Culture Of Poverty In The United States During The Great Depression

Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.

Poverty is not only an individual problem, but a societal problem. Harrell R. Rodgers wrote an article, “Why are People Poor in America?” Rodgers gives two categories of theories that are used when cultural /behavioral or structural/economic. Behavior/culture theorists look at the behavior, culture and values of the poor as the reason for poverty. While structural /ecIn western culture statistics are an excessively used tool in describing social issues. Numbers help explain a situation, but in excesses, can dehumanize a population. A serious social issue that suffers from desensitization is poverty. Poverty, as it is defined by Webster, is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of supporting; the condition of being poor. The condition of poverty plagues many American families. According to the Census bureau, 15.1 percent of the United States population falls below the poverty threshold. 15.1 percent does not draw the same effect as the actual 46.6 million individuals living in those circumstances. In the United States, poverty has become a growing problem. There are 15 million more people living in poverty today than in the year 2000 (U.S. Bureau of the Census 2013). The poverty threshold, developed by Molly Orshansky, is a tool used to help indicate how many Americans are in poverty. According to the census, 46.6 million of America’s total population makes less than the poverty threshold for a family of four. The condition of being

The first group say that the poor are made to be poor by the economic

Poverty is one of the most devastating realities of life. Those who live in poverty experience poor living conditions, worse health care, worse education, homelessness, low wages, lack of opportunity, and lower self-esteem. Poverty generally occurs mostly in children or young adults, minorities, and women more than any other age group, race/ ethnicity, and gender. Ultimately, poverty is more common in certain social categories such as race, gender, age, and ethnicity and will factor into whether an individual is more likely to be

The 1920s was known best for its wealth, parties and free spirits giving it the nickname of the ¨roaring 20s¨. Contributing to the the lavish lifestyle of the 1920s, women, known as flappers, challenged gender roles and broke social norms with their outfits and behaviors. New inventions, such as radios and model-T cars became the foundation for the thriving economy. The country 's culture had been making huge strides and the economy was on an upward climb. Everything about society in the ‘20s seemed to be flourishing. At a rapid rate, more middle and lower class people began investing massive amounts of money. Borrowing money from bankers to finance the get rich quick hobby these classes were engaging in produced dangerous trends. At the peak of the economy in the 1920’s, warning signs began to present themselves of a future economic decline. Many United States citizens ignored the small signs like a subtle rise in stock prices. As the small signs began to become increasingly more evident, big investors sensed danger and took proper precautions. However, the middle and lower class investors were not savvy enough to predict the crash. Finally, on October 29th, 1929, what is now known as ¨Black Tuesday¨, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped almost 23 percent and the market lost between $8 billion and $9 billion in value.

Through the creation of suburban neighborhoods middle class families have been able to achieve upward mobility. With the creation of suburban neighborhoods in the 1950’s it gave families the opportunities to go out and buy their little piece of the American Dream. The time of poverty from the Great Depression was over as was the second World War and then it was a time that the American Dream was well within reach. However with this outward expansion, for those who could not afford to leave, it also brought about a higher crime rate, as well as lower educational standards in the people living in the inner cities. Today suburban neighborhoods can be seen to have many different stereotypes in the media as well. Suburbia, when it was born

However, what truly defines poverty? Is it a lack of money, or lack of food or even lack of proper hygiene? Although these characteristics alone or combined can often define people living in poverty, the truth is that these are only perceptions. To live in poverty means that your income falls below the official poverty line for a given family size. In a broader sense, the living conditions of the poor are difficult to measure, both because annual cash income is only one factor related to living conditions, and because the poor are quite heterogeneous (Federman, Garner & Short, 1997). The perceptions or "myths" that the population has about poverty are distinguished by a "high degree of constancy" across generations and by an "equally pronounced capacity for evolution", adapting to changes in knowledge and social circumstance (Blumenburg, 1995 pp.34). Society buying into these myths and some impoverished adhering to the myths feed the fuel for society's beliefs and perceptions.

During the Great Depression Americans suffered greatly. It was the deepest and longest downfall in American history. The Great Depression began after the stock market crash of October of 1929. When the stock market crashed it sent Wall Street in a uproar and wiped out many investors, this causing a steep declines in industrial output and rising levels of unemployment as failing companies laid off workers. By 1933 nearly 15 percent of workers were unemployed or laid off. With many people being unemployed it made many people homeless. The community created a community called hoovervilles. A "Hooverville" was a shanty town built by homeless people in the US during the Great Depression. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of

The Great Depression was the longest lasting economic downturn in the history of the industrialized American culture. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a frenzy and wiped out millions of stockholders. The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, the Great Crash, or the Stock Market Crash of 1929, began on October 24, 1929, and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, when considering the full extent and duration of its aftermath.

The Great Depression was a long and severe recession in the economy and/or the market. Life during the Great Depression was a depression for many people. The World War II helped the Great Depression end and help people live at least live better lives. World War II lasted from September 1, 1939-September 2, 1945. It had lasted six years!

Poverty is an authentic life issue people all over the world continue to struggle with. There are many countries that try to help those in poverty, but a complete solution has not been found. Although there are countless definitions of poverty, according to Schwartz, he states in his article the United States Government says; “Poverty is a state of deprivation, or a lack of the usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions”. The government calculates poverty based on the total income a person may receive and it does not include non-cash supplements (Schwartz).

During the great depression I think that our society thought of themselves as broken because of the state of our economy and the amount of people out of work. The country was at its lowest point having taken the biggest hit to the economy possible. Everyone looked at what was happening and saw nothing but a broken economy and a struggling people. They had to focus on feeding themselves and their family so when it came to time to think what their responsibility was to the rest of the world they couldn’t get over how broken they were so they were no use to anyone else. They were to busy thinking of themselves to be of any help to any other people. When World War two started it pulled our society together once again to face a threat that was more

There seems to be an increase in poverty in the United States and there are so many theories behind why this might be a problem. It seems as if Society as a whole wants to blame this social “condition” on Society itself. I believe that the problem of poverty lies within the actual individuals that are experiencing poverty. There are a few reasons why people experience poverty. They are as follows: One, the liberal welfare programs that were started in the 1960’s, two, individuals lack the characteristic of power and individuality, three, anti-social behavior and the idea that poverty passes from one generation to the next.

This review is formulated with scholarly sources and references based off of poverty in America. This disclosure is approached with a value free sociological approach, and it will give insight on the social causes of poverty and the effects it has on America. Poverty is a very controversial topic. Many will assume that people living in poverty are lazy, made bad life decisions, or that they are solely the reason for their predicament however, people living in poverty would argue that their are deeper issues for it. Poverty will be deeply explained and researched from both perspectives

Culture of Poverty. In his study entitled ‘La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture Poverty’, Oscar Lewis (1966) explained the second approach of dependency-based explanation which is dependency culture. He made a research among the urban poor of Mexico and Puerto Rico in the 1950s. He found out that poor people in a class-stratified society were likely to develop a set of