Life on the Breadline Regional Church Leader Survey, 2019-2020

Shannahan, Christopher (2023). Life on the Breadline Regional Church Leader Survey, 2019-2020. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-856268

In the wake of the 2008/9 financial crash, resulting global recession and the 'age of austerity' introduced by the 2010-15 government, poverty in the UK rose more dramatically than in any other G7 nation. The number of people relying on foodbanks to feed their families rose from 25,000 in 2008 to 1,200,000 in early 2017. Between 2010 and 2016 the number of people in the UK earning less than a 'living wage' grew from 3,400,000 to 4,900,000 and the number of people on 'zero hours' contracts grew to 905,000. By early 2017 more than 30% of British children were living in poverty, 25% of the population were living in fuel poverty and rough sleeping had grown to 4,134, double the 2010 figure. Economic poverty is one aspect of more wide-ranging social exclusion. However the project will demonstrate that broader patterns of social exclusion are largely driven by poverty. In the face of this dramatic growth in poverty and inequality third sector and faith-based organisations have been in the vanguard of the ongoing struggle against social exclusion.

Christian communities have been involved in challenging urban poverty since the industrial revolution. However during the 'age of austerity' they have become increasingly important players as a result of their enduring relationships in local communities. Michael Hoelzl and Keith Ward (2008) refer to this as the 'new visibility of religion'. A key arena within which this 'new visibility' has been seen is in relation to rising levels of poverty and social inequality. 'Life on the Breadline: Christianity, Poverty and Politics in the 21st century' is the first interdisciplinary theological analysis of poverty in the UK since the financial crash. It will increase the awareness of the scope and impact of Christian engagement with poverty amongst government policy-makers and within wider society, enrich social policy and research and enable more effective faith-based action on poverty across urban Britain.

This project will analyse the nature, scope, extent and impact of Christian engagement with poverty. Six ethnographic case studies of Christian NGOs will be developed, interviews of 120 regional church leaders in Birmingham, London and Manchester and two National Poverty Consultations with 50+ national church leaders attending will enable the project to generate the most extensive evidence-base to date of Christian engagement with poverty in the UK. Fieldwork will analyse two differing approaches to tackling poverty - 'caring' and 'campaigning' - in order to assess whether the 'age of austerity' has affected the nature and impact of Christian engagement with poverty and the values that underpin it.

The project will develop a critical dialogue between social geography, political sociology, urban studies, the sociology of religion and urban and political theology in order to forge the first evidence-based theological analysis of poverty in the UK since the 2008 financial crash. The project will increase the awareness of the nature, scope and impact of Christian engagement with poverty amongst policy-makers and facilitate the development of new models of theory and theology capable of resourcing third sector engagement with poverty in the 21st century. Through the development of a wide range of outputs including a photographic exhibition, project briefs and report, 3 animated films, an online research portal, a 'Faith and Poverty Activism Network', an online MOOC and training sessions for government policymakers and church leaders, alongside academic journal articles, a co-written book and a major conference the project will impact directly on policymakers, researchers within the social sciences, theology and political science and wider society.

Data description (abstract)

Life on the Breadline has been the most extensive, evidence-based empirical analysis of Christian responses to UK poverty since the 2008 global financial crash yet developed by academic theologians. The project emerged from the project team's shared conviction that empirically-based rigorous theological research could be a resource for progressive social change in the face of the growing poverty and inequality experienced during the Age of Austerity. The project aimed to analyse the the impact that austerity policies have had on the nature, scope, approach and impact of Christian engagement with poverty in the UK and the ways in which churches have used their enduring localised social capital in tackling poverty.

Bringing theology and the social sciences together in dialogue, Life on the Breadline drew on a triangulated approach to primary research - Six ethnographic case studies were developed in London, Birmingham and Manchester [focusing on different aspects of poverty and various Christian traditions], the national Church leaders of fifteen Christian denominations in the UK were interviewed and regional Church leaders from across the UK were invited to take part in an online survey. More than 300 regional Church leaders were invited to take part. Participants were selected on the basis of their position as strategic public leaders and representative figures within the Church in their region. In some cases regions were geographically smaller than others. This was dependent on the different ways in which denominations structured and spread their geographical presence. In this we were guided by the ways in which Churches structured themselves. Where Churches did not respond reminders were sent. Ultimately a total of 104 regional Church leaders from more than twenty Christian denominations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales took part in the survey and responded to a wide range of qualitative closed and open questions about the nature of poverty in their region since the 2008 financial crash, their perceptions about the role UK government policies have played in relation to poverty, their denomination's engagement with poverty at national, regional and local levels and the impact of their anti-poverty social action.

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