Foreword to Pauvreté & inégalités en Grande-Bretagne

Pauvreté et inégalités en Grande-Bretagne de 1942 à 1990
Ouvrage collectif sous la direction de Monica Charlot :
Andrée Sheperd
Françoise Barret-Ducrocq
Antoine Capet
Emanuelle Avril
A.B. Atkinson
Michel Lemosse
Paul Brennan
Institut Gallup

2-7080-0966-4
2-84120-005-1

In this book you will find articles exploring different approaches to the study of poverty and inequality. First two explanations of poverty: that of the New Left (Andrée Shepherd) and that of the Feminists (Françoise Barret-Ducrocq).
Poverty in Britain today is rarely absolute that is due to the lack of food, clothing or housing, although in recent years we have seen an increase in the homeless. Relative poverty, however, that is the inability to live in relation to the normal expectations of the average person in Britain, is common.

How can this relative poverty be measured? The most generally accepted method of measuring the extent of poverty has been to use the supplementary benefit/income support line which is presumed to be the minimum below which the Government says that it cannot allow people's income to fall. The measure used is of great importance because the number of the poor varies with the definition used. If the claiming of supplementary benefit is the criterion chosen there were in 1990—at the end of the period considered here—some 11 million people living in poverty.

As Antoine Capet has shown hopes were high of eliminating poverty in the 40s. The major groups in which the majority of the poor are to be found are: the low-paid, the unemployed, the elderly, the sick and disabled and single parents. There is more poverty in the north of the country than in the south.

Emmanuelle Avril traces the evolution of the Labour Party in the Tatcher years and their attitudes towars poverty.

The major expert in Britain on the link between income and poverty, A.B. Atkinson, has contributed an article on that topic. Inequality, that is unequal rewards for different groups within society is related to social class, gender, ethnicity and locality.

Michel Lemosse examines here how the state has tried to fight against inequality in education.

Paul Brennan traces the evolution of poverty over the period.

Finally, you will find an article on the perceptions of poverty among the general public, based on an enquiry undertaken by Gallup Poll for the European Community in 1976. In addition to the articles there is a bibliography which although selective is quite extensive for this is a complex subject, followed by definitions of many of the key terms needed to explore the phenomena of poverty and inequality.

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