Understanding material deprivation: A comparative European analysis

In this paper, taking advantage of the inclusion of a special module on material deprivation in EU-SILC 2009, we provide a comparative analysis of patterns of deprivation. Our analysis identifies six relatively distinct dimensions of deprivation with generally satisfactory overall levels of reliability and mean levels of reliability across countries. Multi-level analysis based on 28 European countries reveals systematic variation in the importance of within and between country variation for a range of deprivation dimensions. The basic deprivation dimension is the sole dimension to display a graduated pattern of variation across countries. It also reveals the highest correlations with national and household income, the remaining deprivation dimensions and economic stress. It comes closest to capturing an underlying dimension of generalized deprivation that can provide the basis for a comparative European analysis of exclusion from customary standards of living. A multilevel analysis revealed that a range of household characteristics and household reference person socio-economic factors were related to basic deprivation and controlling for contextual differences in such factors allowed us to account for substantial proportions of both within and between country variance. The addition of macro-economic factors relating to average levels of disposable income and income inequality contributed relatively little further in the way of explanatory power. Further analysis revealed the existence of a set of significant interactions between micro socio-economic attributes and country level gross national disposable income per capita. The impact of socio-economic differentiation was significantly greater where average income levels were lower. Or, in other words, the impact of the latter was greater for more disadvantaged socio-economic groups. Our analysis supports the suggestion that an emphasis on the primary role of income inequality to the neglect of differences in absolute levels of income may be misleading in important respects.     

Economic Stress and the Great Recession in Ireland: Polarization,Individualization or ‘Middle Class Squeeze’?

Following an unprecedented boom, since 2008 Ireland has experienced a severe economic and labour market crisis. Considerable debate persists as to where the heaviest burden of the recession has fallen. Conventional measures of relative income poverty and inequality have a limited capacity to capture the impact of the recession in terms of social exclusion. This is exacerbated by a dramatic increase in the scale of debt problems including significant negative equity issues. Our analysis provides no evidence for individualization or class polarization of risk. Instead, while economic stress level is highly stratified in class terms in both boom and bust periods, the changing impact of class is highly contingent on life course stage. An income based classification showed that the affluent income class saw its advantage relative to the income poor class decline at the earliest stage of the life-course and remain stable across the rest of the life course. At the other end of the hierarchy, the income poor class experienced a relative improvement in their situation in the earlier life-course phase and no significant change at the later stages. For the remaining income classes, life-course stage was even more important. At the earliest stage the precarious class experienced some improvement in its situation while the outcomes for the middle classes remain unchanged. In the mid-life course the precarious and lower middle classes experienced disproportionate increases in their stress levels while at the later stage it is the combined middle classes that lost out. Additional effects over time relating to social class are restricted to the deteriorating situation of the petit bourgeoisie at the middle stage of the life-course. The pattern is clearly a good deal more complex than that suggested by conventional notions of ‘middle class squeeze’ and points to the distinctive challenges relating to welfare and taxation policy faced by governments in the Great Recession.     

Polarization or “Squeezed Middle” in the Great Recession?: A Comparative European Analysis of the Distribution of Economic Stress

This paper analyses variation in the impact of the Great Recession on economic stress across income classes for a range of advanced European countries. Our analysis shows Iceland, Ireland and Greece to be quite distinctive in terms of increases in their multidimensional income, material deprivation and economic stress profiles. Between 2008 and 2012 these countries moved from being predictably located within anticipated welfare regimes to becoming clear outliers. For this set of counties, each of which was exposed to different but severe forms of economic shock, trends in income class polarisation versus middle class squeeze were variable. Each exhibited substantial increases in levels of economic stress. However, changes in the pattern of income class differentiation were somewhat different. In Iceland a form of middle class squeeze was observed. For Ireland income class polarization did not exclude middle class squeeze. Greece came closest to fitting the polarization profile. Changes in the distribution of household equivalent income had no effect on stress levels once the impact of material deprivation was taken into account. Changes in levels of material deprivation played a significant role in accounting for changing stress levels but only for the three lowest income classes. These findings bring out the extent to which the impact of the Great Recession on the distribution of economic stress across classes varied even among the hardest-hit countries. They also serve to highlight the advantages of a multidimensional approach that goes beyond reliance on income in seeking to understand the impact of such shocks.     

The melting away of class differences? Consumption differences between employee groups in Finland 1955–1985

In recent years there has been much debate about the impact of social class on individual behaviour, including personal consumption. The object of this study is to examine the degree of variation in consumption patterns between social classes in Finland in 1985 and to compare this with an analysis of data for 1955. The results indicate that socio-economic group was rather less significant when it came to differentiating consumption patterns in main expenditure categories, like housing, for the later point in time than it had been for the earlier one. In other words, the relative explanatory power of socio-economic group (and income group) has decreased in comparison with life-cycle variables (type of household and age of head of household). This suggest that differences in consumption expenditure patterns are no longer so heavily dependent on social class or economic resources but instead on the life cycle or way of life. However, this process is not comprehensive because, for example, the relative impact of social class on cultural consumption has increased.     

Deprivation,Social Exclusion and Subjective Well-Being

This paper aims at investigating empirically the relationship between self-declared satisfaction with life and an individual’s well-being as measured by the indices of deprivation and social exclusion proposed in the income distribution literature. Results on European countries show that life satisfaction decreases with an increase in deprivation and exclusion after controlling for individual’s income, relative income and other influential factors in a multivariate setting.     

Social Exclusion and Quality of Life: An Empirical Study from Turkey

We examine the perception of social exclusion and quality of life and their interactions among a group of Turkish citizens. For this purpose we used the social exclusion scale developed by Jehoel-Gijsbers and Vrooman and the WHOQOL-BREF scale. The study group consists of 2,493 participants who are residents of a city in Turkey. Our study was based on self reporting and voluntary participation. We used SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) for the analysis. We observed significant paths among several dimensions of quality of life and social exclusion. We found that the material deprivation dimension of social exclusion has a direct and negative impact on the environment and social relationships domains of quality of life. The material deprivation dimension explains 36% of the variation in the environment and 16% of the variation in social relationship domains of quality of life. This finding indicates that the material deprivation and social participation play an important role in the perception of environmental and psychological life quality. Physical health, social relationships, and environmental domains of life quality are important in the social participation dimension of perceived social exclusion.     

From Childhood Deprivation to Adult Social Exclusion: Evidence from the 1970 British Cohort Study

This paper analyses the common trajectories leading to adult social exclusion that children from disadvantaged backgrounds experience during their life courses. Moreover, it provides an assessment of whether education is effective in breaking the vicious circle of disadvantages both across and within generations. Using data from the 1970 British Cohort Study, this empirical analysis is based on structural equation modelling techniques and proceeds in three steps. The measurement model is first tested to validate three groups of theoretical constructs (childhood disadvantages, adolescent deprivations and a multi-dimensional measure of social exclusion) and their indicators. Next, a path analysis is conducted for describing the trajectories linking childhood disadvantages to social exclusion. In the third step, the multi-faceted role of education is established by measuring the extent to which deprivations in the educational domain directly or indirectly affect all the relevant social exclusion dimensions.     

Which Inequality Makes People Dissatisfied with Their Lives? Evidence of the Link Between Life Satisfaction and Inequalities

This paper aims at establishing a clear link between different types of inequality and life satisfaction in Europe. We analyse the relationship between life satisfaction and both income inequality and inequality of opportunity using seven waves of the European Social Survey. The results show that in Europe both income inequality and inequality of opportunity reduce people’s life satisfaction. Our main results suggest that all socio-economic groups are dissatisfied with income inequality, whereas primarily low socio-economic individuals worry about inequality of opportunity. We find that expected mobility is very important in explaining the link between inequality and life satisfaction for all socio-economic groups in Europe. We advance the hypothesis that life satisfaction is conditioned by a mix of normative arguments against inequality and by the fear/possibility to lose/gain a good social position. This result complements findings on the mediating role of social mobility in the relationship with subjective well-being.     

Child and Household Deprivation: A Relationship Beyond Household Socio-demographic Characteristics

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on poverty and social exclusion by analysing the type of deprivation of the household where the child lives and the level of deprivation that child experiences. Using the EU-SILC 2009 module on deprivation for Spain, we find that the level of child deprivation varies among household types, that is, even after controlling for the socio-economic characteristics of the household and parents, the lack of certain items at the household level induces a more intense child deprivation. Therefore, we can conclude that there exists an association between child deprivation and the household deprivation profile that surpasses the socio-demographic characteristics of the household and parents.     

Deprivation index for small areas in Spain

The term deprivation is often used to refer to economic or social shortages in a given geographical area. This concept of deprivation has been identified for years using simple indicators such as income level, education and social class. One of the advantages of using simple indicators is the availability of data, since they come directly from sources of information like censuses and population registers. However, the main disadvantage of these indicators is their limited usefulness when measuring a concept as complex as deprivation with a single variable. One possible solution to this problem is using compound indices, made up of a combination of simple indicators. For years, the concept of material deprivation in Spain has been measured using indices or indicators imported from other countries. However, there are no studies that investigate if all of these variables are really related to material deprivation in Spain. In this context, the objective of this study is to create a synthetic index for material deprivation for the municipalities in Spain, bearing in mind the variables available from the Population and Housing Census. The index was built on a principal components factor analysis. The analysis showed two factors. The first factor showed a high positive correlation to the variables relating to illiteracy rate, unemployment rate and percentage of manual labourers, while the second factor was seen as highly positively correlated to the variables relating to the percentage of homes without access to a vehicle and the dependency index and also correlated, though negatively, to the percentage of foreigners between 16 and 49 who lived abroad in 1991. The variables that make up the first factor can be considered to be an approximation of the concept of deprivation in Spain. This study proposes a deprivation index made up of three simple indicators available from national information sources: percentage of illiteracy, percentage of unemployment and percentage of manual labourers. With this index, the criteria for measuring deprivation in Spanish municipalities can be unified and a comparison of the results of the different studies in our context facilitated.     

The Impact of Macro-Economic Circumstances and Social Protection Expenditure on Economic Deprivation in 25 European Countries, 2007–2011

In this study, we investigate to what extent macro-economic circumstances and social protection expenditure affect economic deprivation. We use three items from round five of the European Social Survey (2010–2011) to construct our latent outcome variable, which we label economic deprivation in the 3 years before 2010–2011. The results of our linear multilevel regression analyses indicate that in countries that perform worse economically, individual experiences of economic deprivation are more prevalent: the stronger the rise in the unemployment rate and the lower a country’s wealth, the more economic deprivation individuals experience. We also find that in countries with high levels of social protection, people experience less economic deprivation as compared to countries with low levels of social protection. In turn, adverse economic conditions in a country temper these positive outcomes of social welfare arrangements. Finally, our study reveals that the strength of the relationship between a low income and economic deprivation strongly varies according to the economic circumstances in a country and the generosity of the welfare state.     

Cross-National Sources of Health Inequality: Education and Tobacco Use in the World Health Survey

The spread of tobacco use from the West to other parts of the world, especially among disadvantaged socioeconomic groups, raises concerns not only about the indisputable harm to global health but also about worsening health inequality. Arguments relating to economic cost and diffusion posit that rising educational disparities in tobacco use—and associated disparities in health and premature mortality—are associated with higher national income and more advanced stages of cigarette diffusion, particularly among younger persons and males. To test these arguments, we use World Health Survey data for 99,661 men and 123,953 women from 50 low-income to upper-middle–income nations. Multilevel logistic regression models show that increases in national income and cigarette diffusion widen educational disparities in smoking among young persons and men but have weaker influences among older persons and women. The results suggest that the social and economic patterns of cigarette adoption across low- and middle-income nations foretell continuing, and perhaps widening, disparities in mortality.     

Health,Quality of Homecare Services and Quality of Life: A Case of Frail Older Immigrant Adults

The theory about missing links of economic growth often lags behind the empirical estimations of such links. A consensus has emerged that ethnic fractionalization has a negative impact on growth, also when controlled for income inequality. Often, although implicitly, the assumed channel is social cohesion. We analyse the effect of fractionalization on social cohesion with a different inequality measure, namely a social measure of inequality: the Inclusion of Minorities Index. Our results indicate that it is social exclusion, which reduces social cohesion, rather than diversity as such. We conclude that future studies of social cohesion and its relation to growth may benefit from using measures of social exclusion next to ethnic diversity.     

More than Mobile: Migration and Mobility Impacts from the ‘Technologies of Change’ for Aboriginal Communities in the Remote Northern Territory of Australia

Changes in the patterns of quotidian physical mobility of the population are at the very centre of transformations in contemporary urban life. The city of Santiago, Chile is no exception to this trend. But these changes do not affect the whole population in the same way. This paper is based on a case study of a low‐income population group and how their situation of social exclusion interferes with their patterns of everyday mobility. In order to do so we describe in‐depth their everyday mobility in two central interrelated aspects: where and how these individuals travel during workdays and weekends. We conclude that in contemporary Santiago the low degrees of motility of low income population constitute one of the main ways in which contemporary social exclusion is enacted in everyday practice.     

Socio-economic status and divorce in first marriages in Finland 1991-93

Abstract. Various studies report an inverse association between socio-economic status and the risk of marital disruption. Using register-based follow-up data on first marriages in Finland intact at the end of 1990 and divorces in 1991-93 (n=21 309), this study aimed at gaining a better understanding of socio-economic differentials in divorce risk by disentangling the influences of various aspects of the socio-economic status of the spouses. Indicators of socioeconomic status include each spouse's education, occupational class, economic activity, and income as well as housing tenure and housing density. When examined individually, divorce risk was inversely associated with socio-economic status for all its various indicators except wife's income. All of these factors had an independent effect on divorce risk. The effect was, however, weak for the spouses' occupational rankings and housing density, and it was positive for the wife's income. Given the multifaceted nature of these socio-economic differentials, it appears unlikely that one single explanation could account for them all.     

Social Class and Conversion Capacity: Deprivation Trends in the Great Recession in Ireland

In this paper, we draw on Irish SILC data to examine the roles of social class, non-class risk groups and state policies in influencing enforced material deprivation as Ireland moved from a period of economic boom through deep recession and on to early recovery. We also employ Sen’s capability approach to explore the extent to which certain social risk groups differ in their capacity to convert social class-differentiated resources into increased capability in relation to avoiding material deprivation. The findings refute the notion of polarization either across time as a result of recession or as a result of more vulnerable social risk groups experiencing more pronounced social class differences. Instead, the impact of recession on social class and social risk group operated mainly in an additive manner with each having a relatively independent impact on deprivation. The exception was lone parents who were less able to convert the benefits of higher social class position into reduced deprivation levels.     

Income,deprivation and economic stress in the enlarged European Union

At risk of poverty indicators based on relative income measures suggest that within the enlarged EU societies located at quite different points on a continuum of affluence have similar levels of poverty. Substantial differences in levels of income between societies do not in themselves invalidate this approach. However, the relative income approach fails to capture the fact that, if countries are grouped in terms of level of GDP, between economic cluster differences in life-style deprivation are sharper at lower income levels. Support for the argument relating to restricted reference groups is found in relation to the contrast between the twelve most affluent EU countries and all others. The limitations of relative income poverty lines have little to do with the process of enlargement as such. Instead the major problem involves the weak association between income and deprivation in the more affluent countries. However, as a consequence of such difficulties, such indicators do not provide entirely meaningful comparisons of levels of disadvantage across economic clusters. The current analysis, rather than supporting the alternative of a focus on absolute income or an EU wide poverty line, suggests that we should take the argument for adopting a multidimensional approach to the measurement of poverty more seriously.     

Demographic characteristics,work complexity and economic setting as social status determinants

Various aspects of social standing are significantly, though differently, determined by demographic characteristics, by employment in different economic sectors and industries, and by work complexity. Various sectors and industries influence differently status achievement, and are characterized by different configurations of status determinants of their workforces. The public (government) sector is more meritocratic than the private one, as far as income is concerned. Also, the male achievement pattern seems to be more meritocratic, while the female pattern is more sensitive to transient influences. The indicators of socio-economic status, occupational prestige and income reflect separate dimensions of social standing. The indicators of work complexity with data, people and things are good predictors of individual's social position.     

Asset Impacts on Life Satisfaction in an Asset-Rich Country: Focusing on Older Adults in Singapore

Using a representative sample, this study examined the extent to which assets matter for life satisfaction among older adults in Singapore. Singapore is a particularly useful context to explore the relationship between life satisfaction and assets because almost all Singaporeans own their own house, regardless of income level. First, this study used a latent profile analysis to assess patterns of life satisfaction. Then, asset impacts on this pattern of life satisfaction were examined, while controlling for contextual and health factors. The study found that financial assets matter for life satisfaction of older adults in Singapore. In particular, older adults in both the moderate life satisfaction class (LSC) and the High LSC were likely to have higher financial assets. Comparatively, other economic indicators such as real assets, total debts, and monthly household income were not significantly related to life satisfaction of older adults in the Moderate and High LSC compared to the Low LSC. However, real assets and monthly household income were significant predictors distinguishing the Moderate LSC and the High LSC. Throughout the models, total debts were not considered as a significant predictor of life satisfaction differences. This paper concludes by providing several policy and practice implications.     

The Impact of Neighboring on Changes in Sense of Community Over Time: A Latent Transition Analysis

Sense of community (SOC) is associated with the quality of community life and the building of social capital. While its linkage to informal social behavior, such as neighboring, is inherent in discussions regarding theory, empirical evidence remains scarce. Moreover, the degree to which neighboring behavior influences SOC over time is largely unknown. Using a latent transition analysis, the effect of neighboring on SOC was investigated over a 5-year span from 2006 to 2011 among a sample of adults (n?=?165) in Arizona. Initially, a latent class analysis identified two SOC subgroups: Low SOC and High SOC. The likelihood of shifts in SOC class membership over 5 years was generally stable, with most individuals staying in the same group (82.3% Low SOC; 92.4% High SOC). Neighboring behavior and socio-demographic covariates impacted the likelihood that individuals changed classes, with 25.3% of Low SOC individuals transitioning to High SOC in 2011 and 55.4% of High SOC individuals moving to Low SOC in 2011. Specifically, having an income greater than $60,000 and visiting with neighbors lessened the likelihood of being in the Low SOC class in 2006; and length of residence and exchanging favors with neighbors lessened the likelihood of being in the Low SOC class in 2011. These findings have implications for both community design and community development practice. Design and development interventions that promote greater social interaction may help build and sustain SOC over time.