The Effects Of Poverty ,
WRIT 300
October 15, 2012
Poverty is an enigma that seems to plague each corner of the United States. No matter how rich how stabilize or how strong our country may claim it is poverty lurks in shadow of all places on this earth and in it’s silhouette the opprobrious effects. The three scholarly articles I summarized connect the dots on how poverty impacts the United States economically; and socially. The first articles I summarized Haiyun Zhao, Zhilan Feng, Carlos Castillo-havez, (2008) conducted an study that examines the effects that poverty has on our society economically, and the effects it has on children growing up in poor areas. Zhao, Feng, Havez, (2008) starts out by shedding light on
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For this reason, they combine this finding with the others such as foregone earnings, crime, and health which concluded that people living in poverty cost America an astonishing 38 percent of the GDP. Zhao, Feng, Havez, (2008) ends their research by stating that the estimations of poverties effects and cost are understated and most likely are more severe and costly. This article brought up important points and backed them up with facts; however I do think they could have done a better job on breaking down the cost structure, for the 700 billion figure given. The work done by Zhao, Feng, Havez (2008) detailed some of the effects of poverty. However, there should have been more emphasis on the social impacts of poverty. This is where Mulia and Zemore (2012) excel at. Mulia and Zemore (2012) reviewed and discussed social adversity; drugs and how it impacts people living in poor areas. Mulia and Zemore (2012) talks about how people living in low income areas are affected by more situations, oppose to others in high income areas. In particular, Mulia and Zemore (2012) lean towards the theory of social strain, which points to poverty being the reason for drug abuse among other crimes. Comparing Mulia and Zemore (2012) work to Zhao, Feng, Havez, (2008) the article picks up the improves where the previous lacked at by providing a theory that supports their study, of overall affects
Poverty is a common social issue that has troubled nations for thousands of years. While nations like the United States of America have worked diligently to eradicate it domestically, it still widely exists.“According to the U.S. Citizen burow 47.6 million citizens living in poverty.With 20% of those households living in extreme poverty.”(PBS.org)
In the article “Rethinking the American poverty”, Mark Rank suggests the three major shifts that are required for a practical understanding of American poverty. First, it’s important to recognize that poverty affects us all because of two reasons. The first reason is that each year, the government has to spend a lot of money to solve the social problems associated with poverty. Poor people suffer from lack of health access, not having enough money to support their basic needs,…which create a huge burden on the government’s budget. The second explanation for us to care about poverty is that there is a strong chance at some point during life time, Americans would face poverty. The second shift is to realize that American poverty is largely the
The U.S. is among the richest countries in the world today, yet millions of people in America still live below the poverty level. The number of Americans living in poverty is increasing day by day as well as the number of children. Poverty in America has become a great threat to children’s wellbeing as they are affected emotionally, socially, and even in their school performance (Wood 720). Poverty in America is mainly caused by lack of jobs. Many people who live in poverty in the United States is due to lack of jobs and getting jobs with minimum wage. Another cause of poverty is due to the rise in the cost of living. Poverty exists in America despite the fact that is among the richest nations in the world.
Poverty in the United States today has many faces. There’s the pleading face of a middle-aged man on a city street holding up a sign that says “Hungry, Need Help.” There’s the anxious face of a young child in a schoolroom somewhere, whose only real meal today will be a free school lunch. There’s the sad face of a single mother who doesn’t have enough money to buy clothes for her children. And there’s the frustrated face of a young man working at a minimum-wage job who can't afford to pay his rent.
In the United States, there are about more than forty-six million people living in impoverished conditions today. Poverty is a major conflict issue in this country amongst people who are part of the lower class because American families always had a hard time making ends meet, even before the Great Recession began. Living in poverty puts them at a disadvantage because they have to choose between necessitates like health care, child care, and food in order to help themselves and their family members. Though many reforms had been made to help cope with those who are living in poverty, it has been keeping many from being able to climb the social class ladder because the “War on Poverty” has not been
Have you ever lived without enough money to support yourself? Last year, 13.2 percent of people in the United States did not have enough money to support themselves or their families. 1 in 7 people were at risk of suffering from hunger in the United States, as well as 3.5 million people that were forced to sleep in parks, under bridges, in shelters or cars. In this paper, you will learn about poverty’s history in America and its definition, the causes/reasons of poverty, the effects of poverty on America, and the salaries of people in poverty.
Poverty has caused affliction for the individuals who can’t get a job or can’t pay for their needs on minimum wage. The adversity has made many people have to live on the streets, on someone's couch, or in an unspeakable apartment with no heat or electricity. Poverty is not the stereotype of drugs and alcohol abuse; it is an indescribable hardship that has taken over the lives of many people in America today.
The U.S. is highly respected and is always associated with greatness. The illusion of prosperity overshadows a critical issue which is often ignored and that issue is poverty. In 2014, there were about 47 million people in America living in poverty, 16 million being children. What exactly is poverty? The state or condition of having a little or no money, goods, or means of support. According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, it is less than $11,770 for one individual and $24,250 for a family of four. . Poverty is very important, our main goal is to end poverty but unfortunately over the years it has not been successful. So, our purpose is to at least lower the high numbers in statistics. To get out of poverty, America needs
According to the website, prospect.org, about 20.5 million people are in deep poverty with an income of $9,000 dollars a year and 6 million of those 20.5 million people have no income other than food stamps. Between 2000 and 2013, families living poverty nearly doubled from 7.2 million to 13.8 million. Child poverty is mostly talked about when it comes to poverty. According to the article, The Shocking Reach of U.S. child poverty by Aimee Picchi, stated that “Almost 40 percent of American children spend at least one year in poverty before they turn 18, according to a new study from the Urban Institute.” Once a child is born and lives through poverty it is most likely that that child will grow up to be poor. With children living in poverty it can lead to long term effects such as performing poorly in school and less likely to be successful in the future. With these failures in school, it could continue on through the next generations to come
Poverty within America has steadily been decreasing with it being at 14.8% in 2014, 13.5% in 2015 and the most recent statistic of poverty among Americans being at 12.7 during the year 2016.Although we should not yet claim poverty among Americans is no longer an issue as it is 1.4 higher than it was seventeen years ago. Poverty, although decreasing, is a blight on America and should be deal with to prevent suffering upon Americans. Poverty is a social issue and should be approached as such, a social theory that should be used to eliminate poverty is the social conflict theory as it takes the approach that we should not blame the poor for their situation instead we should blame the way society operates. Society does tend to give poor people benefits albeit, in the wrong ways, society should instead support the poor to obtain a better education and support the natural reconstruction of a neighborhood.
Isabel V. Sawhill wrote an article in 2008 titled “Poverty in the United States”. She talks about how poverty
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
Poverty can lead to serious effects. Children who grow up in poverty are likely to have frequent health problems than the children who grow in better financial circumstances. For example, infants who are born into poverty have a low birth weight, and they grow up with mental or physical disabilities. Not only are they sick, but they are most likely to die before their first birthday. Children who are raised in poverty might miss school often because of their illnesses, and they have a much higher accident rate than the other children. Nearly a billion of the world’s population can’t read nor write. Poor families experience stress much more than a normal family does. They are more likely to be exposed to negative events such as illness, job loss, death of a family member, and depression. Homelessness is another effect of poverty. Homeless children are less likely to receive proper nutrition, protection and they experience more health problems. Around 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe and clean water and proper nutrition. Homeless women experience a high rate of low birth weight infants as well as miscarriages. Families who do not have homes receive much more stress than other families. They also have disruption in school, work, friendships, and family relationships. There are other effects of poverty such as drug abuse and addiction, child and woman abuse, debts pressure, and increase in crimes.
The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, but yet poverty remains prevalent. Childhood poverty affects every aspect of their life. “Poverty is not having income for basic needs, food, medical care or basic needs and housing” (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 59). Poverty is affecting thousands of Americans every day, and it isn 't sparing anyone of a particular race, age or gender, leaving people on welfare, and without homes, or transportation. Poverty is a crisis that deserves attention from everyone, and it has many faces that are often not recognized
In the United States and in countries all over the world, poverty has extreme impacts on a