A Review of Polly Toynbee's 'Hard Work: Life in Low Pay Britain'

This report reviews Polly Toynbee's 'Hard Work: Life in Low Pay Britain,' a compelling account of poverty and low-wage work in Britain published in 2003. The review examines the book's context, the author's background, and the methodology employed, which involved Toynbee experiencing the lives of the working poor firsthand. The report details the book's key arguments, focusing on the struggles faced by low-paid workers, the inadequacy of minimum wage, and the social inequalities prevalent in Britain. It highlights Toynbee's call for societal change and her challenge to complacency, emphasizing the hard work and difficult conditions faced by those living in poverty. The review also discusses the book's legacy and impact on public discourse, emphasizing its contribution to understanding the realities of poverty and its influence on social policy debates.

Book Review

Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1
THE CONTEXT OF THE BOOK........................................................................................1
THE AUTHOR....................................................................................................................1
THE BACKGROUND AND PERSPECTIVE......................................................................2
METHODOLOGY AND METHODS...................................................................................2
THE BOOK ITSELF...........................................................................................................3
THE LEGACY OF THE BOOK..........................................................................................5
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The main purpose of the report is to review book that is hard work: Life in low pay
Britain. This book is written by Polly Toynbee. It was published in the year 2003.
Present report will lay emphasis on the context of the book. The book is all about a
passionately reasoned and compelling account of the avoidable cruelties still embedded
in the underside of British life - by a writer who has literally worn the clothes who has
performed and done the job of poor. He has lived in a flat and also lived the life of poor.
The author has explored the undiscovered lives of poor people who lives in Britain and
are still struggling for their living. So the book is all about the hard work done by poor
people living in Britain. Author has requested every member of the cabinet to read it and
then they must act accordingly. Report will also provide details about the author and the
background perspective. Report will also explain about the methodology and methods.
It will then review about the book written by author. It will also discuss about the key
points. It will also explain details about the legacy of the book.
THE CONTEXT OF THE BOOK
The book was been written and published in the year 2003. The book has given so
many ideas on culture and social basis. It has provided the details about what was
happening in that time. It has also been analysed that the author has great intention to
work on the minimum wage in Britain. It was been analysed and summarised from the
book that the minimum wage in Britain, in recent time is GBP4.10 per hour ( Lewis And
et.al., 2016). The author lives on the minimum wage and also the author has requested
that cabinet needs to read this book and must apologised. Author has provided the
details that the low paid workers are caught in the economic double bind and this
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victimises them and it should make other ones feel guilty. Author has also worked on
less than the minimum wage and took every low paid job which was been offered to her.
Author started from the scratch and has explored the life of poor. She describes about
how difficult is to build their living in poverty and also the extreme hard-work which poor
people need to do. It covers the world which is uncovered to all, it was really necessary.
THE AUTHOR
The book is all about the hard work which needs to be done by the poor people
living in Britain. Polly Toynbee is the author of book. The book was been published in
year 2003. She is British journalist and a writer. Author was born on 27 December 1946.
She is basically a social democrat. Her parents have been divorced when author was
only four. She has also failed the 11+ examination. It was also been analysed that she
has obtained scholarship for studying history. Her was novel was been published in the
year 1966. Author has worked for many years in The Guardian before joining the BBC
news channel. She has also worked as an editor for the Washington monthly. She has
also published the Hard-work: life in low pay Britain about an experimental period where
she voluntarily lived on the minimum wage. She has worked in call centre and also at
the cake factory worker.
THE BACKGROUND AND PERSPECTIVE
In the present book which was been written by Polly Toynbee, the author has came
up with particular view point, She wanted to tell world about the uncovered stories and
lives experiences of poor. For this she has worked on whatever job provided to her and
also she has worked on the minimum wage in Britain which was been followed back
then. It was also been analysed that author has asked cabinet to look at these
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conditions of poor people and apologised. Yes, the book has proved the point which
was been mentioned by the author. Author has also provided the details that if she was
not able to find a new job than it could lead to starvation. It is impossible that by this
situation one will not sink into the debt. The book is really powerful and compelling and
has explored the undiscovered lives of poor people who live in Britain and are still
struggling for their living (Warren, 2016). Poverty is like the unmentionable disease and
one has to suffer from it. Polly Toynbee has made use of the vivid image to describe the
plight of poor. The author in her book has challenged the complacency of the society; it
was all about the inequality faced by the poor people who work at minimum or no wage.
These poor people are also going through low face job and insecurity related to losing
of the job. Author has willingly lived this life so that she can better able to prove her
point in front of the world, this was been done as it was necessary.
METHODOLOGY AND METHODS
A better approach to social research is been followed by the author. She has proved
her point by doing the systematic planning and action plan. It was also been analysed
that author has willingly took the tough job and has worked on minimum wage so that
she can prove her point. The people who were engaged in the social research, author
has made sure that consent was been taken from them so her point can be proved. It
was also been analysed that author is been engaged in following the ethical code of
conduct so that research can be successful on time. It was been analysed that author
for the data collection has made use of the primary data, as she herself has worked on
whatever job which was been offered to her. It was analysed that the data was been
ethically collected by asking so many questions to the people who were involved. She
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has also urged cabinet to look at the matters, so that better decision to the lives of poor
can be taken by them. There were also various pros and cons of doing the social
research. It was been analysed that so many people has raised the questions to author
about doing this type of research. She herself has faced so many and various
challenges when been involved in doing the social research. It was also been analysed
that she willingly has lived the life of poor. She has explained that if she was unable to
find the job she was starving till the death. It was also been analysed that author has
made sure that the people who are engaged in research the data was been collected
from them by taking their consent and also she has assured that their personal data is
not been linked. So many challenges was been faced by author because of this as she
has to do all the work ethically (Smith and McBride, 2020). It was also been evaluated
that transparency and honesty is been followed by the author throughout the whole
research. This has assisted her in gaining the trust of people who were been involved in
this study. She has explored about the facts related to hard work which is been done by
poor people and also she has done investigation about the minimum wage that was
been paid by government of Britain and how difficult it was for the poor people to live in
that wage. It was also analysed that during the time of research respect and dignity for
the poor people is been maintained. They also made sure that there thought, values
and believes are been respected and also no unethical way is been followed by them.
THE BOOK ITSELF
It has been analysed that Hard-work: life in low pay Britain is been written and
published by author Polly Toynbee, the author has came up with particular view point.
The book is really powerful and compelling and has explored the undiscovered lives of
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poor people who live in Britain and are still struggling for their living. It has been
analysed that the book has discovered about the various challenges and issues which is
been faced by poor people who are only been paid the minimum wage (Smith and
McBride, 2019). Book was been written to open the eyes of cabinet so that take
reasonable actions towards issues which has been faced by poor people. It was also
been analysed that author for proving her point has willingly lived into the life of poor. It
has helped the author in knowing about how difficult was them to survive with the
minimum pay. Author researched on the low paid work and she has also moved into the
worst accommodation and has taken the variety of minimum low paid jobs. She has
also lived under cover for few weeks and she also lived in the worst estate of the
London’s poorest borough. She has taken variety of different jobs like hospital keeper,
porter and care assistant. She took the tough road so that she can explore about the
issues and challenges which was been faced by the poor people. The book review has
also provided the details that these poor people are also going through low face job and
insecurity related to losing of the job. It has also been evaluated from the book that
Author has willingly lived this life so that she can better able to prove her point in front of
the world, this was been done as it was necessary. Author has also decided that she
will socially isolate herself so that no network of friends and families can help her out
and solve her financial problem. This was been done so that she can have proper peek
inside the lives of poor. Author was surrounded by the feeling of confinement in her
temporary home, surrounded by the unwelcoming and sinister public space of a run-
down estate. She has gone through the phase where she was roaming around the
shopping streets but unable to purchase any item because of lack of funds. She has
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described the world without money as unglamorous. She also explained that the book is
not of depressing nature, but this to make cabinet realize about the reality in which poor
people are living and also to make them know about the facts related to inequality faced
by the poor people (Puttick, 2019). This book is about opening the eyes of everyone
which is living better lives and to make them feel ashamed that because of them so
many other people in Britain are suffering.
The author has proved her points in this and on the other hand she has also
discovered conspiratorial theory of minimum wage rate. All of the jobs which has been
performed by the author was short term and also it has been analysed that author has
given the details that whether the day one or the last day of week everything was worse
in the unglamorous lives. It is to Toynbee's that she has also given the details about the
vulnerable groups. The author has performed several jobs so that she can know about
the exact short comings and failure of the government. It was been found out by the
author that poor people work so hard and are also living in the extreme condition which
was really unjustified. She has defined in her book that in United Kingdom they have the
greatest poverty and minimum amount of pay and the longest working hours. It was also
been found by her that so many children in Britain has fallen below the poverty line. She
worked in hospital and also by this she made orderly’s wage of £12.50 a week it was so
low that she was also unable to pay her bills. She argued that how the conspiracy was
build on the democratic formula. She was also been rewarded for the steps which was
been taken by her and it was really courageous of her to take these steps. It was been
analysed by the author and also revealed in the book that low wage economy was been
fall and also it was been evaluated that the positions was been filled by the occupants. It
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was also been analysed that author said that inequality is been faced by the poor and
also the author give the information related to inequality faced by the poor people. This
was all been given the information in the book. Author wanted that cabinet must take
better decision related to it.
THE LEGACY OF THE BOOK
Yes the book has left the legacy behind so many decisions have been taken by the
cabinet after the book was been published. Book and author has been able to influence
so many other people. It was also been analysed that the book assisted in bringing
changes in the minimum pay system given to the poor people. It was also been
analysed that book has also influenced the cabinets. Better laws and policies have been
implemented by the Britain government. It was also been analysed that author has
clearly identified about the facts which she wanted to change. This book has helped her
in laying better impact on the lives of poor people. It was been evaluated that book was
made on the societal and cultural norms. It was not a depressing book, but it revealed
about the uncover parts which was been explored by the author (D’Arcy, 2018).
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarized that the book has helped the author in
knowing about how difficult was them to survive with the minimum pay. Author
researched on the low paid work and she has also moved into the worst
accommodation and has taken the variety of minimum low paid jobs. She has willingly
living in the lives of poor and also she have provided the details if she has no job then
she was starving till the death. It was also been analysed that author has provided the
detail related to vulnerable people who lived a poor life. She also tell about the
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inequality which has been faced by the poor people, they were been provided with the
basic pay and that was too minimum. This has made her realised that how difficult was
the life of poor people. It was been analysed that so many people has raised the
questions to author about doing this type of research. She herself has faced so many
and various challenges when been involved in doing the social research. It has also
been analysed that author has also provided the details about how much hard work is
been done by the poor.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
D’Arcy, C., 2018. Low Pay Britain 2018. Resolution Foundation.
Smith, A. and McBride, J., 2020. ‘Working to Live, Not Living to Work’: Low-Paid
Multiple Employment and Work–Life Articulation. Work, Employment and Society,
p.0950017020942645.
Warren, T., 2016. Work-life balance and class: in search of working class work-lives.
Taylor & Francis (Routledge).
Lewis, S. And et.al., 2016. Work–Life Balance and Class: In Search of Working-Class
Work-Lives. In Work-Life Balance in Times of Recession, Austerity and
Beyond (pp. 132-150). Routledge.
Smith, A. and McBride, J., 2019. Accessing ‘hard to reach groups’ and emotions in the
research process:‘work an honest day and get the usual raw deal’. In Handbook of
Research Methods on the Quality of Working Lives. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Puttick, K., 2019. From mini to maxi jobs? Low pay,‘progression’, and the duty to work
(harder). Industrial Law Journal, 48(2), pp.143-179.
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