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It was widely believed that poverty in Britain had been all but eliminated with the construction of the welfare state and post War affluence. But while politicians were telling people they had never had it so good, social scientists were re-discovering poverty. The most influential of these was Peter Townsend, whose study of poverty in the 1960’s and 70’s was one of the most detailed ever undertaken in Britain.

In the first part of this programme Peter Townsend discusses the background to the study, how he arrived at his concept of poverty and indicators, and his sampling methods.

In the second part, Townsend explains how surprised he was at the extent of poverty in Britain and how much the official figures had under estimated the extent of the problem. In the final section he talks about the increasing gap between rich and poor in contemporary societies and discusses some its political consequences.

This programme will be relevant to those studying stratification, poverty and research methods.