Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T05:37:12.763Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Material poverty and multiple deprivation in Britain: the distinctiveness of multidimensional assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2015

Rod Hick
Rod Hick*
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK E-mail: hickr@cardiff.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Poverty analysis is currently undergoing a multidimensional turn, increasingly focusing on the many ways in which human life can be impoverished and not just on material poverty. In this paper, we present an analysis of material poverty and multiple deprivation in Britain, which is inspired by the capability approach. We argue that the additional complexity of multidimensional analysis requires that it provides some insight not achieved by a more straightforward approach focusing on material poverty alone. Our findings indicate that whether a multidimensional assessment identifies different people as being in poverty depends on whether our interest is in identifying vulnerable individuals or in identifying vulnerable groups and whether we focus on dimensions in aggregate or disaggregate forms. We find that, although material poverty and multiple deprivation identify very different individuals, they display greater congruence in terms of identifying vulnerable groups, especially where aggregate measures are used.

Keywords

Britaincapability approachdeprivationmultidimensionalpoverty
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 277 - 308
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2015 

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

Anand, P., Hunter, G., Carter, I., Dowding, K., Guala, F. and van Hees, M. (2009) The development of capability indicators. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 10(1): 125–152.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A. B., Cantillon, B., Marlier, E. and Nolan, B. (2002) Social Indicators: The EU and Social Inclusion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, M. (2005) Social Exclusion in Great Britain: An Empirical Investigation and Comparison with the EU. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Boarini, R. and D’Ercole, M. M. (2006) Measures of Material Deprivation in OECD Countries. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J. and Finch, N. (2003) Overlaps in Dimensions of Poverty. Journal of Social Policy 32(4): 513–525.Google Scholar
Burchardt, T., Evans, M. and Holder, H. (2010) Measuring Inequality: Autonomy. The Degree of Empowerment in Decisions About One’s Own Life. London: CASE/OPHI.Google Scholar
Burchardt, T. and Vizard, P. (2011) “Operationalising” the capability approach as a basis for equality and human rights monitoring in Twenty-first century Britain. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 12(1): 91–119.Google Scholar
Burchardt, T., Le Grand, J. and Piachaud, D. (1999) Social Exclusion in Britain 1991–1995. Social Policy and Administration 33(3): 227–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burchardt, T., Le Grand, J. and Piachaud, D. (2002) Degrees of Exclusion: Developing a Dynamic Multi-Dimensional Measure. In Hills J., Le Grand J. and Piachaud D. (eds.), Understanding Social Exclusion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 30–42.Google Scholar
Burchi, F., De Muro, P. and Kollar, E. (2013) Which Dimensions Should Matter for Capabilities? A Constitutional Approach. Paper presented at the 2013 EAEPE Conference, Paris.Google Scholar
Coromaldi, M. and Zoli, M. (2007) A Multidimensional Poverty Analysis: Evidence from Italian Data. Rome: Tor Vegata University, CEIS.Google Scholar
Förster, M. F. (2005) The European Social Space Revisited: Comparing Poverty in the Enlarged European Union. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis 7(1): 29–48.Google Scholar
Halleröd, B. and Larsson, D. (2008) Poverty, Welfare Problems and Social Exclusion. International Journal of Social Welfare 17(1): 15–25.Google Scholar
Hick, R. (2012) The Capability Approach: Insights for a New Poverty Focus. Journal of Social Policy 41(2): 291–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hick, R. (2013) Poverty, Preference or Pensioners? Measuring Material Deprivation in the UK. Fiscal Studies 34(1): 31–54.Google Scholar
Hick, R. (2014) On “Consistent” Poverty. Social Indicators Research 118(3): 1087–1102.Google Scholar
Hick, R. ( forthcoming) Three Perspectives on the Mismatch Between Measures of Material Poverty. British Journal of Sociology. Available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1468-4446/earlyview.Google Scholar
Ibrahim, S. and Alkire, S. (2007) Agency and Empowerment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators. Oxford Development Studies 35(4): 379–403.Google Scholar
Levy, H. and Jenkins, S. P. (2008) Documentation for Derived Current and Annual Net Household Income Variables, BHPS waves 1–16. Retrieved 22 February 2010 from http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/doc/3909%5Cmrdoc%5Cpdf%5C3909userguide.pdf.Google Scholar
Lister, R. (2004) Poverty. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
McKay, S. (2004) Poverty or Preference: What do ‘Consensual Deprivation Indicators’ Really Measure? Fiscal Studies 25(2): 201–223.Google Scholar
Nolan, B. and Whelan, C. T. (1996) Resources, Deprivation and Poverty. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nolan, B. and Whelan, C. T. (2009) Using Non-Monetary Deprivation Indicators to Analyse Poverty and Social Exclusion in Rich Countries: Lessons from Europe? Dublin: University College Dublin.Google Scholar
Nolan, B. and Whelan, C. T. (2011) Poverty and Deprivation in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Notten, G. and Roelen, K. (2010) Cross-National Comparisons of Monetary and Multidimensional Child Poverty in the European Union: Puzzling with the Few Pieces that the EU-SILC Provides. Manchester: University of Manchester/BWPI.Google Scholar
Rippin, N. (2012) Operationalising the Capability Approach: A German Correlation Sensitive Poverty Index (No. 132). Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth-Discussion Papers.Google Scholar
Robeyns, I. (2005) Selecting Capabilities for Quality of Life Measurement. Social Indicators Research 74(1): 191–215.Google Scholar
Roelen, K., Gassmann, F. and Neubourg, D. (2012) False Positives or Hidden Dimensions: What can Monetary and Multidimensional Measurement Tell us about Child Poverty in Vietnam. International Journal of Social Welfare 21: 393–407.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1999) Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (2009) The Idea of Justice. London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
Sugden, R. (1993) Welfare, resources and capabilities: A review of Inequality Reexamined by Amartya Sen. Journal of Economic Literature 31(4): 1947–1962.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, M., Walker, R. and Williams, G. (2008) Measuring Poverty in Britain as a Multi-Dimensional Concept, 1991 to 2003. Journal of Social Policy 37(4): 597–620.Google Scholar
Tsakloglou, P. and Papadopoulos, F. (2002) Aggregate Level and Determining Factors of Social Exclusion in Twelve European Countries. Journal of European Social Policy 12(3): 211–225.Google Scholar
Whelan, C. T., Layte, R., Maître, B. and Nolan, B. (2001) Income, Deprivation and Economic Strain. European Sociological Review 17(4): 357–372.Google Scholar
Whelan, C. T. and Maître, B. (2012) Identifying Childhood Deprivation: How well do National Indicators of Poverty and Social Exclusion in Ireland Perform? Economic and Social Review 43(2): 251–272.Google Scholar
Whelan, C. T., Nolan, B. and Maître, B. (2007) Consistent Poverty and Economic Vulnerability. In Fahey T., Russell H. and Whelan C. T. (eds.), Best of Times? The Social Impact on the Celtic Tiger. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, pp. 87–104.Google Scholar