol on a program to get a long term job
51
PROS of The Benefits Cap
- Clear incentive to move into a job
- No one on benefits should earn more than a hard worker
- Will save the treasury £100million a year
- Work is the best route out of poverty, benefits keeps you trapped
- Child care is being provided to help parents find work
52
CONS of The Benefits Cap
- Families will be losing up to £100 a week
- The cap could drive people into poverty if they can't find work
- The £100million saved is only a tiny fraction of the £12billion cuts to welfare spending
- Won't prompt people into work but instead to downsize homes and cut on heating and food bills
53
What was the Scottish Government's response to social inequality?
- Committed £3billion to building 50,000 affordable homes
- £45 million set aside for the Attainment Scotland Fund to help children from poorer backgrounds perform better at school
- 20% of university entrants will come from the most deprived 20% of society by 2030
- Maintaining free tuition
54
What is the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016?
Aims to cut welfare spending by £12billion by 2020
55
What are the features of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016?
- No longer targets for child poverty reduction
- Benefits cap reduced to £20,000
- Entitlement to housing benefit will be reduced
- Universal Credit claimants must be actively seeking work
56
Who is Tim Farron and what did he say about the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016?
Liberal Democrat Leader - "Not just morally wrong, economically wrong"
57
Who is Stephen Timms and what did he say about the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016?
Shadow work and pensions secretary - "The Conservative party manifesto promised it would 'work to eliminate child poverty'. It is now absolutely clear they didn't mean it."
58
What is a collectivist's view on health inequality?
- Inequality is largely due to poverty
| - Solution must be to tackle social and economic effects of social exclusion
59
What is a individualist's view on health inequality?
- Inequality is due to poor choices made by individuals which affect their health
- Solution is to educate better on lifestyle choices and if necessary use legal measures to discourage poor choices
60
What did the 2008 WHO report find out about life expectancy in Glasgow?
There is a 28 year gap in life expectancy between different neighbourhoods of Glasgow
61
What is the difference between the most and least deprived people in Scotland and their life expectancy?
The average person from the most deprived tenth of Scots dies aged 73
The average person from the least deprived tenth of Scots dies aged 83
62
People from the most deprived areas are more than twice as likely to report what?
Mental health problems
63
How many people cannot afford to keep their homes adequately heated and what does this lead to?
9.5 million, damp and mould causing respiratory diseases and even depression
64
What is the Biology of Poverty?
Lack of control in life = poor health = lower life expectancy
Being brought up in a chaotic environment (Parents with drink or drug issues, neglect, poor housing, aggressive parenting) can impact on health for their whole life.
Being neglected from ages 1-3 can change your brain forever
65
What is the Glasgow effect?
When compared to other cities of the same poverty and deprivation rates Glasgow still had lower life expectancy.
It had more than twice the death rate for alcohol and drug related deaths than Manchester and Liverpool
66
DRUGS AND ALCOHOL - What percentage of drug deaths occur in Glasgow and why does this show a link between poor health and deprivation?
30% - Glasgow has the highest poverty levels and the most drug deaths
67
DRUGS AND ALCOHOL -What is the link between alcohol and poverty?
People from deprived areas are 40% more likely to buy alcohol than those from affluent areas
68
SMOKING - What % of pregnant women in deprived areas smoke?
26%
69
SMOKING - What % of unemployed people smoke?
46%
70
SMOKING - Where in Scotland has the highest smoking and Lund cancer rates?
Glasgow
71
OBESITY - What percentage of adults are obese in Scotland?
29%
72
OBESITY - How many people die each year in Scotland due to obesity?
3400
73
OBESITY - What Is the link between obesity and social deprivation?
- People in social class AB have the lowest obesity levels
| - Children classified as obese were twice as likely to be from an area of deprivation
74
SMOKING - A child born in a more socially deprived area of Scotland is more likely to...
- Be growing up around smokers
- Be born into a family that smokes
- Have a mother who smoked during her pregnancy
- Be more likely to smoke themselves thus continuing the cycle
75
What are three main factor affecting health and examples?
- Age (750,000 people in UK with dementia)
- Gender (Women have a longer life expectancy)
- Ethnicity (Chinese people have a lower than average risk of heart disease while Pakistanis have a high risk)
76
What are the main government solutions to SMOKING?
- "Take it right outside" campaign
- Smoke free Scotland by 2034
- Ended the open display of tobacco in 2010
77
What were the results of Scotland's attempts to stop smoking?
- Saved the NHS £8 million a year
- Smoking has halved since the 1970's
- Around 2.6 million people are using E - cigarettes to help them quit
78
What are the main government solutions to ALCOHOL ?
- Ban on multi buy promotions
- Anyone below 25 can be ID'd
- Shops can only sell between 10am and 10pm
- Alcohol minimum pricing Act in 2012 (50p per unit)
79
What were the results of Scotland's attempt to lower alcohol usage?
- Alcohol related deaths declined
| - 3700 deaths
80
What are the main government solutions to OBESITY?
- Free school meals for P1 - P3 children 2015
- Tax on sugary drinks
- Compulsory 2 hours of PE at schools
81
What are the main government solutions to DRUGS?
- Know the Score Campaign to inform young people of harms
- £689 million invested in 'Road to Recovery'
- Psychoactive substances Act 2016 (Banned legal highs)
82
6 Things the Government does to tackle health inequalities and examples?
- Structural changes in environments (putting affordable heating into damp houses)
- Legislative changes (banning smoking in workplaces)
- Tax Control (raising the price of tobacco)
- Income support (Benefits)
- Improving access to health (free prescriptions)
- Early intervention (pre/post natal support and good quality child care)
