cycle of deprivation
cycle of deprivation
an account of the persistence of poverty which stresses the intergenerational transmission of social deprivation, principally through the mechanism of the FAMILY, although individual and community pathology are also implicated. The notion is linked with the CULTURE OF POVERTY thesis and was given political prominence by Keith Joseph, Minister for Social Services, in 1972.The commitment of successive governments to urban aid programmes (EDUCATIONAL PRIORITY AREAS; COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS sponsored by the Home Office and inner-city partnership schemes) reflects a concern with a supposed cycle of deprivation. Such an approach denies the importance of wider bases of structural inequality, and, as an exclusive basis to social policy, it has now been discredited.
Various other formulations or models have appeared which are variants of the cycles of deprivation theme. These alternative explanations acknowledge the significance of structural features such as changes in the occupational structure and unemployment. They also argue that the interrelationship between individuals, families and communities, on the one hand, and wider structural features on the other, are much more complex than Keith Josephs simplistic version assumed.