It is not simply that there are rich and poor, it is rather that some are rich because others are poor - Kincald. Outline and discuss with a reference to a contemporary UK.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

A2 Sociology

It is not simply that there are rich and poor, it is rather that some are rich because others are poor – Kincald. Outline and discuss with a reference to a contemporary UK.

The are two types of poverty, there absolute poverty and the relative poverty. Poverty refers to a lack of basic requirements this was the definition of poverty in the 1960s. In the UK today poverty is defined that anyone who has an income on or below the level of supplementary benefit is seen as living in poverty. Supplementary benefit refers to cash paid to people whose income does not reach a level necessary for subsistence so people with incomes of between 100 to 140 per cent of supplementary benefit were defined as living on the margin of poverty. Poverty was said to be people that lacked basic resources that can affect our health existence e.g. sufficient food and shelter. Large people in the United Kingdom exist in conditions of poverty. Many do not have a proper diet and they live in poor conditions. People who are unemployed, those in part-time or insecure jobs, older people, and the sick and disabled, members of large families and those that are single-parent families are categorised as living in poverty. Single-parent families are also seen to be living in poverty and they are mainly headed by women. Studies have shown that about half of all old age pensioners are living in poverty. According to Marxist we need poverty to function in our society because of capitalist society, the bourgeoisies and proletarians. Marxist argues that women are over represented in the poverty sector; they are seen as the reserved army of labour. Women do poorly paid job sector leading to poverty. A proportion of women in the UK live in poverty and this is particular true with women who are heads of the household. Poverty tends to be among women with small children who need constant care. A woman can obtain a reasonable good well-paid job but may be financially crippled by having to pay on childcare.

The lifestyle in different societies share common characteristics and their circumstances of poverty are similar, they have similar problems and circumstances that develop into a culture. So a learnt, shared and socially transmitted behaviour of social group. This concept is seen as the culture of poverty. Studies have shown that those who rely on state benefits for their income are among the largest groups of the poor. It could be argued that the welfare state still makes a major contribution to reducing poverty or improve the relative positions of those in poverty. Weberians would argue that there is an ...