Suchergebnisse

The morning after the UK's June election, while Prime Minister Theresa May was doubtless ruing the decision to gamble her slim parliamentary majority, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was revelling in his party's increased vote share, the political commentariat was busy working out what could be learned from the way people had voted. The consensus, by and large, was that many people were tired of the politics of austerity, the cuts to public spending, reductions in certain benefits, rising costs of living and wage growth lagging behind inflation. But people on low incomes have another reason to feel worse off: the "poverty penalty". This penalty, also called the "poverty premium", can take different forms, including: being sold products which are of inferior quality, being priced out of the market and not being able to access certain products, and facing higher costs for the same goods and services. The argument that the "poor pay more" is well known: it was examined in the 1960s by Caplovitz in the USA,2 it has been researched previously in developing countries and, in the UK, a number of recent studies have sought to quantify the additional costs faced by people with limited financial resources. However, despite this, official data on poverty do not take account of the poverty penalty – meaning that people may be financially worse off in practice than is reflected in the figures.

This article examines the nature of Muslim mobilisations in local party politics and the broader question of political representation in local democracy. Drawing on original qualitative and quantitative survey data, the Muslim presence in local politics in Britain is documented and the nature of some of the tensions concerning their membership of local Labour parties is examined.It is clear that some concerns over whether the strategies used by Muslims to secure political presence in local politics are legitimate but there are also incumbent problems of discrimination, exclusion and stereotyping. This research suggests that there is a general feeling among Muslim councillors that Muslims have been unfairly accused of illegal practices of recruitment and have been treated unfairly within their local parties to an extent that goes beyond simple party and candidate competition. The article argues that while there is a need to ensure that all participation is democratic the concerns of Muslims themselves and the discrimination they have encountered should be addressed.

This case study reports on the research design and methods used in a recent project exploring food insecurity and foodbank use in the United Kingdom. The project comprised quantitative analyses of social survey data capturing aspects of food insecurity alongside qualitative interviews with people giving and receiving emergency assistance from foodbanks across one city in England. By taking a mixed-methods approach, we sought to triangulate nationally representative and statistically robust survey data with the in-depth experiences reported by people using foodbanks. This case study discusses the benefits and challenges involved in successfully conducting such mixed-methods research. The highly publicized growth of foodbanks in the United Kingdom has reignited long-standing but often neglected debates about food insecurity and its potential consequences for health, nutrition, and social exclusion. The underlying reasons behind the sharp rise in emergency food provision are disputed, and as data are scarce, these debates are generally not informed by evidence. Moreover, the voices of people receiving emergency food are rarely heard. Quantitative analyses of survey data provided a robust (but limited) basis for understanding the nature and prevalence of food insecurity. In parallel, qualitative research offered us direct insights into the experiences and circumstances of people using foodbanks. In this case study, we describe in detail the methods used in this research project, focusing on the strengths while reflecting upon the challenges and lessons learned when taking a mixed-methods approach to conducting research on under-researched topics, and with vulnerable groups.

Public attitudes towards immigration and immigrants, captured through social surveys, are widely reported in the media and used to inform political decision making. However, it is important to consider whether public attitudes are being accurately measured. This article uses critical discourse analysis and critical race and post-colonial theories to examine questions in leading social surveys. The article also draws upon interviews with survey managers and methodologists. In many high-quality surveys a 'white' identity is often framed as the norm alongside negative narratives of identity and difference. For example, in one survey question attitudes towards immigrants are asked about alongside attitudes towards alcohol and drug use. The objectivity of the framing and language of many survey questions needs to be reviewed. In the context of evidence of increased levels of racial discrimination, a new discourse is required to more objectively measure and understand public attitudes towards immigration and immigrants.

AbstractSocial policy making needs to involve robust evaluation to assess its impact. In this article, a social policy intervention focused on tackling food insecurity amongst vulnerable people is examined and the benefits and challenges of using an embedded approach to evaluation are considered. Food insecurity is defined as not always having the economic, social, and physical resources to ensure a sufficient supply of nutritionally appropriate food. Evidence suggests that food insecurity in the United Kingdom is increasing in the context of long‐term poverty, austerity, insecure employment, rising living costs, low pay, and cuts to welfare and public services. An embedded evaluation was conducted involving interviews with the intervention participants and observations of a series of cooking and food budgeting classes. The findings suggest that the classes had a positive impact on many of the participants, who felt more confident about cooking and valued the shared experience. However, given the acute problems facing many of the participants including long‐term poverty, policies aimed at tackling food insecurity need to go beyond cooking and food budgeting skills. The embedded evaluation approach contributed towards the overall impact of the intervention by providing insights that led to changes as part of an iterative process during the intervention rather than in the form of a final report after its completion. An embedded evaluation‐based approach can be resource intensive, and the role of the evaluators can present challenges, but it can help to bridge the gap between intervention design, delivery, and social change.

Unpaid caring is defined as any help or support provided to family members, friends, neighbours, or others because of their long-term physical or mental health or disability, or problems related to old age. It is estimated that there are over 5.2 million unpaid carers in England and Wales (2001 Census). Using the Small Area Microdata from the 2001 Census Samples of Anonymised Records, we examine geographic and socio-demographic variations in unpaid caring across England and Wales at local authority level with a particular focus on carers aged 40years and older, comparing those who provide unpaid care within their own household and outside their household. The distinction between care within and outside the household is based on whether or not the carer lived with a co-resident reporting a limiting long-term illness. We find a strong geographical relationship between levels of illness and of unpaid care. However, when this is disaggregated by whether the care is provided within or outside the household, we find that care away from the home is likely to be outside the geographical area in which the carer lives. Our individual level analyses suggest associations between rates of unpaid caring and a person's age, gender, ethnicity, social class, and the carer's own health status. Moreover, these relationships are different for people who provide care within or outside their own household. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of the dynamics of caring and for service providers at a national and local level and also for government focus on independent living for people with social care needs and those in later old age. Unpaid carers who do not live with people they care for are likely to face different demands. Support is needed both for themselves and for the people whom they care. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the context of the economic recession and welfare reform in the UK there have been ongoing political debates regarding food insecurity. Food has an important role in defining people's identities, yet the rapid growth in the number of food banks and food donation points in supermarkets and schools suggests a normalisation of food aid. Moreover, an estimated three million individuals are thought to be at risk of malnutrition in the UK. We examine: the discourse of food aid and the demonisation of those living in poverty, the scale of malnutrition, and the experiences of food bank users by drawing on survey data and case studies. Substantial numbers of people were constrained in their food choices, whilst food bank users had concerns about the social stigma of food aid. It is questionable whether the present policy approach is economically and politically efficient given the impact on people's health and well-being.

"In recent years, controversial issues related to religion or belief, discrimination, equality and human rights have come to the fore, especially in the context of public debates around multiculturalism following the 'social policy shock' created by the impact of violent religious extremism. For example should there be restrictions on what people can wear in the work place based on their religious identity? Should religious organizations be exempt from aspects of equalities legislation which are not in line with their beliefs and values? How should non-religious identities be recognized?In the context of increasing cultural and religion or belief diversity, it is vitally important for the future to understand the nature and extent of discrimination and unfair treatment on the grounds of religion or belief, and to assess the adequacy of policies, practices and laws designed to tackle this. This includes the overlap of religion or belief identities with other aspects of people's identity including characteristics such as age, disability, race, sex and sexual orientation which can also be legally protected.This volume is a benchmark publication on religion, discrimination and equality. It includes data and insights derived from the fieldwork, focus groups and questionnaire survey of a recent national research project in Britain. Its analysis presents a unique insight into continuity and change in people's reported experience over a decade of equalities legislation and political and social change. Grounded in empirical and contextualized data, its findings are placed in the context of European and international human rights law. Its findings will be of special interest to both scholars and practitioners working in the specific fields of education, employment, the media, criminal justice and immigration, housing, health care, social services, and funding, as well as in the broader fields of religion or belief, the law and public policy"--