Social Science: Poverty, Social Behavior, and Polly Toynbee's Analysis

This essay explores the social science perspective on poverty and its impact on social behavior, drawing on Polly Toynbee's "Hard Work, Life in Low-Pay Britain" to illustrate the experiences of individuals facing minimum wage challenges. It discusses Toynbee's methodology, which includes qualitative research and personal immersion in low-paying jobs, to understand the plight of the working class in Britain. The essay examines the author's background and perspective, highlighting her aim to raise awareness about social injustice and the unheard voices of those affected by poverty. It also addresses arguments surrounding Toynbee's work, focusing on issues such as outsourcing and the need for government policies to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. The analysis emphasizes the importance of understanding the qualitative aspects of poverty and its effects on social welfare and behavior, concluding that addressing poverty requires a collective effort to support policies that promote equality and opportunity.

What is Social Science

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Context of book............................................................................................................................3
The author....................................................................................................................................3
The background and perspective ................................................................................................3
Methodology and methods...........................................................................................................5
The book itself.............................................................................................................................6
The legacy of the book.................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Social science is the study of society and ways in which people tend to react, behave and
influence the world around them (Camerer and et.al., 2018). It tells all about the world beyond
immediate experience of people as how society works, cause of some environmental factors.
This present study is going to discuss impacts of poverty as it will study on this specific topic as
how this factor affects behaviour of people. With the help of Polly Toynbee's book of hard work,
it will discuss impacts of poverty on people of Britain where they are paid lower. It will further
discuss effectiveness of methodology used for discussing social behaviour.
Context of book
Hard Work, Life in Low-Pay Britain by Polly Toynbee is the book that has been selected
in order to discuss social science and knowing as how some social factors affect people's
behaviour. This book is an account of life on the minimum wage as how people face problems
when they are being paid lower or minimum (Collins, Barry and Dzuga, 2021). The author
discussed negative impacts of poverty, and he said that poverty feels like we are in a jail or
behind the bars or imprisoned for debt. This poverty term refers a range of concepts in this book
such as: moral judgement, attitudes and others (Smith and McBride, 2021).
The author
The book Hard work: life in low pay Britain is being written by British Journalist Polly
Toynbee in the year of 2003. She was born in 1946. She was a candidate for the social
democratic party and now she is a social democrat. She supports labour party. She has
participated and worked for social welfare as social affairs editor for the independent. This
author moved into a council housing estate in Clapham park. There he took numbers of jobs in
different field such as: telemarketer, cake packer, hospital porter and others. She experienced low

wages and it is the reason she understands pain of people who are being paid minimum and that
is why she wrote this book (Seaber, 2017).
The background and perspective
In the regard to the book Hard work, life in low pay, it is found that the author comes
from a specific or particular point of view as the main aim of her was to make people aware
about impacts of poverty. Making people aware about situations in which the poor lives, how
they manage their families, how they foster their families and others. She did not only write all
of these things hypothetically as she took or did various jobs where people are paid lower. The
main reason of doing such jobs was to experience the feelings what people in such situations or
job roles face. She stated all things related to poverty only after by participating in numbers of
activities and roaming around places where such people are being paid lower and are being
discriminated (Kossek and Lautsch, 2018). The poor are being exploited at many places and as
like the rich they are not being given fair and effective opportunities. This feeling makes them
feel de-valued and de-motivated but due to poverty and responsibility to foster family, they strive
hard and compromise luxurious life. So, on the basis of this, it can clearly be said that the main
aim of writing this book was: to uncover the brutality of the British life and unheard voices of
victims. It reveals unnoticed faces of people or British who suffered the most because of lower
wage and poverty. Overall, it can be said that this book highlights and wanted to lay emphasis on
social injustice and their impacts on social behaviour. All those people are left victims of the
scorching economy that demands a lot of them. So, this point of view of author or making
positive changes by making people aware was an effective point of view. It can also be said that
it makes this book reliable and there is no fictitious information.
This book is overall being written by the author herself as it was not commissioned. All
thoughts and feelings was her that she experienced but she wanted to represent people like her
who work in such lower paid companies. She just let us know the actual situation of the world as
where we stand, what are some implications and others. The book is all about letting us know
that how British workers are being exploited just because of they want to reach their objectives
(Angermuller, 2017). Writer solely discussed her view and highlighted on increasing variability
of working hours together with dual fragmentation of working time. She performed numbers of
jobs and on the basis of own experience, all these things were discussed. Overall, it can be said
that it was not commissioned but there were some people who argued all views of this author and

said that this is the common problem or factor that can be happened with anyone. They said and
argued that poverty cannot be seen as like disease that can lead deaths and it is not as serious like
serious disease. So, everyone needs to accept this as the common part of their lives and should
move on. But it is not true and it can be difficult to accept this and moving on.
In regard to aiming it can be said that the main target or focus of this book was the poor
and British who are paid lower. It is all about discussing their feelings as what they experience
when they see others who enjoy luxurious life only by working for some hours. They see that
there are numbers of people who invest money for self-grooming and only for looking good.
This book focuses on perspectives of the rich and other people towards the poor and their
mentality (Chung and Van der Horst, 2020). She states that the rich thinks that by making them
attractive from outside and improving their appearance, they can get a good job and can life an
improved life. People who do not have enough money to wear costly clothes are being viewed as
poor and are being discriminated at many stages of their lives. All areas that have been focused
in this book all play a vital role because in this developed and modern era, still people face such
problems and it not only affect them but also to overall economy of the world. Poverty is
unmentionable disease and it can be felt by those who have suffered and are suffering from
poverty. In this book the author Polly Toynbee focuses on tackling the issue of outsourcing and
their impacts as how it has affected the minimum wage workers. There are some job roles that
are being outsourced such as: caregivers, public sector cleaners and others. Writers does not only
write about impacts of poverty but also provided some solutions and ways by which the gap
between the rich and the poor can be decreased. She said that government is the only one who
can take initiative in decreasing poverty and by implementing some policies for the poor it can
make a huge positive changes. She also said that we as individual only can support policies that
are being developed by the government. The reason behind it is we all are individuals who do not
have power to bring changes and focusing on millions of people but we can support in making
changes or decreasing the gap between the poor and the rich (Cooke, Schuler and Varma, 2020).
So, it can be said that this book can bring many positive changes if everyone takes their
rights seriously and work on improving themselves rather blaming others.

Methodology and methods
There are numbers of approaches to social science and making use of an effective approach
plays a vital role. Positivism, interpretivism and critical social science. This author has made use
of qualitative method She believes that. She has made use of vivid images in order to describe
the plight of the poor in our population. She stated that poverty and insecurity is a qualitative in
depth study of people of working class (Easton and et.al., 2018). She had experienced the feeling
of being lower paid and on the basis of she made use of this style. By observing people, all
information related to poverty and their actual feelings can be known and it can be done only
with qualitative research methodology.
This approach has helped author as it provides longitudinal perspective that is vital for
knowing conditions in which people work and face low wage, low skill workers. Overall, it can
be said that by collecting information in feelings and word form, all about poverty its impact on
social welfare and social behaviour can be known (Skivington and et.al., 2018).
The book itself
Brief overview of book: This book hard work and life in low pay Britain is all about
impacts of poverty and low pay on social behaviour and their welfare. It shows that what
problems people face when they are not being paid what they deserve and as per the changing
needs of people. Writer of this books moved into some places of the worst available
accommodations and did numbers of minimum wage jobs. She worked as hospital cleaner, care
assistant, porter and other jobs. She was alone at all places as she did not have a network of
friends and close family members. She faces some problems by living at a place where many
shopping streets and other expensive activities were denied her only because of lack of funds
(Kossek and Lautsch, 2018). Whatever she described related to poverty and the world was not
related to depression as it was related to unglamorous. Writer makes some friends in order to
prove her point of view that outer appearance is nothing or deceptive and people should be
judged on the basis of their abilities even they do not look smart and attractive. They said that the
money that some people spend on shoe, haircut and for grooming themselves are as like the ones
who earn and foster their families. So, it can be said that the main aim of this book to show the
real world to people and make them feel that the importance that they give to outer and attractive
world or appearance cannot provide them value in the future. Money is everything and it should
be earned on the basis of qualities and experience. She challenges the self-satisfaction of a

society that finds gross inequality morally comfortable that relies or on the basis of people who
can rise through their own efforts (Barrientos, 2019).
Issues and arguments
There are some arguments regarding this and some people stated that all jobs that were
being performed by Polly Toynbee were very short term as they were for only few days and 1-2
weeks. In this regard, they also said that starting days and weeks at new jobs often seems the
worst and tiresome. So, we cannot judge anyone by doing job for only few days. They also said
that now only 7% of public sector workplaces have some low paid employees and it also
happened because of some specific reasons (). Toynbee again argued and concluded that pay is
everything in our society and environment where we all live as it can help people in improving
their health by having nutritional values of food and conveying status. The overall message of
this book is to pay more to the poor and less to the rich and it is the solution of making a balance
or reducing the difference between the poor and the rich. She also said that if there are
uneducated employees at workplace then employers should provide training to them as it is the
best way of making them efficient and competitive as like the rich and educated people. Some
people again argued and said that it will discriminate the rich if they are paid less than the poor.
According to them, people should be paid as per their effectiveness, qualification and others.
There is glimmers of hopes in this book that she represents and she said that government plays a
vital role and it is the one that can make numbers of positive changes because we as individuals
do not have such power or to help millions of people who are working longer hours only for
surviving and to foster their family.
The legacy of the book
In regard to legacy, it can be said that between the 1970s and 1990s the proportion that
represents low income of people or ratio has doubled in the UK. Every one children in 3 were
reported poor or living below the poverty line. In the book of Hard work: lives in low pay Britain
she explains that as compared to 1980s, in 1990s the poorest felt further behind and this example
or metaphor is more enough to explain that the poor will have to strive harder than the rich and
this gap will be increased if government do not focus on improving policies for the poor. Money
makes money and it is the reason as the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming
poorer because of increasing hike in all essential things (Reynolds, 2021).

There are numbers of people who said that they can make relation and link story of Toynbee
with theirs. They said that they have experienced the same that this writer explains in this book
and it is not fictitious or it is all true. It happens with people and still people face numbers of
problems because of low wage and poverty. So, on the basis of this, it can be said that this book
was effective, significant as it influenced numbers of people to the great extent. She also states
that there are numbers of people who comes under below poverty line and it affects them to the
great extent but this poverty is unmentionable disease. People see this as common factor or part
of life but they cannot feel that how dangerous is this unmentionable disease. Numbers of people
commit suicide, crimes and illegal things only because of poverty and to foster their family.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized from the above study that social science or studying behaviours
of people and their reaction towards social factors play a vital role. It gives detailed insight in
understanding as why people think like this and what makes them bound. This study has
discussed effects of low or minimum wage on people who are being paid low. It has further
discussed reasons of poverty by the book Hard work life in low pay, Polly Toynbee. It has
further discussed all other social impacts that lead poverty and has negative impacts on lives of
people. It has also discussed legacy of this book and its impacts.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Collins, H., Barry, S. and Dzuga, P., 2021. ‘Working While Feeling Awful Is Normal’: One
Roma’s Experience of Presenteeism. Work, Employment and Society,
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Seaber, L., 2017. The Astonishing Thing Is That They Listen to Us: Modern Work from Celia
Fremlin to Polly Toynbee. In Incognito Social Investigation in British Literature (pp.
189-230). Palgrave
Smith, A. and McBride, J., 2021. ‘Working to live, not living to work’: low-paid multiple
employment and work–life articulation. Work, Employment and Society. 35(2).
pp.256-276. Macmillan, Cham. Studies in English Language and Literature. 6(5).
pp.63-72.
Kossek, E.E. and Lautsch, B.A., 2018. Work–life flexibility for whom? Occupational status and
work–life inequality in upper, middle, and lower level jobs. Academy of Management
Annals. 12(1). pp.5-36.
Chung, H. and Van der Horst, M., 2020. Flexible working and unpaid overtime in the UK: The
role of gender, parental and occupational status. Social Indicators Research. 151(2).
pp.495-520.
Cooke, F.L., Schuler, R. and Varma, A., 2020. Human resource management research and
practice in Asia: Past, present and future. Human Resource Management
Review. 30(4). p.100778.
Angermuller, J., 2017. Academic careers and the valuation of academics. A discursive
perspective on status categories and academic salaries in France as compared to the
US, Germany and Great Britain. Higher Education. pp.963-980.
Easton, S. and et.al., 2018. Young people’s experiences of viewing the fitspiration social media
trend: Qualitative study. Journal of medical Internet research. 20(6). p.e9156.
Skivington, K. and et.al., 2018. Delivering a primary care-based social prescribing initiative: a
qualitative study of the benefits and challenges. British Journal of General
Practice. 68(672). pp.e487-e494.
Kossek, E.E. and Lautsch, B.A., 2018. Work–life flexibility for whom? Occupational status and
work–life inequality in upper, middle, and lower level jobs. Academy of Management
Annals. 12(1). pp.5-36.
Barrientos, S., 2019. Gender and work in global value chains: Capturing the gains?. Cambridge
University Press.
Reynolds, C., 2021. The symbiosis of oral history and agonistic memory: Voices of 68 and the
legacy of the past in Northern Ireland. Journal of the British Academy. 9(s3). pp.73-
94.
Online

Hard Work: Life in Low-pay Britain. 2016. [Online]. Available through: <
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