ABSTRACT
The eminent economist and commentator, John Kenneth Galbraith, recently identified persistent inequality in the distribution of income as a major piece of ‘unfinished business’ at the end of the twentieth century in Australia. This book presents the view that the social scientific research analysing disadvantage, poverty and inequality should take a new direction if it is to contribute to the resolution of persistent problems. It takes a fresh look at the issues, giving greater emphasis to the underlying processes producing and reproducing patterns of poverty and disadvantage in contemporary Australia. There are a variety of academic voices now contributing to the analysis of poverty, inequality, and disadvantage in Australia. They ask questions in particular ways, use some concepts, and conduct their analyses making emphases of different kinds. The term ‘poverty’ in Australian social science tends to be associated with research in a tradition following Ronald Henderson that stresses the measurement of income amongst households and individuals against a poverty line.
