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Conceptual notes
Conceptual notes are a series of short papers on the key themes of the PSE: UK research, themes which go to the heart of current policy debates on poverty and social exclusion. The papers provide a short guide to both current research knowledge and the contribution the PSE: UK research will make. They are aimed at A level, Scottish highers and undergraduate level. Themes to be covered include parenting, child poverty, economic resources, well-being, social exclusion, community and family support, mental health, health and disability, public and private services, housing and the local area, employment and economic participation, political and civic participation, social participation, intra-household poverty, crime and harm, and older people.
The views expressed in these conceptual notes are those of the author(s). The papers are published under the Creative Commons licence and you may copy and distribute them as long as the Creative Commons licence is retained and attribution given to the original author(s).
Conceptual notes series
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Mental health, poverty and social exclusion
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Conceptual note No. 9 - Mental Health (Payne Dec2012).pdf178.49 KB This conceptual note explores the complex relationship between poverty and social exclusion and mental health problems in terms of how we might measure poor mental health, and in how we might assess the direction of causality: does poverty, or social exclusion, cause poor mental health, or does poor mental health lead to poverty and social exclusion? The PSE research has used the well-validated instrument, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) 12, widely used to indicate presence or absence of symptoms of what are often described as ‘common mental disorders’, which will enable comparison with findings from other research in the UK and elsewhere.
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Work
Attachment Size Conceptual note No.8 - Work (Bailey, Tomlinson, Sept2012).pdf149.27 KB This conceptual note explores work, paid and unpaid, looks at how the PSE research can examine the impact of the trend to an economy based on higher levels of low pay and insecurity and the impact of this on the extent to which paid work reduces poverty. The PSE also explores the quality of work in terms of aspects such as job security, control, flexibility, physical and social environment, anti-social hours and overall satisfaction. And finally the PSE study explores unpaid work and captures estimates of time spend on various forms of unpaid work covering work in the house, caring and voluntary work.
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Living Standards in the UK
Attachment Size Conceptual note No. 7 - Living Standards (Patsios & Hillyard April 2012).pdf661.55 KB This conceptual note examines ways to operationalise and analyse living standards in the UK for the whole population, not just the poor, using PSE: UK survey data. It asks how the term ‘living standards’ should be defined, which components and aspects should be covered, and how this relates to concepts of ‘welfare’, subjective and objective.
It suggests that a definition of living standards should include ‘what people have, what they do and where they live’, and that they are determined ‘not only by choices and personal preferences but also by the degree of command they have over resources which restrict or do not restrict them in having or doing or participating in things they have reason to value including not only items and activities seen as essential but also those seen as desirable.’
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The Significance of Family in the Context of Poverty
Attachment Size Conceptual note No.6 - Significance of Family (Daly, April 2012).pdf123.27 KB How poverty and/or low income are mediated and affected by family considerations are considered. These could be through practices, exigencies or condition, resources, processes and relations. Five main sets of ideas or concepts are considered as ways of framing key aspects of the approach: family practices and the way that family members organise their lives; capital (social and cultural) and how it is utilised through connections and networks; culture, including values, meaning, rules and the like; capacities in the sense of the resources and dispositions available to people to take action; and family solidarity looking at practices of reciprocity and mutual assistance among family members over and above personal interest.
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Intra-household Poverty
Attachment Size Conceptual note No.5 - Intra Household Issues (Daly et al, April 2012).pdf108.35 KB Intra-household poverty has generally been conceptualised as a matter of gender inequality, with differential access to resources within the family/household leading to underestimation of the extent of poverty generally, and hidden or invisible levels of poverty within the family/household. Household-level surveys struggle to capture the unequal (and in many cases unfair) distribution of income within the household or family; the money management within the households; and the known willingness of mothers to forego their own material needs in favour of others, especially of their children. This conceptual note considers how the PSE: UK research can investigate this issue through questions directed at exploring systems of money management and partner responsibilities, time expenditure and economising behaviour.
Categories: Conceptual notes
