Povery - Key Words

Absolute Poverty - a situation in which someone lacks the money to pay for the food, clothing and housing necessary to maintain a healthy way of life

Relative Poverty - a situation in which someone can't afford to possess the kind of things and participate in the kind of activities considered by members of society to be a normal part of life

Social Exclusion - when people are unable, or feel unable, to play a full part in society. This may be owning to a lack of material resources, discrimination by others or a sense that the rest of society neither wants nor respects them

Environmental Poverty - deprivation experienced in neighbourhoods that are ugly, dirty, unsafe and which lack adequate services and amenities

Relative Deprivation - felt when people compare their own situation to that of others whom they believe to be unfairly better off than them

Poverty Trap -  the particular difficulties the poor may experience eg. finding a job that pays more than is receiving from benefits, saving money by buying in bulk or by buying high quality goods, avoiding borrowing which adds interest payments to their spending

Cycle of Deprivation - a social process which may lead the children of poor parents to suffer poverty when adults. The factors  identified as driving the process will depend on the perspective of the sociologists outlining the cycle