Families and Poverty: Everyday Life on a Low Income

by Mary Daly, Grace Kelly

Overview

The recent radical cutbacks of the welfare state in the United Kingdom have kept poverty and income management at the heart of intellectual, public, and policy discourse. This innovative book adds to that conversation, taking as its focus the role and significance of family in the context of poverty and low-income conditions. Based on a micro-level study carried out in 2011 and 2012 with fifty-one families in Northern Ireland, it draws from fresh empirical evidence to offer a new theorization of the relationship between family life and poverty. Different chapters explore such topics as parenting, the management of money, family support, and local engagement. Together, they detail the practices of constructing and managing family life and relationships in circumstances of poverty, making this book of interest to a wide readership including policy makers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447318835
Publisher:	Policy Press at the Univ of Bristol
Publication date:	05/15/2015
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Mary Daly is professor of sociology and social policy in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford. She is the author, most recently, of Welfare. Grace Kelly is a researcher at Queen’s University Belfast.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Introducing the respondents
Family life through an economic lens
The construction, possibilities and limits of family in conditions of poverty and low income
Parents and their children
Wider family relationships and support
Social networks and local engagement
Representing self and family
The policy context and implications of the findings
Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

“This work provides a rare and nuanced insight into the several levels at which the ‘sense’ of family may enable families on low incomes to survive or ‘get by.’

Hartley Dean

“This rich study offers important insights into the role of family in the hard work of managing poverty in both private and public spheres.

Baroness Ruth Lister

“A most original reflection on the impact of poverty and austerity on families—theoretically driven and empirically grounded. Wonderful work.

Jonathan Bradshaw

“This is both a compelling empirical account of how families live with poverty and a thoughtful theoretical analysis of the relationship between family and poverty.

Jane Millar

“Its emphasis upon relationships and human interaction gives policy makers richer evidence . . . around concepts of social, material, and economic well being.

Journal of Social Policy

“A solid contribution to the international scholarship on families in poverty [that continues] important conversations about how low-income families cope as social services are slashed and restructured.

Journal of Children and Poverty

“This theoretical framework is welcome because it anchors the book and differentiates it from many of the recent texts on austerity.

Disability and Society

“As well as becoming a social policy classic, this book should also be compulsory reading for politicians and policy makers.

Social Policy & Administration

"A strong statement about the struggles of families trying to make a decent life with little income. . . . An important perspective."

European Journal of Social Work