ABSTRACT
It is often claimed that a critical measure of a civilized society is how it treats its minorities, including their marginalized and financially disadvantaged citizens. Although it can be argued that social progress has been made on some issues such as gender equality and race discrimination, it has fallen behind on other measures such as poverty. It is evident that at least one marginalized group, those suffering from poverty, have not made much, if any, progress in overcoming their situation since the end of World War Two, and their condition continues to deteriorate. In Canada, it is claimed that 4.8 million (14.7 percent), or one in seven, people live in poverty (Canada Without Poverty, n.d.). The United States is similar, with 46.2 million, or 14.5 percent, Americans poverty stricken (United States Census Bureau, 2013). In the United Kingdom (Office for National Statistics, 2013) data suggest that almost a third (33 percent) of the population experienced poverty in at least one year between 2010 and 2013, equivalent to approximately 19.3 million people. In contrast, across the European Union (EU) as a whole, a quarter (25 percent) of the population found themselves in poverty at least once during that period, with a slightly larger proportion of people in the United Kingdom experiencing poverty at least once over those four years.
