Matt Barnes

Poverty and Social Exclusion in Europe

There are estimated to be almost 60 million people living in poverty throughout the European Union. This bleak statistic underlines the value of this important book which explores the nature and extent of poverty and social exclusion in six European countries, namely: Austria, Germany, Greece, Norway, Portugal and the UK. The book focuses on four ‘life course’ groups who might be considered particularly at risk: young adults, lone parents, the sick and disabled, and the retired.

The Duration of Bad Housing and Children's Well-being in Britain

Improving childrens living standards is a top priority for government policy makers. Whilst the presence of a link between bad housing and child outcomes has been acknowledged in a number of studies, there is little evidence on how long children live in bad housing for and whether the duration of living in bad housing is associated with other poor outcomes for children. This research uses five waves of data from the Families and Children Study, a representative longitudinal study of families with children in Britain, to show that the longer children live in bad housing the more vulnerable they are to a range of other poor outcomes included in the Governments Every Child Matters framework. The research implies that policy makers need to focus on reducing the substantial number of children who live in bad housing for long periods and that interventions in housing provision for families are likely to lead to improvements in many other aspects of childrens lives.

Short- and long-term determinants of social detachment in later life

ABSTRACT The benefits of engagement with social activities on health and wellbeing are widely reported by gerontologists. Less is known, however, about what drives withdrawal from and re-engagement with social activities in later life. This is an important area of research which has direct implications for public policies that aim to ensure equitable outcomes among older adults. Much of the existing literature supports continuity theory which assumes people will not alter their level of social engagement as they age or after life-changing events. This paper uses data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing over an eight-year period (2002–2010) to determine the effect of short-term changes in marital, employment and health status over an initial four-year period on the dynamics of social detachment over the following four years. We control for underlying socio-economic disadvantages built up during the lifecourse and find that these effects, including poor education, wealth and health, are the most important determinants of persistent detachment from social activities as well as movement into and out of social detachment. The effects are consistent in men and women. The effects of short-term changes in marital and employment status have little effect on social detachment. Recent deterioration in health, however, predicted movement into social detachment, which implies the relationship between health and social detachment is reciprocal.

Introduction: The Dynamic Analysis of Poverty and Social Exclusion

Jedanaesto poglavlje Povezanost između stambene politike, socijalne politike i politike urbanizacije napisala je C. Hamburger. Stambena je politika u nordijskim zemljama tradicionalno usko povezana s određenim socijalnim ciljevima koje se trebalo postići u suradnji sa socijalnom politikom. U novije se vrijeme stambena politika više okreće problemima imigracijskih skupina i posebnih društvenih skupina, među kojima u novije vrijeme važno mjesto imaju stari ljudi. Politika urbanizacije uvijek je vodila računa o problemima segregacije i u novije se vrijeme značajna sredstva ulažu u podizanje standarda u zapuštenim, prigradskim, suburbanim naseljima.Poverty and social exclusion have never been higher on the agenda of the European Union (EU). At the conclusion of the European Summit held in Lisbon in March 2000, the European Council stated that ‘steps must be taken to make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty by setting adequate targets to be agreed by the Council by the end of the year’. Following the Summit and the European Council in Nice in November 2000, each member state was required to draw up biannual National Implementation Plans for Social Inclusion, including specific indicators and monitoring mechanisms capable of measuring progress. The first set of plans were delivered to the Commission in May 2001 and have been summarized in the European Commission report, Joint Report on Social Inclusion, this being the ‘first time that the European Union endorses a policy document on poverty and social exclusion’ (European Commission, 2002, p. 9). This represents a significant shift in policy emphasis. Prior to the Lisbon Summit of March 2000, the focus of EU concern was unemployment, and particularly long-term unemployment, as the manifestation of poverty and social exclusion with which policy should concern itself. The Lisbon summit, which emphasized the role of social policy, alongside employment and economic policies, in combating poverty and social exclusion, refocused the European policy agenda, recognizing the multi-dimensionality of poverty and social exclusion. While unemployment remains a central concern, policy should no longer confine itself to labour market issues but should tackle poverty and social exclusion in all its manifestations. In addition to long-term unemployment, recognized risk factors for poverty and social inclusion include low education level, growing up in a vulnerable family, disability, poor health, multiple disadvantage in the area of residence, homelessness and ethnicity (ibid., 2002, pp.24–6). The existence of an intergenerational cycle of poverty and disadvantage is also recognized. The requirement for indicators that will allow international comparison of the success, or otherwise, of national policies to address poverty and