Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T09:17:04.629Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparing Public Perceptions of the Necessities of Life across Two Societies: Japan and the United Kingdom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2013

Aya Abe  and
Christina Pantazis
Aya Abe
Affiliation:
National Institute of Population & Social Security Research, Tokyo E-mail: [email protected]
Christina Pantazis
Affiliation:
School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Establishing what constitutes ‘need’ has been a long-standing tradition in empirical investigations of poverty. In their pioneering Poor Britain study, Joanna Mack and Stewart Lansley (1985) developed the ‘consensual’ or ‘socially perceived deprivation’ approach. This sought the views of ordinary people (as opposed to academics or professional experts) in determining the necessities of life. Their approach subsequently provided the basis for further UK poverty surveys, as well as studies in other counties in Europe, Australasia, Africa and Asia. Despite this international proliferation, comparative analyses examining public perceptions of need across different societies and cultures remain sparse. This article presents findings from the first Japanese–UK comparative study based on nationally representative surveys informed by Mack and Lansley's approach. It compares the necessities of life in the two societies, examining differences as well as common socially perceived needs, and explores two possible explanations accounting for the variations found. In doing this, the article seeks to contribute to international debates on public attitudes towards the necessities of life.

Keywords

Consensual or socially perceived necessities approachnecessities of lifepoverty
Type
Themed Section on Comparative Perspectives on Poverty and Inequality: Japan and the United Kingdom
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 69 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abe, A. (2004) ‘Saiteigen no Seikatsu Suijun ni Kansuru Shakaiteki Hyoka [Public opinion of minimum standard of living]’, Kikan Shakai Hosho Kenkyu [Journal of Social Security Research], 39, 4, 403–14.Google Scholar
Abe, A. (2010) ‘The myth of egalitarian society: poverty and social exclusion in Japan’, Saunders, P. and Sainsbury, R. (eds.), Social Security, Poverty and Social Exclusion in Rich and Poorer Countries, Mortsel: Intersentia Publishing, pp. 175–99.Google Scholar
Ballas, D., Dorling, D., Nakaya, T., Tunstall, H. and Hanaoka, K. (2013) ‘Income inequalities in Japan and the UK: a comparative study of two island economies’, Social Policy and Society, 13, 1, doi:10.1017/S1474746413000043.Google Scholar
Dickes, P., Fusco, A. and Marlier, E. (2008) ‘Socially perceived necessitives of life across the EU countries: structures and consensus’, 30th General Conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, Portoroz, Slovenia, 24–30 August.Google Scholar
Fahmy, E., Pemberton, S. and Sutton, E. (2013) Public Perceptions of Poverty, Social Exclusion and Living Standards: Final Report on Focus Group Findings, Working Paper – Analysis Series No. 3, http://www.poverty.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/WP_Analysis_No3_Focus-groups_Fahmy-Pemberton-Sutton.pdf.Google Scholar
Gordon, D. and Pantazis, C. (eds.) (1997) Breadline Britain in the 1990s, Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Gordon, D., Mack, J., Lansley, S., Main, G., Nandy, S., Patsios, D., Pomati, M. and the PSE team (2013) The Impoverishment of the UK: PSE UK First Results: Living Standards, http://www.poverty.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/The_Impoverishment_of_the_UK_PSE_UK_first_results_summary_report_March_28.pdf#overlay-context=pse-research/pse-uk-reports.Google Scholar
Halleröd, B., Bradshaw, J. and Holmes, H. (1997) ‘Adapting the consensual definition of poverty’, in Gordon, D. and Pantazis, C. (eds.), Breadline Britain in the 1990s, Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Harris, J. (1981) ‘Some aspects of social of social policy in Britain during the Second World War’, in Mommsen, W. (ed.), The Emergence of the Welfare State in Britain and Germany, London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Hillyard, P., Kelly, G., McLaughlin, E., Patsios, D. and Tomlinson, M. (2003) The Bare Necessities: Poverty and Social Exclusion in Northern Ireland, Report 16, Belfast: Democratic Dialogue.Google Scholar
Lau, K. W. M. (2005) ‘Poverty and social exclusion in Hong Kong’, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of York, York.Google Scholar
Mack, J. and Lansley, S. (1985) Poor Britain, London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Main, G. (2013) Personal communication, 15 July.Google Scholar
NatCen (2012) NatCen Omnibus: Technical Report, London: NatCen.Google Scholar
NISRA (2012) Northern Ireland Omninus Survey, June 2012, Necessities of Life Module, Codebook and Technical Summary (Revised October 2012), Belfast: NISRA.Google Scholar
Noble, M., Wright, G., Magasela, W. and Ratcliffe, A. (2008) ‘Developing a democratic definition of poverty in South Africa’, Journal of Poverty, 11, 4, 117–41.Google Scholar
OECD (2008) Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (2011) Income Distribution Database, OECD: Paris, http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=INEQUALITY (last accessed 8 May 2013).Google Scholar
Pantazis, C., Gordon, D. and Levitas, R. (2006) Poverty and Social Exclusion in Britain: The Millennium Survey, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Saunders, P., Naidoo, Y. and Megan, G. (2008) ‘Towards new indicators of disadvantage: deprivation and social exclusion in Australia’, The Australian Journal of Social Issues, 43, 2, 175–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, P., Wong, H. and Wong, W. (2013) ‘Deprivation and poverty in Hong Kong’, Social Policy and Administration, DOI: 10.1111/spol.12042.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, E., Pemberton, S., Fahmy, E. and Tamiya, Y. (2012) ‘Stigma, shame and the experience of poverty in Japan and the United Kingdom’, Social Policy and Society, 13, 1.Google Scholar
Townsend, P. (1979) Poverty in the United Kingdom: A Survey of Household Resources and Standards of Living, London: Penguin.Google Scholar
United Nations (2011) Demographic Yearbook 2011, http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2011.htm 9 (accessed 9 May 2013).Google Scholar
Van den Bosch, K. (1998) ‘Perceptions of the minimum standard of living in Belgium: is there a consensus?’, in Andreß, H. J. (ed.), Empirical Poverty Research in a Comparative Perspective, Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
World Economics (2012) Maddison Historical GDP Data, http://www.worldeconomics.com/Data/MadisonHistoricalGDP/Madison%20Historical%20GDP%20Data.efp (accessed 7 February 2012].Google Scholar