Social Needs: A Consensual Approach to Material Deprivation

Researching social needs is fundamental for understanding the dynamics of quality of life, social exclusion, poverty or economic inequality, as well as for the design of social policy. In Romania, research on social representations of the good life has shown that people make a distinction between the material and social world.The material aspirations could be analyzed on two dimensions: a) fundamental needs, essential for survival, which are universal and have an internal source and b) material needs that reflect the social circumstances in which people live in.The public opinion perspective on material needs is as legitimate as the welfare experts’ one. How do Romanians see the essential material needs for their life? What is the extent and which are the dimensions of material deprivation (poverty) in Romanian society?For measuring social needs, we used a 21-item composite scale in a survey carried out in June 2013, featuring a representative sample for Romania's adult population. We observed a large consensus in the Romanian society in viewing certain needs as living standards. Material deprivation is multi-dimensional, affecting variable segments of the population. The most important factors accounting for the variance in material deprivation are income, labour market participation, education and medium of residence.