Social Inequality

Question 1

Reasons for a high standard of living but a low quality of life

Answer 1

• Long working hours
• A long daily commute
• Migration away from family and friends
• Pollution

Question 2

Spiral of decline

Answer 2

• Poverty (low wages/unemployment)
• Poor living conditions (poor accommodation, overcrowding, run down area)
• Ill-health (stress and strain)
• Poor education (old schools)
• Poor skills (poor occupational skills)

Question 3

Index of multiple deprivation (IMD)

Answer 3

A data set that measures deprivation based on seven factors in a numerical data set

Question 4

IMD factors

Answer 4

• Income
• Employment
• Health deprivation and Disability
• Education Skills and Training
• Barriers to Housing and Services
• Crime
• Living Environment

Question 5

Areas are grouped into “bands” for IMD- What is the most deprived band?

Answer 5

Middlesbrough is the local authority with the highest proportions of neighbourhoods among the most deprived in England

Question 6

How is IMD measured?

Answer 6

IMD ranks bands in order of deprivation, with 1 being the most deprived, however IMD does not show how much more deprived one band is in comparison with another

Question 7

How does income influence the relative level of social inequality between places?

Answer 7

• World bank’s definition of relative poverty = US$1.25 per day PPP
• 13 million people in the UK live in relative poverty
• The GINI coefficient measures how equal distribution is within a country (0-1; closer to 0 = more equally spread national income)

Question 8

How does housing influence the relative level of social inequality between places?

Answer 8

• Housing tenure (how many people own their houses and how many people rent? how many occupy illegally?)
• There is a higher percentage of owner-occupiers in ACs (achieved through organized borrowing of money- mortgages)
• Housing tenure is more complicated to access in LIDCs due to slum settlements. Land ownership is often confused

Question 9

How does education influence the relative level of social inequality between places?

Answer 9

• Can be formal or informal
• Formal qualifications don’t necessarily represent skills acquisition (especially in EDCs and LIDCs)
• Literacy levels are the basic measure of education

Question 10

How does health care influence the relative level of social inequality between places?

Answer 10

• The number of doctors per 1,000 people demonstrates health inequality between places on a global scale
• A measure of this within the UK is the postcode lottery- where you live determines your level of access to NHS services

Question 11

How does employment influence the relative level of social inequality between places?

Answer 11

• Both standard of living and quality of life are profoundly affected by regular income
• By defining what counts as employment and unemployment between countries can be difficult. People working in the informal sector in EDCs and LIDCs are difficult to account for (e.g. fruit sellers on street corners)
• In ACs, incomes are greater in urban areas than rural areas

Question 12

What factors affect morbidity and life expectancy?

Answer 12

• Number of doctors per 1,000 people
• The postcode lottery
• Access to safe drinking water
• Effective sanitisation
• Quality and quantity of diet
• Housing type
• Air quality
• Social behaviours (attitudes towards tobacco/alcohol/drugs/HIV & AIDS/medicine)

Question 13

Human Development Index (HDI)

Answer 13

Annual assessment, by the UN, of the level of development of each of its member states (0-1, 1 = most developed)

Question 14

HDI economic and social indicators

Answer 14

• Income adjusted to take account of PPP in the country
• Life expectancy at birth
• Education using the adult literacy rate and the average number of years spent in school

Question 15

The ???? richest people in the world have the same combined wealth as the poorest 50%

Answer 15

Eight