Nature Of Poverty

• Absolute poverty


  Charles Booth

  -Conducted street surveys 1889-1903

  -Focused on Inner London (East London today)

  -Found that 31% were living in poverty

  -Based off an income level he had set to determine whether they were in absolute poverty or not
• Seebohm Rowntree


  -Profoundly affected by Booth's work

  -Conducted poverty surveys in York - 1901, 1941, 1951

  -Sought to find whether citizens of York could purchase basic food items in order to survive

  -As a result, he created the basket of goods as a measurement of absolute poverty
• Measurements of absolute poverty

  -Basket of Goods Rowntree

  -Budget Standards Approach Bradshaw-->The minimum income required to buy the items needed to be healthy

  -Poverty Line EU -->Those above the poverty line meet the Budget Standards Measurement. Those below= absolute poverty (60%)
• Evaluation


  -covers a wide span of diff countries but based on subjective judgement

  -doesn't take into account of everyone's individual needs,

  -poverty isn't comprehensively considered.
• Relative poverty

  Peter Townsend (1979)

  -Identified issues with the use of the absolute definition

  -Therefore found that poverty goes beyond the 'basic necessities'

  -This is because poverty is closely linked to inequality, rather than anything else

  -As society changes, the definition of poverty must reflect these changes
• Measurements of relative poverty

  -->HBAI (Households Below Average Income) Labour gov. (1997- 2005)- Those below the 60% median income- mainly used to determine child poverty.

  -->Deprivation Index Townsend- Those who meet the indicators of deprivation based on what is required to be a part of society at that time.

  -->Consensual Approach Gordon (2000)Mack and Lansley (1993)-Those who could not meet 3/22 items listed on an agreed census on basic needs
• Evaluation


  -can't capture long term change

  -material well-being may have improved

  -consider household income in relation to others