BBC Media Action is the BBC's international development charity who use the power of media and communication to help reduce poverty and support people in understanding their rights. Sonia Whitehead will summarise how they have used qualitative research to both inform the development of TV and Radio programmes and understand their impact. Work will be presented from countries such as Ethiopia, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Somalia.
We measure affluence linearly on income levels, purchasing power and assets owned. In reality, however, there is a difference between how 'rich' people are, measured on absolute scales, and how 'rich' they perceive themselves to be. Often behaviour is based on the individual's perception of his affluence level rather than his actual level of affluence. This presentation explores the concepts of poverty, affluence and aspiration, and the idea that there are multiple ladders of affluence - which can make slumdogs feel like millionaires.
This paper proposes a methodology to diagnose poverty in Latin America, a useful tool in the design of social policies. The method assumes that poverty is not merely the lack of basic resources - income or of goods - but rather the outcome of a situation related to abilities, i.e. a structurally determining factor prevents people from freeing themselves from poverty. Contrary to market research, many of the approaches used to implement policies designed to overcome poverty do not attempt to find out how consumers feel about these policies, nor do they attempt to determine how poor people view their own social, political, and economic reality, which institutions they trust, and what their most pressing problems are. This paper intends to demonstrate that market research offers valid elements to address the problem of poverty and that it occupies a valid space in the range of social science tools so that, in the future, it might become a powerful social market research tool capable of addressing social problems.
The hyperinflation prolonged at decade in 80 and principle gives decade in 90 brought to Brazil characteristics much special in behavior two consumers how much at shopping, would you like be exuding good part gives population of this category, would you like printing attitudes typical in survive economy in war. With The stabilization economic panorama have changed dramatically. And what we will show through of side dish of behavior in purchase of panel national in consumers, sample national in six thousand domiciles, whose behavior in purchase and monitored weekly.
The long period of hyperinflation during the eighties and the beginning of this decade brought very specific buying behavior to Brazilian consumers, be it through the exclusion of a large segment of the population or by purchase attitudes similar to a war economy. With the stabilization of the economy the scenario changed dramatically. This is evidenced through the data of the national consumer panel, with its sample of 6 households, with weekly tracked buying behavior.
As a result of the combination of the "Culture of the Jars" and the mechanism of transferring of state funds to the private sector there were: - impossible food prices, but the people feed themselves - solvent demand in goods for long-term use - political and social passiveness of the population - extraordinary tranquillity That is also the reason why in the eyes of many foreigners, Bulgaria looks like the "Sleepyhead of the Balkans", like an incredible country. The sacrifice and the self-sacrifice of a whole generation (the older people) is one of the major reason for this. And so 0 the economic reforms are not coming, there is no large-scale privatisation, the employment rate skyrockets, the state enterprises stop operation one after the other, the buying power of the salaries decreases in times and there is no reaction to all that. For example, You would like to buy a losing enterprise or not functioning at all. As the enterprise is state, You address Your offer to the relevant state department. You make a very good mutual advantageous offer. Nobody else wants to buy this enterprise. It doesn't mean, however, that You are going to accomplish a deal. In most of the cases an enterprise of that kind is part of someone's scheme of transferring budget funds to his private firm. The person (or persons) empowered politically to hold themselves in this situation have enough power to send your offer in the dust- bin. In short Your "mutual advantageous" offer is not properly addressed to those who really own the enterprise and make profit out of it.
This paper analyses the findings of a survey evaluating Ihe nature and exlent of poverty in Britain, and compares them with the results of a similar survey conducted in 1983. It provides readers wilh insight into social change under the premiership of Mrs. Thalcher, based on an original survey methodology. In February 1983 Market & Opinion Research international (MORI) conducted the first explicit national survey of poverty for fifteen years, as the basis of the award-winning television series lireaiiline Britain, made by London Weekend Television (LWT). This survey developed the pioneering approach of Professor Peter Townsend, which argued that poverty is a relative phenomenon which is most appropriately measured by variations in living standards and styles. The two significant developments made in the Breadline Britain survey incorporated the first attempt to reflect the publics own criteria by evaluating which items - from a wide-ranging list covering diet, heating, household amenities, social activities, and clothing - the British public consider to be necessities to which everyone, regardless of economic status, should be entitled. Second, it differed from Townsends work by distinguishing taste from deprivation per se. In 1990 the survey was updated. This new survey formed the backbone of a series of television programmes entitled Breadline Britain 1990s. transmitted in April and May 1991. There were three important methodological developments in the 1990 study. First, the list of items was extended, to include a number of luxury goods. Second, the survey explored the adequacy of provision of public services, and the quality of the environment in which respondents live. Third, we included a booster sample of people living in deprived urban areas in order to be able to analyse the findings of particular demographic sub-groups in more detail than the national sample would permit. The findings reveal a high level of agreement about minimum living standards across all sections of the community, and that the upward trend in living standards in the 1980s has led to higher expectations of what people should be entitled to expect. The survey also establishes the extent of deprivation in Britain today. In a country with 55 million people some 7 million go without essential clothing, while around 10 million cannot afford adequate housing, due to financial hardship. One person in five lacks three or more of the items which most people consider necessities. The paper describes how the findings have been publicised and have fed in to the debate on the inner cities, and concludes by showing how survey research can play a valuable role in the field of social policy.
The paper describes and analyses two case studies, one at national and the other at local level. These examine contemporary living standards and public attitudes to poverty at a time of economic recession and strain on the welfare state in Britain, and the findings are compared with those from a parallel study in Denmark.
As a result public discussion of social issues is now increasingly focussed not on the mass of the people, but on those suffering extreme misfortune. When concerned for this unfortunate minority concentrates on income, its members have been referred to as "poor". Monetary income is not, however, the sole problem; the term "deprived" extends to cover those with bad housing, ill-health, or any of a range of other misfortunes. And when emphasis is placed on the probable tendency for a small group of people to suffer on a number of different counts, they have been described as "multiply deprived". This paper describes the plans for a study to investigate the problem of these multiply deprived people.