science

Secondary poverty

Secondary poverty is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Secondary poverty rather than just read about it. In short: Secondary poverty is a description of poverty referring to those living below the poverty line whose income was sufficient for them to live above the line, but was spent on things other than the necessities of life. In 18th and 19th century Great Britain, the practice of temperance among Methodists, as well as their rejection of gambling, allowed them to eliminate secondary poverty and accumulate capital.

Key takeaways

Secondary poverty belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Secondary poverty to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Secondary poverty from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Secondary poverty is a description of poverty referring to those living below the poverty line whose income was sufficient for them to live above the line, but was spent on things other than the necessities of life. In 18th and 19th century Great Britain, the practice of temperance among Methodists, as well as their rejection of gambling, allowed them to eliminate secondary poverty and accumulate capital. The term was coined by Seebohm Rowntree after his investigations into poverty in York.

Factors contributing to secondary poverty

Alcohol use

The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that "the average American consumer dedicates 1 percent of all their spending to alcohol". In Scotland, households spent an average of £8.90 a week on alcohol.

Gambling In the United States, the average individual loses $400.00 to gambling each year. The British National Anti-Gambling League, which was founded in 1890, condemned the lottery as a cause of secondary poverty. More recently, the sociologist Gerda Reith stated that the lottery exploited working classes, which see it as one of the sole avenues for liberation from oppression. Reith stated that governments use the lottery as a means to increase their revenue and called it an "extra form of taxation". Indeed, people in the low-income brackets (2.8%) spend a higher percentage of their household income on games of chance than people in higher income brackets (0.5%). That is important since the risk of gambling related harm increases significantly when more than 1% of gross family income is spent on gambling activities. The additional risk of gambling for those in a lower-income bracket warrants further attention with the expansion of government-operated gambling throughout Canada, especially since increased rates of problem gambling prevalence are linked to enhanced accessibility and availability. Problem gambling can be defined as difficulties in limiting money and/or time spent on the activity, which leads to problems for the gambler and others. According to Hahmann and Matheson (n.d.), two life events can lead to homelessness: significant job loss and problem gambling.

Tobacco

In India, smokers spend ₹36,000 annually on smoking cigarettes.

Other drugs "A survey from 2007 notes that 23% of unemployed persons had used cocaine at least once.", although homelessness may contribute to the use of cocaine, rather than the other way around.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Secondary poverty

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Secondary poverty claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Secondary poverty before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Secondary poverty ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Secondary poverty

In research: Secondary poverty appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Secondary poverty in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Secondary poverty is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Measurements and definitions of poverty, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Secondary poverty outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Secondary poverty in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Secondary poverty means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Secondary poverty out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Secondary poverty in simple terms?

Why does Secondary poverty matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Secondary poverty?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Secondary poverty.