Edmiston, D orcid.org/0000-0001-8715-654X (2022) Plumbing the Depths: the changing (socio-demographic) profile of UK poverty. Journal of Social Policy, 51 (2). pp. 385-411. ISSN 0047-2794
Abstract
Official statistics tend to rely on a headcount approach to poverty measurement, distinguishing ‘the poor’ from the ‘non-poor’ on the basis of an anchored threshold. Invariably, this does little to engage with the gradations of material hardship affecting those living, to varying degrees, below the poverty line. In response, this paper interrogates an apparent flatlining in UK poverty to establish the changing profile of poverty, as well as those most affected by it. Drawing on the Family Resources survey, this paper reveals an increasing depth of poverty in the UK since 2010, with bifurcation observable in the living standards of different percentile groups below the poverty line. In addition, this paper demonstrates substantial compositional changes in the socio-demographic profile of (deep) poverty. Since 2010, the likelihood of falling into deep poverty has increased for women, children, larger families, Black people and those in full-time work. Within the context of COVID-19, I argue there is a need to re-think how we currently conceptualise poverty by better attending to internal heterogeneity within the broader analytical and methodological category of ‘the poor’. Doing so raises pressing questions about the prevailing modes of poverty measurement that tend to frame and delimit the social scientific analysis of poverty, as well as the policies deemed appropriate in tackling it.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | depth of poverty; destitution; poverty gap; poverty profile; relative poverty; social security |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Sociology and Social Policy (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number RCUK (Research Councils UK) ES/V003879/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 04 Feb 2021 14:12 |
Last Modified: | 29 Jul 2022 05:30 |
Published Version: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/S0047279421000180 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:170704 |
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