Material Deprivation

One of the best-known definitions of “material deprivation” is provided by Townsend, according to which material deprivation refers to “a state of observable and demonstrable disadvantage in relation to the local community or the wider society or nation to which an individual, family or group belongs. The idea has come to be applied to conditions (that is, physical, environmental, and social status or circumstances) rather than resources and to specific and not only general circumstances, and therefore can be distinguished from the concept of poverty. The former sure enough can’t be context free; it applies to specific circumstances and physical, environmental, and social conditions. Material deprivation is a complex phenomenon, as it concerns multiple aspects of reality and can be measured in different ways. In this paper, our aim is to highlight the most important elements of deprivation, aswell as the analytical assumptions (often underlying and overlooked) that constitute the cornerstone of his study.