Synopses & Reviews
Poverty and Insecurity is the first book to examine the relationship between social exclusion, poverty, and the labor market. It challenges long-standing and dominant myths about the unemployed and the poor by exploring their lived realities. Work may be the best route out of poverty, but for many people employment does not solve recurrent poverty, with many individuals trapped in a low-pay, no-pay cycle between lowwage jobs and unemployment. Based on unique qualitative and longitudinal research, the book shows how poverty and insecurity have now become the defining features of working life for many.
Review
"This book is about one important part of the growing precariat, those who have fallen out of old working-class communities. It should make people sad and angry. It is a great corrective to the utilitarian bias exhibited by mainstream politicians. It should be widely read."
Review
"The book achieves its aims of providing a thorough insight into life at the foot of the contemporary labour market in a way that is sensitive and empathetic. . . .This is a good quality publication produced by a research team who between them have done much to increase understanding of the realities of working-class life."
Review
andldquo;Based on unique qualitative, life-history research with a andlsquo;hard-to-reach groupandrsquo; of younger and older people, men and women, the book shows how poverty and insecurity have now become the defining features of working life for many. An illuminating read.andrdquo;and#160;
Review
2013 British Academy Peter Townsend Prize
Synopsis
Winner of the British Academy Peter Townsend Prize for 2013 How do men and women get by in times and places where opportunities for standard employment have drastically reduced? Are we witnessing the growth of a new class, the 'Precariat', where people exist without predictability or security in their lives? What effects do flexible and insecure forms of work have on material and psychological well-being? This book is the first of its kind to examine the relationship between social exclusion, poverty and the labour market. It challenges long-standing and dominant myths about 'the workless' and 'the poor', by exploring close-up the lived realities of life in low-pay, no-pay Britain. Work may be 'the best route out of poverty' sometimes but for many people getting a job can be just a turn in the cycle of recurrent poverty - and of long-term churning between low-skilled 'poor work' and unemployment. Based on unique qualitative, life-history research with a 'hard-to-reach group' of younger and older people, men and women, the book shows how poverty and insecurity have now become the defining features of working life for many.
Synopsis
This book is the first of its kind to examine the relationship between social exclusion, poverty and the labour market. It challenges long-standing and dominant myths about the workless' and the poor', by exploring close-up the lived realities of life in low-pay, no-pay Britain.
About the Author
Travis Shildrick is professor of sociology at Teesside University.Robert MacDonald is professor of sociology at Teesside University.and#160;and#160;Colin Webster is professor of criminology at Leeds Metropolitan University.and#160;Kayleigh Garthwaite is researcher in geography at Durham University.
Table of Contents
List of figures and boxes
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Poor work, welfare and poverty
3. Researching the low-pay, no-pay cycle and recurrent poverty
4. The low-pay, no-pay cycle: the perspectives and practices of employers and and#8216;welfare to workand#8217; agencies
5. The low-pay, no-pay cycle: its patterns and peopleand#8217;s commitment to work
6. Searching for jobs: qualifications, support for the workless and the good and bad of informal social networks
7. Poor work: insecurity and churning in deindustrialised labour markets
8. and#8216;The ties that bindand#8217;: ill health and caring and their impact on the low-pay, no-pay cycle
9. Poverty and social insecurity
10. Conclusions
References
Index