Rising social inequality post Covid-19 – an individual or societal concern?

By Hannah Malpass, Birmingham City University

This post and the subsequent conference presentation aim to explore the issue of rising social inequality and it’s effects upon the health and wellbeing of children in their Early Years. It seeks to consider whether social inequality is a concern for society as a whole or if it is best tackled as an individual, behavioural issue.

Rising Child Poverty

In 1999, the then Prime Minister Tony Blair made an ambitious claim that he aimed to eradicate child poverty by 2020 (Blair, 1999). In a 2019 report by Save the Children evidence was presented to suggest that UK child poverty levels had actually increased by over a quarter since 2010 (Save The Children, 2019). This data was published before the Covid-19 pandemic and, although empirical research data is still emerging, early publications suggest that the issue of child poverty has worsened during the pandemic (Marmot, 2021).

Social Inequality and Wellbeing

Social inequality inevitably puts a huge strain on families. Families who are in a poor financial situation often suffer greater mental and physical health difficulties due to stress, poor nutrition and poor living conditions.

In addition, a child who is born into a family living in disadvantage is, on average, likely to die seven years earlier than a child born to more affluent parents (Marmot et. al., 2010). In neighbourhoods with a stark social inequality such as the London borough of Kensington, there is a sixteen year gap between life expectancy of a person in the poorest areas and someone living in the most affluent parts of the borough (Marmot, 2016).

Marmot et. al. (2010) carried out an independent review of the relationship between social and health inequalities and found them to be inextricably linked. Marmot (2016) suggests that so called ‘social determinants of health’, those social conditions such as housing, diet and nutrition, crime and pollution levels which impact upon our health and wellbeing, exist throughout society and within each and every community.  They also highlighted that the first five years are the most important period in a child’s life in terms of addressing and overcoming these inequalities. This view was shared by Morrison, Pikhart and Goldblatt (2017) who reported that interventions commenced before a child turns five are the most influential on addressing the issues attached to social disadvantage.

Is this an Individual or Societal concern?

It is clear to see that social inequality can have a large influence upon a person throughout their life. However, opinions are divided when it comes to considering whether these inequalities should be blamed upon individual, behavioural choices or if they are created by wider societal structures. Governmental policy during the term of New Labour largely focused upon policy initiatives which aimed to provide early education to “deprived” two year olds and through policies designed to provide parenting classes and support services in the most deprived neighbourhoods (DfEE, 1998). However, despite the success of these policies and the positive impact of the Sure Start initiative, these policies were not continued by the Conservatives and during their time in office inequalities have grown (Marmot et al. 2020). The effects of austerity have been felt by society as a whole but the greatest impact has been upon those living in the most deprived neighbourhoods where spending has been reduced considerably, thus increasing the poverty gap (Marmot et al. 2020).

Research by Benson et al. (2020) has shown that public perception has a large influence upon the ability to tackle inequalities and that current public attitudes are particularly unhelpful. Benson et al. (2020) suggests that members of the public take one of two views; either that inequality is caused by an individual’s behaviour, that if you are poor it is due to your own choices in life, or that social inequality is something that will always exist because life is unequal and unfair so we have to learn to live with it. These ideas simply perpetuate the issues of inequality by emphasising the stereotypical view of people living in deprivation as lazy, work-shy and often with multiple children.

It is suggested by Benson et al. (2020) and Marmot (2021) that these inaccurate stereotypes need to be challenged before social inequality can be tackled on a wider, societal level.

Calls for Support

Marmot et al (2010) focused a lot of their recommendations on provision of high quality Early Years Education and targeted support for families most in need. However, in a follow up report in 2020 Marmot et al found that few of their recommendations had been actioned and that since their report support for disadvantaged families such as the Sure Start Initiative have been removed due to lack of government funding.

As a result of Covid-19 other support available to parents and families has been significantly limited over the last two years. Children had a period of several months during the first lockdown where even universal nursery provision was removed and, even following this, the uptake of nursery places has been shown to be lower, perhaps due to parental anxiety or changes in working patterns. This is reported in a specific Covid report by Marmot et al. (2021) as being a key factor in the worsening of both social and health inequalities. Furthermore, in research by the Health Foundation and Frameworks Institute (Elwell-Sutton et al, 2021) it is reported that in addition to the effects of Covid-19, social inequality is no longer seen as an issue by much of the public and that in order to tackle long term inequality a change to the public perception of the issue is needed.

Within the Early Childhood sector it is hoped that research that is just beginning such as the project by The Childhood Commission, which is being dubbed as the “new Beveridge Report”, will inform future practice and make practical suggestions for ways in which to reduce the effect of social inequality on young children.

Further Research

This topic is being explored in greater detail within my current PhD project which aims to investigate the multi-dimensional relationships between social inequality, wellbeing and play in young children. The project has been carried out through the lens of current and trainee Early Years professionals and parents of children aged birth to five. Some of the preliminary findings of this project will be shared with delegates during the presentation at BECERA, along with further reflections upon key literature and policy from this area.

Hannah Malpass MA, BA (Hons) (she/her) is a qualified Primary teacher with a particular interest in Early Years. Having taught for several years in a range of settings, is now working for Birmingham City University as a Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant, teaching on the BA Early Childhood and MA Education courses, whilst completing her PhD research.  Hannah’s research interests include sociology of education, social and health inequality in relation to children and the use of outdoor education/outdoor learning environments.

If you have any questions about Hannah’s research or just simply wish to connect, please drop Hannah a message either on Twitter or via email. 

Twitter: @MalpassHannah

Email: Hannah.Malpass@bcu.ac.uk

References

Benson, R., Duffy, B., Hesketh, R. and Hewlett, K. (2021) Attitudes to Inequalities. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/inequality/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Attitudes-to-inequalities.pdf. [Last accessed: 3/2/22].

Citations

Blair, T. (1999) ‘Beveridge revisited: a welfare state for the 21st century’. In R. Walker, ed. Ending child poverty: Popular welfare for the 21st century. Bristol: Policy Press, pp.7-18.

Elwell-Sutton T, Marshall L, Bibby J, Volmert A (2021) ‘Reframing the Conversation on the Social Determinants of Health’. Available at: https://www.health.org.uk/publications/reports/reframing-the-conversation-on-the-social-determinants-of-health) [Last accessed 03/02/22]

Marmot, M. (2010) Fair society, healthy lives : the Marmot Review : strategic review of health inequalities in England post-2010. Available at: http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review-full-report.pdf [Last accessed 22nd March 2021]

Marmot, M. (2016) The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World. London: Bloomsbury.

Marmot, M., Allen, J., Boyce, T., Goldblatt, P. and Morrison, J. (2020) Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 years On. Available at: https://www.health.org.uk/publications/reports/the-marmot-review-10-years-on [Last accessed 22nd March 2021]

Marmot, M., Allen, J., Goldblatt, P., Herd, E. and Morrison, J. (2021) Build Back Fairer: The Covid-19 Marmot Review. London: Institute of Health Equity.

Morrison, J., Pikhart, H. and Goldblatt, P. (2017) 'Interventions to reduce inequalities in health and early child development in Europe from a qualitative perspective'. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1), pp. 87-89.

Save the Children (2019) UK Child Poverty Rising To Record Levels. Available at: https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/blogs/2019/uk-child-poverty-rising-record-levels [Last accessed 22nd March 2021]