Wealth, Poverty and Welfare

1
Wealth, Poverty and Welfare

• Objectives
• To understand the difference between cultural and
  structural explanations
• To be able to describe some causes of poverty in
  the UK.
• To describe and evaluate different sociological
  explanations of wealth inequalities.

2
Is poverty a new concept?
What does this historical image tell us about
poverty?
A key debate is what causes it- is it the culture
of some groups or is it the structure of society?
Some say poverty will always be with us why do
you think that is?
3
What are the reasons for poverty?
Structural Poverty
Cultural Poverty

• It is the fault of individuals because they have
  a different set of cultural values.
• Immediate Gratification, when people want
  pleasures now and do not work for the future
• Fatalism, when people think, what will be and
  assume they cannot escape from a bad situation
• Poor people do not have a good work ethic and
  expect bad jobs

• Poor people are the victims of the unequal
  distribution of wealth.
• The poor do not have enough education to deal
  with money problems.
• Some people who live in poverty come from harsh
  backgrounds (domestic violence).
• Many people do not possess the skills to get out
  of poverty.

4
Causes of poverty ranking

• Rank these in the order you think are most
  important in explaining poverty. Which
  explanations do you think are cultural and which
  are structural?
• Unemployment
• Slow economy
• Poor health
• Addictions e.g gambling/alcohol
• Poor skills/education
• Low wages in the workforce/exploitation
• Social exclusion/marginalisation
• Culture of apathy/welfare dependency

5
How the rich stay wealthy

• Investment in land or art
• Tax loopholes
• Overseas investment
• Exclusive education for their children
• Feathering each others nests
• Employing legal services to ensure protection of
  property and wealth
• Government policies which protect them
• Culture of deferred gratification

6
Elite Self-recruitment

• Goldthorpe (1980) and Glass (1954) both found
  evidence of what they described as 'elite
  self-recruitment' whereby privileged and powerful
  positions go to children of wealthy and powerful
  people.
• Nick Clegg recently commented on inequality in
  internships !

7
Cultural Theories

• New Right David Marsland Over generous welfare
• AO2 evidence suggests people do want to work
• New Right Charles Murray deviant values of
  underclass.
• AO2 evidence is that values and aspirations are
  similar

8
New Right and the Underclass.
The underclass is the group at the bottom of
society
Teenage girls get pregnant for houses and benefit
Benefits encourage people to depend on the state
rather than get jobs because it is easier for them
Charles Murray says poor people form an
underclass and are a threat to society. What do
you think?
Lone mothers are bad parents and allow boys to be
criminal. They are bad role models
The norms and values of the underclass are a
disease that threaten society
Young men are involved in crime and do not work
for their families.
9
The New Right and Trickle down theory

• Greed was seen as being a virtue in the 1990s
  when it was acceptable to be selfish and
  accumulate vast wealth through the new
  technological industries that were springing up.
  The New Right froze benefits and welfare spending
  in order to pay for tax cuts for the very
  wealthy.
• AO2 This didnt work !

10
Structural theories

• Marxist Welfare distribution is unfair
• AO2 high benefits are unpopular with hard-working
  people
• Marxist Reserve army of labour/new reserve army
• AO2 suggests govt would not favour eradicating
  poverty however lots of policies suggest
  otherwise. Still cannot explain the
  marginalisation of certain groups (although could
  be divide and rule)
• Weberian Dual Labour Market skills and status
• AO2 Doesnt explain why certain group like women
  have high skilled jobs which are poorly paid.
  Same argument is used for women and ethnic
  minorities

11
Unemployment and low wages

• Increased benefits must be paid for by the
  taxpayer and this is unpopular, so some taxes for
  the rich have been cut.
• The incomes of the poorest 20 of households fell
  by 1.6 between 2005-06 and 2006-07 while those
  of the richest households rose by 0.8. This was
  under labour government. Since coalition
  government came to power poorest households have
  felt further relative drops in income despite
  some tax cuts.

12
Labour Government Policy

• Tax credits are payments from the government.
  People who work, but earn low wages, may qualify
  for Working Tax Credit if they have children.
• AO2
• It was an expensive policy. From 2003-2006,
  something in the order of 65 billion was spent
  on tax credits by government. Even so, there is
  still a shortfall and poverty persists

13
An end to universal benefits

• From the 1990s benefits have been targeted to
  certain groups.
• The system has been complicated and rigid
• AO2
• People have complicated lives and can move
  between situations very quickly. Fernstein (2006)
• Some are ashamed to make claims

14
Globalisation and poverty

• Large corporations employing cheap labour abroad
  to mass produce goods has had its effect on
  inequality in Britain.

15
Economic decline

• The decline in manufacturing work in Britain has
  led to very few skilled labour jobs. This has led
  to deprivation and dissatisfaction with work as
  well as an increase in casualised, flexible
  working
• AO2 Meanwhile, poor workers in LED countries may
  be working long hours in terrible conditions to
  provide very cheap goods for people in the West.

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Women are often poor
They do not earn as much as men. They do not have
pensions
Women do not have access to the money in the
home. When relationships break up, they lose out
Women and Poverty The Feminisation of Poverty.
They are more likely to be lone mothers and
therefore poor.
It is difficult to get jobs when you provide care
for children and relatives
What do you think about these ideas? What
evidence is there to support them?
17
Marginalisation

• They are those with disabilities, women, older
  people and young people, people with caring
  responsibilities, gay and lesbian people and
  Black and minority ethnic people, including
  Travellers. One of the causes of poverty is
  therefore is discrimination certain people are
  rejected by society often for reasons beyond
  their control.

18
Why do we need to make poverty history?
http//www.makepovertyhistory.org/
19
The credit Crunch 2008-9

• This has changed attitudes to inequalities in
  wealth in the UK
• The term Fat Cat is back and people are
  outraged by high wages and bankers bonuses.
• Jonathan Prynn, of the Evening Standard described
  how executive pay had risen by 30, more than
  seven times the rate for ordinary workers.

20
Joseph Rowntree FoundationSocial Evils

• Website respondents to their blogs felt that
  growing inequality in Britain is socially
  divisive and morally wrong, partly because income
  differences do not always reflect people's
  efforts.

21
Famous book

• Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) entitled The Spirit
  Level underlines the terrible impact of
  inequality on a society.

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Evaluation AO2
http//www.adamsmith.org/blog/justice-and-civil-li
berties/the-spirit-level-delusion/
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Critically assess cultural explanations of
poverty (30)

• Give some basic definitions of poverty and
  describe the difference between cultural and
  structural explanations give examples
• Explain Marslands New right theory, give
  examples and describe policies which reflect this
  view e.g Trickledown or cuts to welfare. Analyse
  and evaluate
• Explain Murrays underclass theory and give
  examples - analyse and evaluate.
• Explain Marxist view welfare state fails to
  distribute wealth fairly with supporting evidence
  e.g govt policy analyse and evaluate.
• Explain Marxist view of reserve army of
  labour/new reserve army (decline in
  manufacturing/globalisation) explains why poverty
  is not dealt with! Analyse and evaluate
• Explain Weberian view dual labour market This
  explains why lack of skills leads to poverty.
  Analyse and evaluate.
• Conclusion Some argue poverty will always be
  with us, this is because definitions change with
  time. However poverty may be persistent because
  it benefits the most powerful in society. Whilst
  cultural arguments are popular there is little
  evidence to support them and structural
  explanations explain better why poverty is so
  persistent.

27
Swap Mindmaps with another person.

• Is the other persons mindmap good enough for you
  to answer these questions, Work in Pairs-
• Name one researcher who supports a cultural
  explanation of poverty.
• What research can be used to criticise one
  cultural explanation of poverty?
• What do cultural explanations imply or suggest
  about the underlying cause of poverty?
• How can one structural explanation of poverty be
  criticised?

28
Revision

• http//www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/2009-10/sociology
  /a2-cynnal/
• http//www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/2009-10/sociology
  /a2-cynnal/
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vpfWnumM0He4

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Operationalisation Starter

• Quantitative research involves turning a concept
  into numbers, how will you do this for -
• Social Class
• Health Problems
• Attitudes towards the poor
• Impact of students loans on graduates

30
Operationalisation starter

• Qualitative research does not require such
  precise operationalisation but you still need to
  be clear about what you are going to find out,
  what would you look for when researching the
  following-
• Experiences of ethnic minority jobseekers
• Experience of women returning to work after
  maternity leave.

31
Research Design

• As an A level Sociologist, you have been asked to
  discover whether there is gender inequality in
  the behaviour and actions of the police in your
  area using quantitative methods
• Suggest a simple research design and justify your
  choices. Explain the difficulties that you might
  experience in carrying out your design and
  suggest how you would avoid them

32
Objectives

• Be able to identify various problems with
  sociological research and say how to overcome
  them.
• Be able to evaluate a novel piece of research to
  time.
• Suggest areas for improving evaluation skills

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Research Design

• AHO SMP AE
• 5 10 15
• As an A level Sociologist, you have been asked to
  use qualitative methods to research how wealthy
  people are able to maintain their position in
  British society. Suggest a simple research design
  and justify your choices. Explain the
  difficulties that you might experience in
  carrying out your design and suggest how you
  would avoid them.
• Remember GROVER and the practical issues of
  carrying out your design.
•  

34
Peer Assessment Criteria

• Award a mark out of 15 based on the following
  criteria taken from the markscheme.
• 1. Reference to issues of GROVER all
• 2. Reference to practical issues 3
• 3. Identified 3 ways to improve study

35
Evaluating Research A2 Sociology

• What are the issues to consider?
• How can Sociologists overcome these issues?
• Truancy is a persistent problem in British
  schools. Some geographical areas experience more
  truancy
• than others. For example Local Education
  Authorities produced statistics in 2000 that
  showed that in
• the Wirral absent pupils had missed on average 26
  half days whereas in Wokingham this figure
• was 11. Corrigan researched truancy but his aim
  was to understand it rather than just measure its
  frequency.
• To do this he used participant observation
  telling those involved that he was a writer
  interested in the lives of
• working class boys. He found that the boys
  truanted because they didnt like particular
  lessons or particular
• teachers or even because they enjoyed rebelling
  against the fact that school was compulsory.
• (a) Give two reasons why Corrigan decided to
  use participant observation to research truancy.
  (10)
• (b) As an A Level sociology student you have
  been asked to design a research project to
  collect
• quantitative data on attitudes towards grammar
  schools amongst a representative sample of
  British residents in