RELATIVE DEPRIVATION IN DHAKA CITY: A CASE STUDY OF DHANMONDI

Abstract

The study focuses on the construction of a normative deprivation index for Dhanmondi, which in the traditions of Townsend (1979), Mack and Lansley (1985, 1992), Halleröd (1994) and Gordon et al. (2000), underscores items the lack of which would constitute poverty. However, unlike these studies, the present study does not measure the head count ratio but explores the dynamics of this normative construction of deprivation in terms of demographic and socioeconomic variables. The data for this study come from a sample survey of 149 respondents from Dhanmondi in 2008. The normative deprivation index for Dhanmondi in 2008 shows that 12 items out of 48 appear significant at the level of a=.01 in inter-item total correlation and more than 50 percent of respondents perceive their absence as constituting poverty. More than 90 percent respondents agree on the importance of 10 items- (i) three meals a day , (ii) Medicine , (iii) A fan at home; (iv) A good job, (v) Celebrating especial occasion , (vi) Meat, fish and fruits equivalent every other day, (vii) Regular monthly savings viii) Refrigerators ix) TV x) Mobile. The British society during the 1960s was more concerned with cooked breakfast, children's birthday party and a week's holiday, whereas during the 1980s and 1990s, it was more preoccupied with heating, toilet, bath, beds and damp free home. However, during the late 1990s, there was a shift of trend towards hospital visit and two meals a day. The Swedish society had more medical priorities than others and viewed glasses, vacuum cleaner and telephone as more necessary than bed, heating, toilet and bath as perceived by the British. In terms of correlates, the Dhanmondi deprivation index is found significantly related to occupation, education and age followed by residence, income and gender. Thus, the experience of poverty is specific to time and space and the item-wise difference between Bangladesh and British normative deprivation is due to the cultural differences of two societies.