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+--- Thread: Research Why Britons disagree about poverty: they draw the line differently (/thread-21242.html)
Why Britons disagree about poverty: they draw the line differently - C C - Sep 2, 2026
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1142409
EXCERPTS: People with different political beliefs do not only disagree about how much poverty exists in Britain but they also differ over whether the same material circumstances should be defined as poverty, according to new research from the University of Bath School of Management.
Published in Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, the study found that people with more right-leaning or welfare-sceptical political views were consistently less likely to classify certain material circumstances as poverty, while those with more left-leaning or welfare-sympathetic views were more likely to do so.
“This helps explain why public debates about poverty remain so divisive. Statistics can tell us how many people fall below a specified threshold. They cannot decide for us where that threshold should be drawn,” said Dr Joanna Syrda, author of the research paper Political ideology and poverty boundaries: Definitional mediation in perceptions of poverty in Britain.
“These ‘poverty boundary judgments’ play an important role in shaping perceptions of social inequality. People start with different assumptions about where the poverty line should be drawn and there is often confusion about whether we are talking about relative poverty, minimum standards of living, or absolute deprivation,” Dr Syrda said.
[...] The research found that people's opinions about poverty were linked to their broader political beliefs, such as whether they leaned left or right politically and how much they supported welfare, independently of the specific political party they voted for. Their attitudes to poverty reflected deeper political values than just party politics, Dr Syrda said.
The research also found that the poverty boundaries people adopt are closely linked to how they view the scale of poverty in Britain today, whether they believe it is rising or falling.
Left-leaning and welfare-sympathetic people applied broader definitions of poverty and were significantly more likely to say there is a lot of poverty in Britain. They also said it has increased and will continue to increase. Right-leaning and welfare-sceptical individuals adopted narrower definitions and consequently perceived less poverty... (MORE - missing details, no ads)
RE: Why Britons disagree about poverty: they draw the line differently - confused2 - Sep 3, 2026
As 'people' become less poor the cost of housing increases and they're back to being poor again.
In the UK..
Data from Savills shows that people aged 60 and older own 55% of all property wealth in the UK
In the US..
Baby boomers make up roughly 21% of the population but control about 38% to 41% of all U.S. residential real estate.
Right wingers like myself would point out there's an (unknown) amount of self-inflicted poverty, the poor spirited who would be poor however much money they had and those who make no effort to improve their lot.
RE: Why Britons disagree about poverty: they draw the line differently - stryder - Sep 3, 2026
(Sep 3, 2026 12:13 PM)confused2 Wrote: As 'people' become less poor the cost of housing increases and they're back to being poor again.
In the UK..
Data from Savills shows that people aged 60 and older own 55% of all property wealth in the UK
In the US..
Baby boomers make up roughly 21% of the population but control about 38% to 41% of all U.S. residential real estate.
Right wingers like myself would point out there's an (unknown) amount of self-inflicted poverty, the poor spirited who would be poor however much money they had and those who make no effort to improve their lot.
The main problem is that private pension schemes use to make up a fair portion of investment in property development. Over the years those schemes have folded and development stagnated. (Such as the Icelandic crash that lost some pensions for various councils and the loss of Carillion etc through the continued increasing costs of materials, manpower and legislative costs.)
This has left the burden fall directly on welfare funding to handle future provision of property for a majority.
The whole economic system would need a rework to patch it up and remove the mindset that everyone should dip directly into the welfare pocket without any backup plans.
As for poverty's definition, Poor is a struggle:
Using hand-me-downs, patching clothing, having holes in your shoes, missing meals due to costs, juggling from one red letter to pay a more immediate red letter, having a tanked credit rating and being stuck in an ever depleting rental availability spiral(Where the available properties get less with each legislative change tightening what landlords require from a renter, such as a decent credit rating etc)
Poor isn't about freeloading indulgences: keeping up with the Jones's, buying nothing but branded wares, replacing things because they are "so last year", expecting to get things because of entitlement (such as having welfare to fund holidays etc)