Rich and Poor in
​British Society

Return to Ethics (Ages 14-16)

Extreme poverty, or absolute poverty, was originally defined by the United Nations in 1995 as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Relative poverty refers to a standard which is defined in terms of the society in which an individual lives and which therefore differs between countries and over time. An income-related example would be living on less than X% of average UK income.

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Discussion points about the poor

Discussion points about the rich

Plan B - Ill Manors

What does the song say about how poverty and deprivation affects people and society?

What issues are raised by the song?

At what points in the song do you think Ben Drew (the artist) is using irony or sarcasm?

The consequences of
​inequalities in society?

Information about the poor in Britain

 In what ways do some people get caught in a 'poverty trap'?

• Some people find that by doing a low-waged job they receive only slightly more (or even less) than if they claim benefits - this means that they lose the incentive or motivation to find or keep a job. The article opposite also reports how only a quarter of workers on low wages manage to become better off ten years on.
• Other people can be trapped into poverty because of their environment: if a young person lives in a deprived area where there are few jobs and their parents never saw any real reason to work hard at school (because there's no job at the end of it), they may not see any reason or be encouraged to work hard at school either . They may then continue to pass this attitude on to their own children, and so the cycle persists.
• Homeless people are also in a trap because without an address it can be hard to apply for jobs or claim any benefits, and without money they can't afford accommodation (and therefore have no address).

The Poverty Trap

Research exercises

research_on_rich_and_poor_in_british_society.pdf
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Video on the Emmaus centre for homeless people in Cambridge

The Salvation Army 

charities_in_the_uk_that_work_to_overcome_poverty.pdf
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Emmaus

Video: An introduction to The Salvation Army

Links to documentaries

Survey on attitudes to rich and poor in society

What attitudes towards money, poverty, or wealth do these songs contain?

​Information about the rich in Britain

Religious attitudes to money, poverty and wealth

News rack

Design a revision diagram

Sources
Fleming, Jordan, Smith and Wordon, Religion and Morality (Nelson Thornes)
Quiz was compiled from a range of sources including Gov.UK, the Guardian and BBC websites, and reflects most current figures available  for Sept 2015. In some cases where different statistics were found, an average or representative answer is used.