This chapter outlines why a geographical perspective on poverty and wealth is important and presents selected evidence on changes and continuities in poverty and wealth at the local level in Britain between 1981 and 1991.

Introduction

Context

During the 1980s poverty emerged as an increasingly more significant issue for public debate in Britain, throughout Europe and in North America. While a substantial proportion of the population emerged as winners from the economic and social transformations of the 1980s – with rising living standards and incomes – concerns grew that the losers – particularly when spatially concentrated – may become ‘dislocated’ from mainstream social norms and values, and moreover pose a threat to public order.

Key features of the restructuring in the economic, social and political arenas during the 1980s include the shift in jobs from manufacturing to services, a new emphasis on ‘individualism’ as the ‘enterprise culture’ was actively promoted, and ‘deformalisation’ and ‘deregularisation’ of the economy – accompanied by a growth in the use of more ‘flexible’ employment relationships (Gregson and Robinson, 1989; Room, 1990; Cross, 1993; Green, 1993; Silver, 1993). These processes were instrumental in increasing polarisation in the structure of the labour market between the privileged on the one hand – mainly working in high wage non-manual jobs; and the underprivileged rest on the other – engaged in part-time, generally low wage jobs, or unemployed (Buck, 1992; Gaffikin and Morrisey, 1992).