WPW - Topic 2 (CAGED)

Question 1

What are five ways in which the government attempted to redistribute wealth?

Answer 1

1. Income Tax
2. Mansion Tax
3. Social welfare benefits
4. Inheritance tax
5. Capital gains tax

Question 2

What are the factors that fail the distribution of wealth?

Answer 2

Although the government have provided many ways to distribute wealth ‘equally’, some argue that the government needs to do more.
— Therefore the following factors suggest why there is a failure in the distribution of wealth.

> TAX EVASION
+ An illegal strategy that involves not declaring tax / wealth to Income Revenue

> FAILURE TO CLAIM BENEFITS
+ Applications being too difficult / complicated to complete

> TAX RELIEF
+ Relief on paying tax for school fees, private pension etc.

> TAX AVOIDANCE SCHEMES
+ A legal strategy used by accountants / financial advisers (living abroad for a year, spreading wealth within the family, investing it within the British Isles).

Question 3

What is marketable wealth?

Answer 3

Assets that people have for their potential sale value, such as stocks, shares, or a second house.

Question 4

What is non-marketable wealth?

Answer 4

Assets that have no personal use and cannot be sold (so no value)
— eg. shares of a private company

Question 5

What is productive property?

Answer 5

Productive assets are tangible or intangible assets that generate income or appreciate in value, distinguishing them from assets that do not produce financial gain.
— eg. house, cars, appliances

Question 6

What is consumption property?

Answer 6

Property that is produced and used for personal use
— eg. fridge

Question 7

What are some of the sociological explanations for the income inequality gap?

Answer 7

> FAILURE TO CLAIM BENEFITS:
— Stigma
— Lack of awareness of entitlement to benefits

> DECLINE IN TRADE UNIONS:
— Late 1970s: 13 million members
— 2010: 6.5million

> JOB INSECURITY:
— Outsourcing
— Competition
— University retention rates
— Brexit

> GROWTH IN LONE PARENT FAMILIES:
— Increase in one parent households
— Increase in two-earner cohabiting households

> GLOBALISATION:
— Technology
— The ability to connect worldwide

Question 8

What are the sociological explanations for class and poverty?

Answer 8

Those who are working class are more susceptible to poverty.
— This argument is based on where social-economic classes fall against the Poverty Line.

> Eight reasons why the working class are more likely to be at risk of poverty:

1. Living wage vs cost of living
2. Zero hour contracts
3. Stigma
4. Ability to claim benefits
5. Long term unemployment
6. Psychological effects / powerlessness
7. Job market / competition
8. Loan sharks / pay day loans

Question 9

How are zero hour contracts more likely to cause poverty for working-class individuals?

Answer 9

Zero hour contracts are a type of contract between an employer and a worker, where the employer is not obliged to provide any minimum working hours, while the worker is not obliged to accept any work offered.

These contracts are usually applied in youth clubs/ play centres, bus drivers, cover staff and any form of agency work.

> Shifts tend to be inconsistent, meaning that individuals may not receive guaranteed stream of income.
These roles are limited, in regards to job progression therefore, more hours and low pay required to keep up with bills and finances
May prevent individuals from receiving adequate welfare support due to being in work (eg. Universal Credit).

Question 10

EVALUATION: Zero hour contracts

Answer 10

> FUNCTIONALISTS:
— They are necessary. These jobs tend to be menial roles / casual jobs.
— This is beneficial as it provides jobs for those who many struggle with entering the job market.

> MARXISTS:
— Created by the elite/ bourgeoisie to create surplus value.
— A method to continue to exploit the working class, while reinforcing the false class consciousness of meritocracy and social mobility.

> NEW RIGHT:
— Zero hour contracts should not confine a working class individual.
— Individuals should use these contracts to work their way through the industry.
— Individuals who receive these contracts tend to lack qualifications and appropriate skill set.

> FEMINISTS:
— Women are more likely to accept zero hour contracts due to the dual / triple burden, childcare commitments and sex discrimination / unequal pay.
— This forces women into these roles to avoid experiencing absolute poverty.

> SOCIAL DEMOCRATS:
— Such contracts lead to a poverty trap, which will impact the underclass the most.
— This is due to exploiting on their lack of qualifications/ larger families/ discrimination in other sectors/ fields.

Question 11

What are the sociological explanations for age and poverty?

Answer 11

When discussing age and poverty, it is especially important to emphasise on children and the elderly.
— This is because out of all the age groups, those are the two who are most at risk.

Question 12

Explain why elderly people may be more at risk to poverty.

Answer 12

> THE ELDERLY:
+ Elderly/ retired women are most at risk due to living longer and receiving less pension in comparison to their male counterparts.
+ Despite the introduction of triple lock, fuel poverty is still the greatest cause of the elderly being at risk
+ Over 25% of elderly people are now single meaning less supporty with the household
+ Mainly applicable to retired, working class individuals due to retirement schemes, generous pension schemes and savings most likely owned by middle class individuals.

Mack and Lansley:
— Despite the fact that poverty rates for the elderly have decreased in the last 30 years, this is only applicable to certain periods in time.
— Due to the dependency ratio, people are living longer, meaning society has more dependents.
— This will put a strain on the economy and impact the workforce
— Mack and Lansley suggest this will cause more zero hour contracts, delayed retirement and less benefit schemes.

Question 13

Explain why children may be more at risk to poverty.

Answer 13

> CHILDREN:
+ As children are also dependents, this puts them most at risk of poverty.
+ Cost of childcare and raising children increases yearly. This is also based on the standards of living for that year.
+ Larger families are more prone to being at risk of poverty due to the amount of money spent on each individual.
+ Larger families with young children are less likely to benefit from deals or benefit schemes as they usually benefit the nuclear family.
+ Child Poverty Act (2010) introduced to tackle the amount of hardship children face, based on research suggesting that 17% are below breadline.

Townsend and Walker: Dependency Theory
— Suggests that children (and elderly) are most likely to be in poverty due to being dependent on parents / adults.
— Children cannot work, therefore they are unable to support themselves.

Peter Townsend: Structural Dependency
— Townsend goes further to suggest that this is done purposefully.
— As it is in the law that children are to be in full time education or training up until the age of 18, this keeps children in poverty for longer, in comparison to 40 years ago.

Hirsch:
— Lone parenthood
— Lack of work or low pay of parents
— Disability undermines parents’ ability to find employment (around 1/4 poor children have at least one disabled parent)
— Inadequate policies supporting childcare and flexible working, making it difficult for lone parents and couples who both want to work to support their children.

Question 14

EVALUATION: Age and Poverty

Question 15

What are the sociological explanations for gender and poverty?

Answer 15

Women are more likely to experience poverty in comparison to men.
— However, when evaluating, we can acknowledge how men may find it difficult as well.

Question 16

What may cause men to be more susceptible to poverty?

Answer 16

> MEN:
+ White, working class men are impacted by changes in the local labour market (eg. Middlesborough).
+ Decline in ‘masculine’ roles, leads to a crisis in employment for w/c men; forcing them to take on low skilled/ low paid jobs.

Shildrick and MacDonald (2015:
— Conducted interviews in Middlesborough which has been massively impacted by strikes and closure of mines, factories and outsourcing.

Mitsos and Browne
— Crisis of Masculinity - uncertainty in traditional, male roles forcing men to excerpt masculinity in other ways.

Question 17

What may cause women to be more susceptible to poverty?

Answer 17

> WOMEN:
+ The feminisation of poverty refers to social changes over recent decades that have led to poverty (particularly severe poverty) being associated with women more than men.
+ Women are more likely to be lone parents
+ Gender Pay Gap exists
+ Sex Discriminantion
+ Experiencing segregation throughout the industry, including within job roles / positions.
+ Patriarchy
+ The glass ceiling

Phal (1993)
— Women are economically disadvantages within the home as men tend to control and manage a couple’s income.

Question 18

EVALUATION: Gender and poverty

Question 19

What are the five reasons why individuals with disabilities may be more at risk to poverty?

Answer 19

1. Inability to undertake paid employment
   — may have physical or mental impairments that make it difficult for them to take jobs.
2. Unemployment
   — disabled individuals are 4x more likely to be out of work than non-disabled with similar qualifications.
   — many of those who are not working say they want to work but have been unable to find jobs.
3. Low pay
   — more liekly to be low-paid than non-disabled people with similar qualifications, this means individuals will have lower pensions in old age.
4. Employer discrimination
   — some people may not intentionally discriminate but cause it through ignorance
5. Inadequate welfare benefits
   — social security benefits are insufficient to keep many disabled people out of poverty and increases in benefit levels have not kept up with those for children and pensioners, and are falling in relation to average household incomes.

> Palmer (2006):
+ Poverty rate for disabled adults is around double that of non-disabled adults and around 33% of disabled adults of working age are living in poverty.
+ Around 2/5 of these are single adults without dependent children and because of this, many may lack day-to-day company and support, leading to social exclusion as well as poverty.

Question 20

EVALUATION: Disability and poverty

Answer 20

> FUNCTIONALISTS:
— Poverty is necessary to enable society to function
— Everybody need to fulfil roles within society to enable it to function
— Individuals matter have to take on low-paid jobs due to disabilities and help contribute to a running society in this way.

> MARXISTS:
— Within the working class, whom are exploited by the rich, individuals with disabilities are likely to be more vulnerable because of discrimination and difficulties gaining well-paid employment
— This may result in individuals being part of the unemployed working class that are at the highest risk of poverty.

> NEW RIGHT:
— Argue that individuals with disabilities need to find work that they can do with their limitations and that they should attempt to overcome the risk of poverty by working harder to counteract difficulties they face.
— Consider dependency on the welfare state - individuals may use disability to take advantage of the generosity of the state.

> FEMINISTS:
— Females with disabilities are more vulnerable to poverty - due to discrimination they face as a result of the patriarchal society and the responsibilities they mat a face in terms of childcare, further limiting their employability.

> SOCIAL DEMOCRATS:
— Individuals with disabilities may become trapped in a cycle of deprivation and perhaps not do as well in school, struggle to gain qualifications, therefore have to take on low-paid jobs.
— This cycle of deprivation may continue with their children, especially if it is a disability that may be inherited (eg. Cystic Fibrosis).

Question 21

What are five reasons why ethic minorities may be more likely to face poverty?

Answer 21

1. High chance of unemployment due to employer discrimination / racism.
2. Likely to be low paid, possibly due to low educational qualifications.
3. Language barriers - problem with application forms etc.
4. Religious beliefs may prevent some types of jobs/ shift patterns.
5. Less likely to stay on at school / go to uni (possibly due to racism) and therefore under-qualified for top jobs (underachievement).

Question 22

What do some sociologists say about ethnicity and poverty?

Answer 22

> Lucinda Platt (2006) : Research for the Equal Opportunities Commission’s
— Many men from BME communities experienced unemployment rates up to 4x the average of all men.
— Caribbean women are more liekly to be more economically active from any other BAME groups, including white women, are still more liekly to be in poverty as they often go to low-paid work.
— Women and men from ethnic backgrounds, on average earn less than others with similar qualifications.

> Barnard and Turner (2011)
— Ethnic groups suffer from stereotypes due to race and religion and how they come across in the media
— Racism in the work system means that some minority ethnic groups are often unable to get the best paid jobs and make do with the low-paid jobs.
— Irish Traveller families are at risk of poverty due to stereotypes and discrimination
— People of African Caribbean origin and a majority of those from Asian origin have a greater changes of earning lower wages than the majority of the population, and they are more likely to work in the types of work with low wages.

Question 23

What are some statistics on ethnic minorities in poverty?

Answer 23

— 40% of people from black minority ethnicity communities are living in low-income households (this is twice the rate of white people).

— Scott and Fulcher : 2/3 of Pakistani and Bangladeshi families are in the bottom fifth of the income distribution in Britain

— Bangladeshis earn £7 or less an hour and most Bangladeshi women do not work

— Unemployment rates (2012): 7% white people, 15.5% Black people, nearly 17% Pakistani people.

— % living in poverty (UK): 30% Indian + Black Caribbean, 50% black African, 70% Bangladeshi.

Question 24

EVALUATION: Ethnicity and poverty

Answer 24

> FUNCTIONALISTS:
— Poverty among ethnic minority groups is functionally for the system, as some minority ethnic groups will be motivated to take the low paid jobs that White British don’t want (dickheads), as they often have little alternative.

> MARXISTS:
— See racism and low pay contributing to divisions in the working class, by separating off the poor from the non-poor working class, dividing black and white workers, preventing the development of working-class unity and a class consciousness that might threaten the stability of the capitalist system.

> NEW RIGHT:
— Theories of the dependency culture and the underclass, suggest that some members of some minority ethnic groups might be themselves to blame for their poverty, as they are part of the dependency culture and a work-shy underclass.

> FEMINISTS:
— They say that women are more likely to experience poverty than men, women from ethnic minorities are even more likely to experience it.
— There are many explanations such as access to work and qualifications.

> SOCIAL DEMOCRATS:
— Refer to the poverty trap.
— More likely to end up in a poverty trap, with difficulty to break out and gain social mobility.