Welfare Social Policy Notes A

• Sociologists distinguish between two types of poverty: Absolute poverty, also known as extreme poverty, is based on the idea of subsistence, which refers to the ability to sustain yourself.
• Absolute poverty is linked to the basic needs that you need in order to survive in society, such as food, clothes, shelter, and other necessities.
• People who lack these fundamental requirements are considered to be living in poverty.
• If an individual can sustain themselves with these basic needs, then the person is not considered to be living in absolute poverty.
• Large sections of populations in developing countries, such as more than 1/3 in Bangladesh and Namibia, live in this type of poverty.
• In developed countries like Australia, France, Norway, and the UK, no one lives on such a low income.
• Relative poverty is another type of poverty related to the deprivation of the standard of living of a particular society.
• In 2015, the NSO (National Statistics Office) found that Malta's average annual basic salary is of 16,406 euro.
• In his classical study Powerfy in the United Kingdom (1979), Townsend examined the responses to more than 2,000 questionnaires filled by households across the UK during the late 1960s.
• Peter Townsend is an individual whose work in Britain since the 1950s has increased public awareness of what 'living in poverty' really entails.
• Townsend was criticized because he did not ask the respondents whether they did not have things from the deprivation index out of choice or because they cannot afford.
• Townsend concluded that as household income falls, families will withdraw from taking part in ordinary family-type activities and become socially excluded.
• Townsend selected 12 items which were relevant to the sample population and gave each household a score on a deprivation index - the higher the score, the more deprived the household was.
• Ms. Debattista is a student in Welfare & Social Policy.
• Relative poverty is culturally defined, therefore, it is not the same for all societies.
• Disabled individuals who find work are more likely to be in low paid jobs, meaning they will have lower pensions later in their life.
• There are various social attitudes which hold the poor responsible for their position in society.
• In the past, the poor were considered as unable to succeed in society due to their lack of skills, morals, physical weakness, non-motivation and below average ability.
• Palmer argues that some disabled individuals face discrimination from their employer and even their co-workers, limiting individuals with a disability.
• Those who deserved to succeed did so, creating the idea of the ‘winners’ & the ‘losers’.
• Charles Murray argues that the 'blame the victim' theory is the explanation for poverty.
• Ms. Debattista argues that some disabled people have a physical or mental impairment that makes it difficult for them to take jobs, making them around four times more likely to be out of work than the nondisabled individuals with similar qualifications.
• Explanations of poverty can be divided into two main groups: Theories that look at the individual as responsible for their own poverty, also known as blame the victim theories, and theories which look at poverty as developed by society itself, also known as blame the system theories.
• Different individuals have different needs across different societies.
• Things that are essential in one country may be considered as a luxury in another.
• The Blame the System theorists look at how structures in society such as gender, sociol class, ethnic groups and occupation position in society make it difficult for one to change their position in society.
• According to Murray, welfare was supposed to act as a safety net to those who need it the most not create laziness in society.
• Debattista Welfare & Social PolicySOClOlO@'y'Murray argued that there was one class which was emerging, he called it the underclass.
• Murray argues that the underclass has the dependency culture because they tend to rely on the government's benefits instead of taking control of their position in society.
• Murray argues that the widows or disabled people who are poor have no fault that they ended up in this position, therefore he believes that these people should make use of the welfare state.
• These theorists believe that the lack of ambition which is also known as the dependency culture occurs because of the constraints that these people face.
• Murray believes that the growth of the welfare state brought about the dependency culture which led to the underclass to develop.
• Those who criticize Murray believe that we can find people who work and earn benefits however they are still not able to get out of poverty.
• Murray claims that the underclass must take responsibility for their own poverty and do not depend on the government's benefits.
• The effects of poverty can emerge from the early years and persist until adulthood.
• Child poverty is found around the globe and has increased throughout the years.
• An analysis by the New Policy Institute suggested that since 2013, poverty has been rising and child poverty has increased by some 300,000 with 29% of UK children living in poverty.
• Children who live in poverty tend to have worse health than those who do not, they are more prone to infections, have a higher risk of being of low birth weight, are more likely to be injured or killed in road accidents, and are more likely to suffer abuse and self-harm.
• Browne and Hood forecast that child poverty is likely to rise to around 25.7% by 2020/1.
• European countries look at the importance of tackling child poverty.