Structural Explanations

• Structural and Material explanations


  -These explanations seek to explain how the structure of society and material deprivation impact poverty. So instead of victim blaming, Structural and material explanations look at how society causes poverty; it is not an individual choice.
• The poverty trap- social democratic approach


  -A political ideology that reflects the New Labour Party

  -While they are not communists, they do believe that the welfare state can be used as a safety net

  -This is because Social Democrats believe that those who are in poverty become trapped
• Cycle of deprivation-Coates & Silburn (1970)


  -Emphasize the way in which the poor are trapped in poverty and how these circumstances are all connected to make a vicious cycle
• Marxists view


  -Poverty is inevitable in a capitalist society.

  -Because of the unequal structure of society and the inequalities in the distribution of wealth, income and power.

  -The poor (proletariat) remain poor because they are exploited by the rich (bourgeoisie).

  -The bourgeoisie pay the proletariat very low wages to maximise their profit.

  -The proletariat suffer from false class consciousness and think that their wages are fair and reasonable
• Feminists


  -Women are more likely to be in poverty and that this can be explained by the patriarchal society.

  -There are still only seven women out of 100 bosses heading up companies on the London Stock Exchange.
• Functionalists


  -It creates jobs e.g. social workers, probation officers,etc

  -It provides a workforce to do the menial/ dirty/ dangerous jobs in society that nobody else wants to do.

  -It provides an incentive to others

  -It makes sure people want to become pilots, surgeons etc. otherwise why go to university and get debt and work that hard unless you will reap the rewards?

  -Poverty helps the economy e.g. out of date food, last season clothes, old cars.
• Interactionalists


  -The poor remain poor because they lack the necessary skills and power to succeed in the labour market.

  -There is high demand for low-paid jobs and low demand for high-paid jobs because of educational differences.

  -Therefore competition for low-paid jobs in the labour market is high, and therefore people are willing to accept low wages
• Pros


  -->Macro approach-instead of victim blaming it looks at the structure of society + creates poverty.

  -links to other forms of inequalities to how it causes poverty and vice versa.

  -this approach points out structural changes e.g decline in unemployment + poverty.
• Cons


  -doesn't include other factors like individuals factors such as income, family life, backgrounds

  -doesn't include protected characteristics

  -doesn't consider inequality + social change e.g policies often take years to be created and often fall behind with social change.