CFE Social Issues Theories and Evidence of Social

CFE Social Issues Theories and Evidence of Social Inequalities

INEQUALITY IN THE UK Income inequality in the UK and the USA is now nearly 40% higher than it was in the 1970 s. The top 10% of earners in Britain have salaries which are equal to more than the bottom 40% of earners combined. The average FTSE 100 chief executive got a £ 4. 72 million pay package – taking two days to earn what a typical worker on £ 26, 500 gets in a year. The UK has more billionaires per head of population than any other country, with London hosting more billionaires than any other city in the world. Rich List

POVERTY The annual Poverty And Income Inequality In Scotland Report recently found that almost 1 million individuals in Scotland live in relative poverty. Median income in Scotland in 2012/13 was £ 23, 000, equivalent to £ 440 per week, the third consecutive annual fall. Denis Curran, Loaves and Fishes

HEALTH INEQUALITIES Deaths from heart disease are nearly five times higher in poorer areas, and cancer deaths almost twice as high. It is estimated that more than 6, 000 children in Glasgow are living with a parent with a substance abuse problem. Health inequalities

SMOKING RATES (%AGE OF ADULTS WHO SMOKE)

NORTH GLASGOW AND EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE North Glasgow has high rates of unemployment and child poverty. By contrast, the commuter towns of neighbouring East Dunbartonshire among the wealthiest in the UK. There is, as you would expect, a health gap.

NUMBERS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE 2010 -11

Numbers admitted to hospital with drug conditions 2010 -11

LIFE EXPECTANCY (2011)

OBESITY TOO! 38% of people in the poorest areas do not take part in any sport One in five toddlers in Glasgow are obese. 20% of men and almost 25% of women in Glasgow are obese.

PRE SCHOOL 2012 Save the Children report found that poorer children were • • • twice as likely to start primary school with developmental difficulties. twice as likely to have emotional and physical development difficulties. twice as likely to have problems with communication and expressing themselves or making themselves understood. were 50% more likely to face difficulties mixing with other children were 40% more likely to be behind in their cognitive development - the ability to gain knowledge and learn.

POST SCHOOL

INDIVIDUALIST THEORY The Conservative Party is the party most closely associated with individualism. Individualists believe that it is the individual’s responsibility to secure a decent quality of life, not the state’s. Individualists believe in individual responsibility and private ownership. Individualists believe in low taxation to encourage self reliance and hard work. Individualists believe that inequalities in health can be explained by “lifestyle choices” such as smoking, drinking too much, or eating unhealthy foods, which led to lower life expectancy. The Underclass? Individualists believe that the individual should take much more responsibility for their health care, to the extent of taking out private membership of gyms and health insurance.

INDIVIDUALISM Individualists believe in the concept of a “property owning democracy”. They believe that, if an individual owns a home that individual will take more responsibility over their life and the wider community. They believe home-owners, as opposed to home renters, are more likely to maintain and improve their home, in order to improve its market value. Similarly, individualists believe home owners will take more of an interest in tackling anti-social behaviour, as high crime rates will lower property values. They believe that state ownership stifles enterprise and innovation. They also believe that a cradle-to-grave system of benefits creates a “nanny state” and a dependency culture.

INDIVIDUALISM Prime Minister David Cameron has ‘modernised’ these classical individualist beliefs for the UK of the 21 st century. His Coalition Government has attempted to reduce the role of the state. His ‘Big Society’ encourages voluntary groups to support those less fortunate and the Coalition has cut benefit entitlements for those it believes are ‘workshy’.

INDIVIDUALISM The UK Coalition Government has also introduced wide ranging welfare reform. • • • Benefits Street The main features of the 2013 Welfare Reform Act include: A single universal credit Changes to the disability living allowance Private companies given contracts to get the unemployed back to work Those refusing to work facing a maximum three-year loss of benefits Annual benefit cap of about £ 26, 000 per family The so-called ‘bedroom tax’ has also been introduced. Those on benefits can have their housing benefit cut if the Government believes they have surplus bedrooms in their house

COLLECTIVISM Collectivists believe in the opposite of the individualists. They believe that the state has a responsibility to provide for the weakest in society. They believe that we should all pay national insurance in order to fund support for those out of work or too young, too old or to ill to work. In short, the vision of the welfare state which was established in the UK after World War Two. The Spirit of 45

COLLECTIVISM The Labour Party is the party most associated with Collectivism. There are still some ‘old Labour’ activists in Labour but most Labour MPs and MSPs now believe that collectivism in 2014 is different from the collectivism of 1945. Labour now believes that private ownership has its place and that the welfare state should not be ‘universal’. For example, Labour believes in university fees and means testing of benefits. Labour also believes cutting the numbers on benefits and getting the long term unemployed back to work. Labour: Tough on Welfare, Tough on the causes of Welfare

BIOLOGY THEORY Sir Harry Burns has investigated why poorer people, particularly in the west of Scotland particularly since the 1950 s, suffer from worse health than richer people. His conclusions are that difficult social circumstances, especially in the early years of life, have a dramatic effect on the body’s host defences. A child who is brought up in a chaotic environment, for example, having parents with drink or drugs issues, instability of care, neglect and/or poor housing will be brought up in an aggressive environment.

ITS NOT ALL TO DO WITH LIFESTYLE Poor lifestyle choices do make a difference to health and life expectancy. But, the middle classes smoke and drink too! So, lifestyle choices, on their own, do not explain health inequalities.

A CHAOTIC CHILDHOOD IS THE KILLER This has an immediate effect on the child’s nervous system and, later in life, the body’s capacity to fight illness. So, the long term answer to health inequalities is to tackle poverty. In the short term it is to intervene early with children who are at risk from chaotic upbringing.

AND A LACK OF CONTROL Sir Harry Burns also argues that while wealthier people with responsible jobs suffer stress, they have some degree of control over their lives, which makes the stress less toxic on the body. Poorer people, by contrast, have less control over their life, and the stress is much more damaging.

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE “We know that spending £ 1 in the early years will save £ 9 in the future. We know that supporting parents to build strong attachments with babies and young children builds resilience and behaviours that will help that child do better in later life. We know that play is vital to physical, emotional, social and cognitive development. ” Scottish Government Early Years Taskforce Sir Harry Burns on Early Years In line with the thinking of Sir Harry Burns the Scottish Government is prioritising intervening in the lives of vulnerable children in order to improve health and education in order to reduce inequalities later in life.

BAN ON SMOKING IN PUBLIC SPACES “All those who smoke play Russian roulette with their lives but the odds are heavily stacked against those in lower income groups as they are much more likely to smoke”. John Toy, Cancer Research UK The smoking ban has been in existence since 2006 and it has been a great success. There has been a 14% drop in heart attacks since over 40, 000 Scots quit smoking since the ban. Tobacco products can no longer be openly displayed in supermarkets. . The Scottish Government is expected to introduce plain packaging for cigarette packs. It aims to make Scotland ‘tobacco free’ by 2034.

ACTION ON ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO The Scottish Government has introduced minimum pricing for alcohol, ending supermarket deep discounting. Next on the agenda could be a ban on branding of cigarette packets. Cigarette plain packaging proposal

CAN CULTURE AND SPORT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Glasgow Life provides free swimming for Glasgow residents under 18 and over 60 and has the largest sports development programme in Scotland. The 2014 Commonwealth Games was a fantastic success and there is hope that the Games will leave a lasting legacy. Glasgow is encouraging grass roots sport and the regeneration of Glasgow’s east end through new sports facilities and affordable housing for local people. The Scottish Government is hoping for an improvement in health and well-being as the East end of the city is transformed into an attractive place to live and work. 2014 Commonwealth Games Legacy