Poverty and Social Disqualification: a Comparative Analysis of Cumulative Social Disadvantage in Europe

Abstract

This article attempts to extend the classical monetary approach to poverty by the use of non-monetary indicators. Poverty will be looked at as a cumulative process of social dis advantage and a comparison made of the dif ferent forms this takes across Europe. This study is based on the results of a research pro ject commissioned by Eurostat to define and correlate several indicators in seven west European countries (Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy and the Netherlands). There is a convergence in some respects, but also notable examples of diver gence from one country to another. With regard to convergent factors, some are unsur prising. Precariousness on the labour market, defined as lack of job security or short and long term unemployment, is correlated with low incomes and poor housing conditions. The likelihood of living as a single person, or of experiencing marital breakdown or divorce, is also much greater for people whose status on the labour market is insecure. Precari ousness and unemployment also lead to an in creased dependence on state welfare benefits, and an increased risk of health problems. The most obvious divergences are in those areas which reflect the strength of an individ ual's social connections. Precariousness is not correlated with weak family connections or the non-availability of a private support net work in all of the countries studied. In Spain and the Netherlands, those who are without employment do not have a poorer quality of relationships with their family than those who are working. In Italy, this quality is, indeed, stronger. In these countries, along with Denmark, the general situation is one of a high level of support for individuals from family and friends, and this is equally true of those people facing social problems. By contrast, in France, Germany and Great Britain, it appears that job insecurity and unemployment are as sociated with impoverished social relation ships.