Materielle Lebensbedingungen im Grundsicherungsbezug

When analysing the material living conditions of those receiving benefits according to the German Social Code II (SGB II - the so-called Unemployment Benefit II), the use of income as an indicator might not be unproblematic. First of all, the regulations of the SGB II itself will to a substantial extent predetermine benefit recipients’ income, which limits the information that might be gained by such analyses. Moreover, while both these factors should be highly important for the material living conditions of recipients, income-based measures will neither capture differences in households’ furnishings and equipment, nor will they reflect differences in their remaining resources. Therefore, by looking at consumption expenditure and a deprivation index in the tradition of Townsend the article uses two alternative approaches to analyse the material living conditions of benefit recipients. Most interestingly, both alternative methods unanimously indicate that while SGB-II-benefits should be sufficient to cover recipients’ basic needs, there are gaps in the provision of an adequate level of social and cultural participation.