Discuss the difficult which sociologists face in attempting to define and measure poverty
Poverty is a political concept. When defining poverty, you have to look at the two sub-categories – absolute and relative poverty. However, how you define poverty depends on which end of the political spectrum you come from. ... The New Right believe there is no poverty in English society, just inequality. The Labour party however believe that absolute poverty is non – existent, and only relative poverty exists. ... Labour disagree, and have policies to try and eradicate child poverty in England in 20 years time. ... Absolute poverty is when you lack the basic necessities to live. ... Within absolute poverty there are two sub-categories – primary and secondary. Primary absolute poverty is when you don’t have the necessities to live, for example, enough food to eat for the week. Secondary absolute poverty is when you can afford to get the necessities to live; however the money you have is spend on other things, like fags instead of food.