In what ways can lone parents be regarded as peripheral in British society?

摘要

AbstractHealth professionals, particularly those in the community, commonly encounter lone parents and their children. What are these professionals to make of lone parents? Do they, for example, have a unique health profile? Should health professionals take their family status into account as a means of explaining their health? Indeed, can lone parents be considered a group at all, in any meaningful sense? Since the late 1970s, British society has grown more and more divided. Alongside this division, the growth of new forms of work has led some theorists to argue that capitalism has entered a new ‘post‐Fordist’ era. The divisions in society have led to the creation of a new ‘underclass’. This paper argues that the divisions are within the working class and are composed of a relatively well‐off core, alongside a periphery of low‐paid, temporary and part‐time workers. Lone parents' position in the labour market means that they are part of the periphery. This is evidenced by data from the 1991 Census of Population and the 1992 General Household Survey. The ability of lone parents to change their position is mediated by the lack of affordable child care. The evidence presented is strongly indicative of the peripheral status of lone‐parent households, with all that this implies