Tackling inequalities :Where are we now and what can be done? ( Studies in Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion series )

Publication subTitle :Where are we now and what can be done?

Publication series :Studies in Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion series

Author: Pantazis   Christina (Editor)   Gordon   David (Editor)  

Publisher: Policy Press‎

Publication year: 2000

E-ISBN: 9781847425089

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9781861341464

Subject: C91 Sociology

Keyword: Poverty & unemployment

Language: ENG

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Tackling inequalities

Description

The growing divide between the poor and the rich is the most significant social change to have occurred during the last few decades. The new Labour government inherited a country more unequal than at any other time since the Second World War. This book brings together a collection of contributions on inequalities in the main areas of British life: income, wealth, standard of living, employment, education, housing, crime and health.  It charts the extent of the growth in inequalities and offers a coherent critique of the new Labour government's policies aimed at those tackling this crisis. In particular, the numerous area-based anti-poverty policies currently being pursued are unlikely to have a significant and long-lasting effect, since many lessons from the past have been ignored. The contributors use and interpret official data to show how statistics are often misused to obscure or distort the reality of inequality. A range of alternative policies for reducing inequalities in Britain are discussed and set within the global context of the need for international action.  Tackling inequalities is a valuable contribution to the emerging policy debate written by the leading researchers in the field. It is essential reading for academics, policy makers, and students with an interest in inequalities, poverty and social exclusion. Studies in poverty, inequality and social exclusion series Series Editor: David Gordon, Director, Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research. Poverty, inequality and social exclusion remain the most fundamental problems that humanity faces in the 21st century. This exciting series, published in association with the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, aims to make cutting-edge poverty related research more widely available. For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.

Chapter

TACKLING INEQUALITIES

Contents

List of tables and figures

Preface

Radical Statistics

Our history

Our activities

What is radical about statistics?

Acknowledgements

List of acronyms

Notes on contributors

1. Introduction

Inequality, poverty and politics

New Labour, equality and redistribution

New Labour, the third way and modern welfare

Inequality, social cohesion and economic efficiency

Organisation of the book

2. Inequalities in income, wealth and standard of living in Britain

Introduction

Defining income

Defining wealth

Relationship between income, standard of living, poverty and wealth

Low income statistics

International comparisons

Problems with the HBAI statistics

Wealth statistics

The very wealthy

Inequalities in standard of living

New Labour’s policy response

Area-based policies

Maximum wage and wealth taxes

Conclusions

3. Inequalities in employment: problems of spatial divergence

Introduction

Patterns of labour demand

Consequences for labour supply

Female labour market accounts

Conclusions and implications

Acknowledgements

4. Educational inequalities and Education Action Zones

Introduction

Data sources

Government policies

Evaluating area-based interventions

Conclusions

5. How can we end inequalities in housing?

Introduction

Background

Housing conditions

Homelessness

Residualisation of council housing

Housing and social exclusion

Responses

6. Tackling inequalities in crime and social harm

Introduction

New Deal for Communities

New Labour and ‘Left Realism’

Mapping the extent of social harm

Conclusions

7. Poverty across the life-course and health

Introduction: poverty, inequality and health

Deprivation at different stages of the life-course and health: aetiological considerations

Poverty across the life-course in Britain

Which policies could reduce ill-health caused by poverty?

Health Action Zones and area-based health policies

Conclusions

8. Inequalities in health service provision: how research findings are ignored

Health inequalities: the awkward genie

Effectiveness measured by activity levels

Lip-service to health prevention

Tobacco and cannabis: contradictory responses

Rationing: the Oregon experiment

BSE – mad government disease

The nutritional supplement scandal

The European alternative

Women’s health is the chief victim

A sorry tale: where next?

9. A mortality league table for Cabinet Ministers?

Introduction: is it worth reducing inequalities in health?

British democracy is weakest where people’s lives are shortest

New Labour has a monopoly on premature mortality

Changes in the Cabinet 1997 to 1999

Changes in mortality 1981 to 1995

The 1997 General Election was not won by New Labour, but lost by the Conservatives

Conclusions

10. Ending world poverty in the 21st century

Doubts about social progress

Myths and realities

An international breakthrough: two Copenhagen measures

Dual style of the approach to the statistics of poverty

The European Social Policy Forum

Investment in jobs

Reorganising the public and private sectors

International action

Index

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