Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T03:02:34.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Social Creation of Poverty and Dependency in Old Age*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Abstract

This article examines in detail some recent data on the living standards of elderly people. It is argued that poverty is related to low resources and restricted access to resources and therefore the article includes summarized information about a wide range of benefits and services. Questions are raised concerning the various social policies and processes which have contributed to the creation of poverty and dependency in old age. The growing importance of retirement is singled out for attention as one significant factor contributing to the depressed social status of the elderly, and as part of the general tendency in British society to devalue the worth of elderly people. It is this social relationship between age and the labour market which deserves attention from policy-makers, who have tended to concentrate on the consequences rather than the causes of dependency.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 see Rowntree, B. S., Poverty: A Study of Town Life, Macmillan, London, 1901.Google Scholar See also Wynn, M., Family Policy, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1972Google Scholar, ch. 6.

2 see Cumming, E. and Henry, W., Crowing Old, Basic Books, New York, 1961.Google Scholar

3 Where the head of the household is over the statutory retirement age of sixty-five for men and sixty for women.

4 Layard, R., Piachaud, D. and Stewart, M., The Causes of Poverty, Background Paper no. 5, Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth, HMSO, London, 1978, p. 14.Google Scholar Here the poverty line is defined by the supplementary benefit scale rate appropriate to each family. Those whose net household income does not exceed 140 per cent of this minimum are ‘on the margins of poverty’.

5 see for example Anderson, Ferguson 1, ‘Ageing Population “May Cause Social Disaster”’, The Times, 26 11 1976Google Scholar, quoted in Bosanquet, N., A Future for Old Age, Temple Smith, London, 1978, p. 7.Google Scholar

6 Titmuss, R. M., ‘Pensions Systems and Population Change’, in R. M. Titmuss, Essays on the Welfare State, second edition, Allen and Unwin, London, 1963, p. 56.Google Scholar

7 Ibid. p. 57.

8 See for example Bacon, R. and Eltis, W., ‘Declining Britain’, The Sunday Times, 2, 9 and 16 11 1975Google Scholar; and a more detailed discussion in Bacon, R. and Eltis, W., Britain's Economic Problem, Macmillan, London, 1976.Google Scholar

9 Booth, Charles, Pauperism: A Picture and the Endowment of Old Age: An Argument, Macmillan, London, 1892Google Scholar; and Booth, Charles, The Aged Poor: Condition, Macmillan, London, 1894.Google Scholar

10 see Townsend, P., The Family Life of Old People, Pelican Books, Harmondsworth, 1957, especially ch. 12Google Scholar; Cole, D. with Utting, J., The Economic Circumstances of Old People, Codicote Press, Welwyn, 1962Google Scholar; Townsend, P. and Wedderburn, D., The Aged in the Welfare State, G. Bell and Sons London, 1965Google Scholar; Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, Financial and Other Circumstances of Retirement Pensioners, HMSO, London, 1966Google Scholar; and Townsend, P., Poverty in the United Kingdom, Allen Lane, London, 1979.Google Scholar

11 Throughout the following analysis of income the main reference point is the SB scale rates – the minimum income for those over sixteen and not in full-time work. Although many working families earn incomes below this level, it is the best available approximation to an official poverty line. However, two points must be made about this limited definition of poverty. It excludes a large number of other resources gained, for example, through employment, education and housing, which also create and maintain inequalities. Secondly the level of living afforded by the SB rates is extremely poor and the use of these scales does not imply acceptance of this very minimum standard of living. It is worthwhile quoting the conclusion of the Supplementary Benefits Commission itself on the adequacy of the SB rates: ‘The evidence presented above regarding the standards of living of supplementary benefit recipients strongly suggests that the SB scheme provides, particularly for families with children, incomes that are barely adequate to meet their needs at a level that is consistent with normal participation in the life of the relatively wealthy society in which they live’ – Supplementary Benefits Commission, Low Incomes, HMSO, 1977, p. 28.Google ScholarPubMed

12 Shanas, E., Townsend, P., Wedderburn, D., Friis, H., Milhøj, D. and Stehouwer, J., Old People in Three Industrial Societies, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1968, p. 373.Google Scholar

13 see Coates, K. and Silburn, R., Poverty: The Forgotten Englishmen, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1970Google Scholar; and Syson, L. and Young, M., ‘Poverty in Bethnal Green’, in Young, M. (ed.), The Poverty Report, Temple Smith, London, 1974.Google Scholar

14 Butcher, H. and Crosbie, D., Pensioned Off, CDP Unit, University of York, 1978, p. 22.Google Scholar

15 Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth, Report no. 6, Lower Incomes, Cmnd 7175, HMSO, London, 1978, p. 234.Google Scholar

16 Ibid. p. 99.

17 Ibid. p. 127.

18 Rathbone, E., The Disinherited Family, Allen and Unwin, London, 1924.Google Scholar

19 Lower Incomes, p. 28.Google Scholar

20 Townsend, P., ‘Poverty as Relative Deprivation’, in Wedderburn, D. (ed.), Poverty, Inequality and Class Structure, Cambridge University Press, London, 1974.Google Scholar

21 This excludes the value of owner-occupied houses – see Hunt, A., The Elderly at Home, HMSO, London, 1978, p. 29.Google ScholarPubMed

22 Ibid. p. 30.

24 Ibid. p. 134.

25 Central Statistical Office, Social Trends, no. 5, HMSO, London, 1974, p. 170.Google ScholarPubMed ‘Low incomes’ are those under £1,050 per annum.

26 Butcher and Crosbie, op. cit. p. 32.

27 Ibid. p. 33.

28 Hunt, op. cit. p. 138.

29 Wicks, M., Old and Cold, Heinemann, London, 1978.Google Scholar

30 Hunt, op. cit. p. 139.

31 Ibid. p. 140.

32 Ibid. p. 141.

33 see Townsend, , Poverty in the United KingdomGoogle Scholar – the first study to attempt this comprehensive aggregation for different families.

34 Lower Incomes, p. 232.Google Scholar This excludes households with four or more children and therefore underestimates die value of social services to families with children.

35 Report of the Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth, Report no. 5, Report on the Standing Reference, HMSO, London, 1977, p. 53.Google Scholar

36 Lower Incomes, p. 208.Google Scholar

37 see Townsend, P., ‘The Changing Status of the Elderly in Industrial Society’, paper presented at the conference of the International Gerontological Association held in Bologna in May 1977, p. 2Google Scholar; and Csenh-Szombathy, A. and Andorka, R., Situation and Problems of Pensioners in Budapest, Research Group for Population Studies, Central Statistical Office, London, 19651966.Google Scholar

38 Lower Incomes, p. 146.Google Scholar

39 Ibid. p. 146.

40 There is no space here for a consideration of social policies directed towards younger adults outside the labour market. Clearly any analysis of dependent status raises a wide range of policy issues in the spheres of industrial organization and wage determination. Debates about those who are better off out of work than in work – usually poorly paid men with children – are carried out solely in terms of supply characteristics such as the individual's attitude to work, as opposed to demand characteristics such as firms’ recruitment policies.

41 Layard et al., op. cit. p. 127.

42 Lower Incomes, p. 29.Google Scholar

43 Ibid. p. 375. ‘On the margins of poverty’ here and elsewhere from the royal commission's data is 100–140 per cent of SB.

44 Ibid. p. 30.

45 Walker, A., Living Standards in Crisis, Disability Alliance, London, 1977, p. 4.Google ScholarPubMed

46 Financial and Other Circumstances of Retirement Pensioners. See also Atkinson, A. B., Poverty in Britain and the Reform of Social Security, Cambridge University Press, London, 1970.Google Scholar

47 Supplementary Benefits Commission, Annual Report, 1976, HMSO, London, 1977, p. 136.Google ScholarPubMed

48 The average gross weekly earnings at the time of the survey (1976) were £3,600 for adult men and £2,000 per annum for women.

49 Hunt, op. cit. p. 27.

50 see Walker, , Living Standards in CrisisGoogle Scholar; and Lewis, P., Pond, C., Townsend, P. and Walker, A., Inflation and Low Incomes, Fabian Research Series 322, Fabian Society, London, 1975.Google Scholar

51 Walker, , Living Standards in Crisis, p. 29.Google Scholar

52 Hunt, op. cit. p. 140.

53 Layard et al., op. cit. p. 30.

54 Lower Incomes, p. 378.Google Scholar

55 Titmuss, op. cit. p. 74.

56 New Society, 30 Januvary 1969.Google Scholar

57 Reddin, M., ‘National Insurance and Private Pensions’, in Jones, K., Baldwin, S., and Brown, M. (eds), The Year Book of Social Policy in Britain 1976, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1977.Google Scholar

58 Lower Incomes, p. 140.Google Scholar

59 Rowland, M., ‘New Discrimination’, New Society, 6 02 1975, p. 324.Google Scholar

60 If retirement is deferred the pension will be paid automatically from the age of seventy (sixty-five for women).

61 Lewis, P., ‘Off the Scrap Heap’, New Society. 6 02 1975, p. 324.Google Scholar

62 Hunt, op. cit. p. 61.

63 Maeda, D., ‘Ageing in Eastern Society’, in Hobman, D. (ed.), The Social Challenge of Ageing, Croom Helm, London, 1978, ch. 2.Google Scholar

64 Lower Incomes, p. 334.Google Scholar

65 Hunt, op. cit. p. 59.

66 Layard et al., op. cit. p. 50.

67 Hunt, op. cit. p. 60.

69 Ibid. p. 61.

70 Ibid. p. 23 (my italics).

71 Ibid. p. 65.

72 Schwab, K., ‘Early Labor-Force Withdrawal of Men Participants and Non-Participants Aged 58–63’, in L. M. Irelan, D. K. Motley, K. Schwab, S. R. Sherman and J. Murray, Almost 65: Baseline Data from the Retirement History, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D.C., 1976, pp. 4356.Google Scholar

73 Hunt, op. cit. p. 62.

74 Shanas, E., ‘Health and Adjustment in Retirement’, Gerontologist, 10 (1970), 1921.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

75 Ibid. p. 21.

76 Orbach, H. L., ‘Normative Aspects of Retirement’, in Tibbitts, C. and Donahue, W. (eds), Social and Psychological Aspects of Ageing, Columbia University Press, New York, 1962, pp. 5363Google Scholar; and Burfield, R. E., The Automobile Worker and Retirement: A Second Look, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1970.Google Scholar

77 Friedmann, E. A. and Orbach, H. L., ‘Adjustment to Retirement’, in Arieti, S. (ed.), American Handbook of Psychiatry, Vol. 1, Basic Books, New York, 1974, p. 633.Google Scholar

78 Carver, V. and Rodda, M., Disability and the Environment, Schocken Books, New York, 1978, p. 92.Google Scholar

79 Palmore, E. B., ‘Compulsory Versus Flexible Retirement: Issues and Facts’, in Carver, V. and Liddiard, P. (eds), An Ageing Population, Hodder and Stoughton and Open University Press, Sevenoaks, 1978, p. 87.Google Scholar

80 Ibid. p. 87.

81 Schwab, op. cit. p. 46.

82 Hunt, op. cit. p. 22.

83 This link is considered in more detail in Walker, A., ‘From Impairment to Handicap’, draft article, 1979.Google Scholar

84 Thane, P., ‘The Muddled History of Retiring at 60 and 65’, New Society, 3 08 1978, p. 234.Google Scholar

85 George, V., Social Security and Society, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1973, p. 110.Google Scholar

86 Department of Employment Gazette, March 1978, pp. 283–5.Google Scholar See also Department of Health and Social Security, A Happier Old Age, HMSO, London, 1978, ch. 3.Google Scholar

87 see Townsend, P., ‘The Four Generation Family’, in P. Townsend, The Social Minority, Allen Lane, London, 1973.Google ScholarPubMed

88 This point is considered in more detail in Walker, A., ‘Dependency and Community Care in Old Age’, draft article, 1979.Google Scholar