Evaluating the View that Poverty is Caused by Economic Inequality Rather than Cultural Attitudes and Lifestyles

Parsing out the influences of cultural and structural factors leading to differential behaviors among the poor and nonpoor is a difficult challenge for sociologists concerned with stratification and inequality. This is largely due to the fact that they appear to be so heavily intertwined. Structural and cultural factors reinforce each other in complex ways. Pervasive cultural elements such as ideologies and values are used to frame and interpret existing socio-economic structures and their effects on individuals. Structural forces such as access to resources such as information, education and employment shape cultural views and attitudes as well.

Identifies skills, theories of change, program designs, partnerships, and ways of building schools where students achieve.

Poverty is an issue that has affected society since civilization was first created. Even with a globalized economy and economic opportunity prevalent nearly everywhere, there is still a vast majority of people who live in financial strain. According to recent information obtained by the World Bank, “10.7% of the world’s population live on less than US $1.90 a day”(World Bank 2013). In the United States considered the wealthiest nation on Earth, the poverty rate is 12.7% which is 40.6 million people(US Census Bureau 2016). Though some people are in poverty because of their own choices, poverty is a result of structural institutional practices in place.

When considering poverty, most would focus on monetary values and claim that a way to fix poverty is to generate more money. Sarah Burd-Sharps and Kristen Lewis, co-directors of Measure of America, strive to get people talking about other factors of poverty rather than just income. If Burd-Sharps and Lewis are right that opportunity inequality is a big problem, as I think they are, then we need to reassess the popular assumption that money is the cause of poverty. . Inequalities in health, environment, education, and wealth are creating disadvantages for younger generations that can limit success.

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

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

In the article “The Myth of the Culture of Poverty,” by Paul Gorski he explains and challenges all the myths surrounding poverty and the mentality of the poor. Gorski argues that “poor people do not have weaker work ethics or lower levels of motivation than wealthier people” (33). This way of thinking is called the culture of classism. A culture that leads us to have low expectations from people who have low-income or come from low-income families. Classism are what people who are financial stable use to define poor people and their characteristics. I choose this article because Gorski provides sufficient evidence on why we should not fall victim to myths that people use to depict poor people and their

Author Harrell R. Rodgers, Jr. uses his article, “Why Are People Poor in America?,” to discuss the cultural/behavioral and structural/economic theories of why poverty exists as a social problem. First, Rodgers reviews the conservative theories, also known as the cultural/behavioral theories, of poverty. These views mostly consist of blaming the existence of poverty on the culture of laziness that has been growing in the poor population due to the availability of welfare. Many of the conservative authors that are mentioned in this article agree that welfare automatically makes the poor think that they are not personally capable of getting back on their feet by themselves; therefore, the poor

Poverty is “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor” (Dictionary.com, 2017). Based off this definition poverty is a condition that can cause a cascade of cause and effect actions that is detrimental to families and individuals both physically and mentally. Haan, Kaplan, & Camacho (2017) completed a study on the correlation between social and economic status and health in adults in Oakland, CA. They found that the lower the socioeconomic class the higher incidents of diseases and deaths related to chronic diseases (p.1161-1162). Just being without money or little money was not the only indication of health indication, a person living in an area with higher poverty issues

Poverty is a global issue that has been at the forefront of economic debate for over a century. Left wing politicians and anti-poverty organisations around the world still adamantly fight for a more equal economic split, pointing towards research showing the disadvantages poverty creates for those living in it. This research has grown rapidly since the 1970’s and many different factors have been targeted in the attempt to examine the

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 is an issue that is faced by multitudes of people around the world. Poverty itself is defined as, “the state of being poor” (Merriam Webster). According to Sara S. McLanahan, of Princeton University, “In the United States, poverty is defined as not having enough income to pay for basic needs, such as food, clothing and shelter. Poverty is a family attribute. In other words, if a family is classified as poor, all the members of that family are also poor” (McLanahan, n.d.). The U.S. Census Bureau, in 2013 shows, “there were 45.3 million people in poverty” just in the United States (U.S Census Bureau, 2013). From those living in poverty, in the same year, “the ratio of the female poverty rate to the male poverty rate was 1.2---women were 20 percent more likely to be poor than men” (Mykyta, 2013, p. 2). Also, “of all people categorized as in poverty in 2011, approximately 56 percent were women” (Mykyta, 2013, p. 2). Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, director of the Human Development Report, portrays a simple truth, “women are poorer than men” (Fukuda-Parr, 1999, p. 99).

people are labeled or stigmatized. Most blame the poor for their pitiful state claiming that if they

Poverty is a massive issue today, it surrounds all of life’s experiences, and it impacts on the future for people everywhere, and on health everywhere in society. Poverty is not just related to unemployment or

This paper will discuss poverty, the different types of poverty and their definitions and who is affected by each type of poverty. It will look at the some of the major reasons why poverty exists and what causes poverty, like such things as inequality, stratification and international debt. Some of the impacts of poverty will also be analyzed from a national and global perspective; things like education, literacy rate, and crime. This paper will demonstrate that poverty affects almost everyone in some form or another and exists because those with power and wealth want and need poverty to exist to force a dependence on the wealthy. A few of the main