Social mix policies have become controversial. Claims about the harms caused by neighbourhood eff... more Social mix policies have become controversial. Claims about the harms caused by neighbourhood effects have been challenged while counter-claims have been made about the potential benefits for low-income households from living in poor communities. This paper examines two aspects of this debate: whether deprived communities provide greater access to social networks and hence resources in the form of gifts, and whether they provide worse access to resources in the form of services. Data come from the largest survey of poverty ever conducted in the UK-the Poverty and Social Exclusion UK Survey 2012. Results do not support either position in the debate. They do not suggest that access to services is worse in deprived neighbourhoods for all services, but only for a minority. While people in deprived neighbourhoods report marginally greater contact with family and slightly higher levels of social support, there is no evidence of greater levels of exchange of gifts or reciprocity through social networks.
There has been long running interest in poverty and people's social networks, particularly whethe... more There has been long running interest in poverty and people's social networks, particularly whether there are causal links between the two. Possible causal mechanisms include: connections into the labour market and to better jobs through social contacts; connections to influential people that can affect change; social networks among alike people that can offer support-in-kind; or social networks that somehow transmit cultures of worklessness or other norms. Key points Poverty is a key barrier to being part of wider social networks. It can act as a barrier to transport and also the reciprocal exchange of resources in networks. The stigma of poverty can also be a driver of self-exclusion from social networks. The social networks of people experiencing poverty do offer some financial, material and emotional support but this does not overcome socioeconomic inequalities Evidence regarding whether social networks in deprived neighbourhoods reduce the chances of leaving poverty through negative role models and social norms is mixed: quantitative evidence tends not to find an effect while qualitative evidence sometimes does. Attempts to diversify networks by increasing social mix in deprived neighbourhoods have often not succeeded. New higher-income residents have networks outside the neighbourhood, enabled by education and employment and greater access to transport. Stigma and prejudice reduces social mixing. Ethnic diversity may reduce trust in neighbourhoods making collective action more difficult, reducing reciprocal trust and ultimately reducing support for tackling poverty. Passive interaction, at schools, libraries, community centres and parks is an effective way of developing social networks among diverse people, including different ethnic groups. This informal interaction allows trust and understanding to be developed. It may also help combat stigma. Large investments to create social networks through community engagement have minimal impact on increasing social networks or tackling poverty. However, active volunteers in organisations can act as bridges to wider social networks, helping alleviate poverty. Social media use can catalyse social networks but don't generally increase them. Social networks in cyberspace tend to replicate those offline. They can help people experiencing poverty organise collectively, rather than extend or diversify social networks.
• This briefing is on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's (JRF) recent report Coping with the cuts? ... more • This briefing is on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's (JRF) recent report Coping with the cuts? Local government and poorer communities, published 28 November 2013. • The Joseph Rowntree Foundation commissioned this paper as part of its programme on austerity, which aims to track, understand and highlight the effects of policy changes, tighter public spending and the state of the economy on poor people and places.
The emergence of geographic concentrations of non-heterosexual individualssocalled "gaybourhoods"... more The emergence of geographic concentrations of non-heterosexual individualssocalled "gaybourhoods"is often linked to housing, demographic characteristics of the non-straight population, and wider discrimination. These neighbourhoods are associated with narratives of gentrification with the non-straight population acting as gentrification pioneers. In popular imagery, non-straight households are typically portrayed with higher disposable income, and more likely to live in owner-occupied apartments in affluent neighbourhoods. This paper presents data from the Scottish Health Survey showing a disproportionate concentration of non-heterosexual people in the most deprived places in Scotland. These neighbourhoods are predominantly peripheral housing estates, dominated by social housing; not gentrifying inner-city neighbourhoods. We use data from the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) to interrogate individual characteristics that might explain this spatial concentration of residence. We argue this means the narratives of LGBT gentrification and affluence should be regarded with caution given ongoing exclusion and deprivation among the nonheterosexual population.
The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Project is funded by the Economic, Science and Researc... more The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Project is funded by the Economic, Science and Research Council (ESRC). The Project is a collaboration between the University of Bristol, University of Glasgow, Heriot Watt University, Open University, Queen's University (Belfast), University of York, the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The project commenced in April 2010 and will run for three-and-a-half years. ... The primary purpose is to advance the 'state of the art' of the theory and practice of poverty ...
The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Project is funded by the Economic, Science and Researc... more The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Project is funded by the Economic, Science and Research Council (ESRC). The Project is a collaboration between the University of Bristol, University of Glasgow, Heriot Watt University, Open University, Queen's University (Belfast), University of York, the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The project commenced in April 2010 and will run for three-and-a-half years. ... The primary purpose is to advance the 'state of the art' of the theory and practice of poverty ...
Handbook on Children with Incarcerated Parents, 2019
In recent years, the increasing availability of longitudinal datasets has made it possible to inv... more In recent years, the increasing availability of longitudinal datasets has made it possible to investigate the consequences of parental imprisonment for children living in different countries. In this chapter, we compare international findings on three child outcomes hypothesized to be affected by parental imprisonment: offending, substance use, and mental illness. By comparing results across countries, we consider which effects of parental imprisonment on children are internationally generalizable. We find that with the current evidence available, it is difficult to disentangle cross-national differences in the effects of parental imprisonment on children from differences in sample selection, time of data collection, and other differences in research design. However, the increasing diversity and richness of international data sources nevertheless widen the focus of research on parental imprisonment in new ways. We make suggestions for research directions that will extend knowledge about the specific circumstances and mechanisms that determine whether and how imprisonment affects close family members of prisoners.
Social mix policies have become controversial. Claims about the harms caused by neighbourhood eff... more Social mix policies have become controversial. Claims about the harms caused by neighbourhood effects have been challenged while counter-claims have been made about the potential benefits for low-income households from living in poor communities. This paper examines two aspects of this debate: whether deprived communities provide greater access to social networks and hence resources in the form of gifts, and whether they provide worse access to resources in the form of services. Data come from the largest survey of poverty ever conducted in the UK-the Poverty and Social Exclusion UK Survey 2012. Results do not support either position in the debate. They do not suggest that access to services is worse in deprived neighbourhoods for all services, but only for a minority. While people in deprived neighbourhoods report marginally greater contact with family and slightly higher levels of social support, there is no evidence of greater levels of exchange of gifts or reciprocity through social networks.
There has been long running interest in poverty and people's social networks, particularly whethe... more There has been long running interest in poverty and people's social networks, particularly whether there are causal links between the two. Possible causal mechanisms include: connections into the labour market and to better jobs through social contacts; connections to influential people that can affect change; social networks among alike people that can offer support-in-kind; or social networks that somehow transmit cultures of worklessness or other norms. Key points Poverty is a key barrier to being part of wider social networks. It can act as a barrier to transport and also the reciprocal exchange of resources in networks. The stigma of poverty can also be a driver of self-exclusion from social networks. The social networks of people experiencing poverty do offer some financial, material and emotional support but this does not overcome socioeconomic inequalities Evidence regarding whether social networks in deprived neighbourhoods reduce the chances of leaving poverty through negative role models and social norms is mixed: quantitative evidence tends not to find an effect while qualitative evidence sometimes does. Attempts to diversify networks by increasing social mix in deprived neighbourhoods have often not succeeded. New higher-income residents have networks outside the neighbourhood, enabled by education and employment and greater access to transport. Stigma and prejudice reduces social mixing. Ethnic diversity may reduce trust in neighbourhoods making collective action more difficult, reducing reciprocal trust and ultimately reducing support for tackling poverty. Passive interaction, at schools, libraries, community centres and parks is an effective way of developing social networks among diverse people, including different ethnic groups. This informal interaction allows trust and understanding to be developed. It may also help combat stigma. Large investments to create social networks through community engagement have minimal impact on increasing social networks or tackling poverty. However, active volunteers in organisations can act as bridges to wider social networks, helping alleviate poverty. Social media use can catalyse social networks but don't generally increase them. Social networks in cyberspace tend to replicate those offline. They can help people experiencing poverty organise collectively, rather than extend or diversify social networks.
• This briefing is on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's (JRF) recent report Coping with the cuts? ... more • This briefing is on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's (JRF) recent report Coping with the cuts? Local government and poorer communities, published 28 November 2013. • The Joseph Rowntree Foundation commissioned this paper as part of its programme on austerity, which aims to track, understand and highlight the effects of policy changes, tighter public spending and the state of the economy on poor people and places.
The emergence of geographic concentrations of non-heterosexual individualssocalled "gaybourhoods"... more The emergence of geographic concentrations of non-heterosexual individualssocalled "gaybourhoods"is often linked to housing, demographic characteristics of the non-straight population, and wider discrimination. These neighbourhoods are associated with narratives of gentrification with the non-straight population acting as gentrification pioneers. In popular imagery, non-straight households are typically portrayed with higher disposable income, and more likely to live in owner-occupied apartments in affluent neighbourhoods. This paper presents data from the Scottish Health Survey showing a disproportionate concentration of non-heterosexual people in the most deprived places in Scotland. These neighbourhoods are predominantly peripheral housing estates, dominated by social housing; not gentrifying inner-city neighbourhoods. We use data from the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) to interrogate individual characteristics that might explain this spatial concentration of residence. We argue this means the narratives of LGBT gentrification and affluence should be regarded with caution given ongoing exclusion and deprivation among the nonheterosexual population.
The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Project is funded by the Economic, Science and Researc... more The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Project is funded by the Economic, Science and Research Council (ESRC). The Project is a collaboration between the University of Bristol, University of Glasgow, Heriot Watt University, Open University, Queen's University (Belfast), University of York, the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The project commenced in April 2010 and will run for three-and-a-half years. ... The primary purpose is to advance the 'state of the art' of the theory and practice of poverty ...
The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Project is funded by the Economic, Science and Researc... more The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Project is funded by the Economic, Science and Research Council (ESRC). The Project is a collaboration between the University of Bristol, University of Glasgow, Heriot Watt University, Open University, Queen's University (Belfast), University of York, the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The project commenced in April 2010 and will run for three-and-a-half years. ... The primary purpose is to advance the 'state of the art' of the theory and practice of poverty ...
Handbook on Children with Incarcerated Parents, 2019
In recent years, the increasing availability of longitudinal datasets has made it possible to inv... more In recent years, the increasing availability of longitudinal datasets has made it possible to investigate the consequences of parental imprisonment for children living in different countries. In this chapter, we compare international findings on three child outcomes hypothesized to be affected by parental imprisonment: offending, substance use, and mental illness. By comparing results across countries, we consider which effects of parental imprisonment on children are internationally generalizable. We find that with the current evidence available, it is difficult to disentangle cross-national differences in the effects of parental imprisonment on children from differences in sample selection, time of data collection, and other differences in research design. However, the increasing diversity and richness of international data sources nevertheless widen the focus of research on parental imprisonment in new ways. We make suggestions for research directions that will extend knowledge about the specific circumstances and mechanisms that determine whether and how imprisonment affects close family members of prisoners.
Uploads
Papers by K. Besemer