The Invention of Permanent Poverty (Choice in Welfare) - Softcover

Dennis, Norman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0255363923 ISBN 13: 9780255363921

Publisher: Coronet Books Inc, 1997

Synopsis

Crime is caused by poverty and unemployment! If poverty increases, then so too does crime. Such is the conclusion of the 'no-fault' theory of crime that holds sway among the social-affairs intelligentsia. In The Invention of Permanent Poverty Norman Dennis rebuts the central assumptions of 'no-fault' theory. He focuses his criticism on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, whose Inquiry Into Income and Wealth of 1995 exemplifies 'no-fault' theory at its worst.
Norman Dennis reveals the flaws in the oft-repeated claim that 'the poor have been getting poorer'. Using the very same statistical sources as the poverty lobbies, he demolishes the claim that there has been an increase in poverty. In doing so, he reveals the statistical manoeuvres they typically deploy to substantiate their false claims.
More importantly, he takes apart the theory that crime is caused by poverty and unemployment. Poverty was decreasing in absolute and relative terms between 1961-79, but crime was increasing. Dennis also points out that earlier periods which saw high unemployment and a greater degree of absolute poverty were not characterised by social disorder, for example the 1930s and the last part of the nineteenth century.
Among the chief causes of rising crime, Dennis argues, has been the decline of the family and, in particular, the abandonment of the assumption that a man should make a lifelong commitment to marriage and parenthood. Crimes are not being committed by the downtrodden poor 'with no stake in society', but by young men who are being allowed to perpetuate their childhood long beyond the time when they should be taking on the responsibilities of fatherhood.

About this title

About the Author:

Frank Furedi is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent in Canterbury. During the past decade his research has been concerned with the culture of fear in relation to issues such as health, children, education, food, terrorism and new technology. Since the publication of his study Paranoid Parenting (new edition to be published in October 2008), Furedi has explored problems associated with inter-generational relations, education and childhood. Currently he is writing a book-Lost In Education-that questions the way society educates children and young people.Jennie Bristow is a journalist and mother of two pre-school girls. She writes the monthly 'Guide to Sub-versive Parenting' for the online publication spiked (www.spiked-online.com), and summer 2008 sees the launch of her new website Parents With Attitude. (www.parentswithattitude.com)

About this edition

• Publisher: Coronet Books Inc
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0255363923
• ISBN 13: 9780255363921
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 212