Floor Class Reflection: Poverty
Poverty in America dates back to the first settlers that landed with the Mayflower on the beaches of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The settlers that came from Europe, did not come because they were wealthy and looking for a new adventure. Rather they were looking to escape the hard life that they had been forced to live in their respective countries and towns. Some were escaping religious persecution, others were running from debt, others still were looking for a new start after hardships in their life had overtaken them. These people largely had their work ethic and maybe some capital, but poverty has existed since Europeans arrived, and though there are no records of it, I can be reasonably sure that there was some form of poverty
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Poverty is so enormous that it is near impossible for an individual to take it on as a whole. Rather, if it can be segmented into smaller issues such as affordable housing, the establishment of a living wage, programs to assist single parents, and others then we begin to see some issues that we can tackle through an NGO or church or even as an individual. I think it is important to focus on community development in the long run as we go about reducing poverty in the United States. This being said there are appropriate situations in which relief care is needed such as after natural disasters that meet the immediate physiological needs of the effected peoples. There is also a time and place for all of the types of care between relief and community development like development of social capital, sustainability developing housing, businesses, industry, and farming practices. However, the end goal should be a society that is self-reliant and does not require outside assistance because it has built in systems to prevent issues or fix them when they do
Poverty is a hardship that has existed in every milestone of American history. War impacted the economy of the country after the Civil War. The twentieth century would see wars, natural disasters, and economical depressions that contributed to the developing culture of poverty. Poverty in any time period is a shattering experience. While being poor during the Reconstruction, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights movement were each devastating, the nature of poverty would evolve as the culture of each decade evolved. The character of poverty changed most dramatically over the years through Americans’ perception of standards of living and the government’s response to poverty.
In some countries, people living in poverty may be oppressed, current low economic status causing unemployment or homelessness. Many people are living in poverty due to situations out of their control. It seems like in other countries, direct assistance has helped influence the reduction of poverty. There have been many studies performed to change societies perceptions and solutions to rid poverty such as providing education, reduce the cost of living, raise minimum wage and try direct assistance. Education can be a helpful tool in bringing people out of poverty because it increases the number of highly skilled workers which help generate more money for everyone.
The United States is one of the richest and most abundant nations in the world. It is ironic that such high levels of poverty and income equality still continues in such a prosperous nation. Poverty exists due to the economic system that is constructed to allow the increase of wealth on one side and conditions of scarceness that make poverty unavoidable on the other.
Poverty has been around as long as there has been an America. Programs have been set in place to help offset the issue, such as Food Stamps and housing. The government’s implementation of some of these programs is to ensure that the poor have a place to sleep and adequate meals to eat. There are issues with these programs that contribute to the furthering of poverty, but for the most part are more helpful than harmful. While there is a chance that there will always be a poverty line that Americans will be under, there are solutions that can be implemented towards getting many of these people above it. Some options might include keeping jobs within the
Katz (1983) summarizes the history of Poverty in America has been going on for many years. But in the early 20th century is when the people of the United States started to become more vulnerable to poverty and when poverty started to become part of the United States background and history. “When industrialization started advancing after the Civil War, wages were raised with the work being done. This had opened a new door for Americans to be more vulnerable. Immigrants, Native Americans, and African Americans moving across the United States due to war, racism, and the industrialization of farming” (Katz,1983). It leads to the Progressive Era led to the high unemployment and dangerous factory environments. This quickly led to conditions in the urban
Poverty in the United States has been a very big issue throughout its history. Poverty is both an economic condition and a social concept. Poverty in the United States first took place in the 19th century and till this day. Poverty was caused by people being selfish and not allowing everyone to have a chance on being successful. Poverty took a big hit from the Great Depression to the Great Recession that led millions of people down. Since then the poverty rate has been going up and down, never keeping a steady pace. “In the late 1950s, about 22 percent of Americans nearly 40 million people were on poverty” ("Poverty"). This means that poverty is a big issue and everyone needs to contribute to fixing this problem. Since this is a big issue
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
There are several ways that poverty can be prevented. More jobs should be offered, and the income should be able to support their basic needs. Growing up in poverty minimizes a child’s opportunities or success, so opportunities should be displayed for them. The skills of young mothers should be improved, and the poor should be offered education or job training. People who are wealthier can donate money, food, learning tools, and clothes. Obviously one of the more common ways that poverty can be helped is buy people giving up their time for them. You can go to food drives, go to fundraisers, or go to soup kitchens. Everyone should get involved to try to decrease the amount of poverty
Poverty has been an ongoing issue since the birth of this Nation. When one thinks of poverty the last people we think of are the ones closest to home. As children some are told “finish your dinner, there are starving kids in Africa”, but what about the starving children whom are in neighborhoods close to us? Poverty is everywhere, even the places that are thought of as wealthy. Poverty in America; a continuing issue.There are many different definitions of poverty. The United States Census Bureau states that
There was always ways societies took care took care of those in need. Stated by Zastrow “non-literate societies its needs of those who were not self-sufficient were met by family or by tribal members. In medieval period poor relief was the church's responsibility” (p. 118). There was the famous Elizabeth poor law of 1601 in England which basically was a relief of poverty for a moment. The Great Depression also had a huge impact on poverty, this is when a lot of individuals were unemployed and not just low class people but mostly everyone. Resulting from the Great Depression, a lot of programs were created because this was a time when the poverty rate were high. Some of those programs consist of: Social Security, head Start educational funding AFDC and TANF.
Poverty is a major issue that has worried America for years. America has worked extremely hard to end poverty,it still widely exists. There are some solutions to this world problem though such as food stamps, shelters, and obama care. It is important that while the challenges facing poverty are large, the solutions are feasible and can happen.
Additionally, poverty has no proper contextual definition. The reasoning is to ask oneself whether the way poverty is defined in America is the same way in which poverty is defined in other countries. The answer would be in the negative. It has been noted in a research that the families which are classified as poor in America some of them own things such as a house, a truck, a flat screen Television, do not suffer from malnutrition etc.
Poverty started around the 1600’s. While trade and demand increased, gaps in income became present. This is where wealth sprouted, sudden gaps in income caused more to become wealthier than others. Those not wealthy enough to afford things such as food or clothing would be considered living in poverty. Poverty is significant due to people's lack of ability to care for themselves and of their families. It is a problem because there are people all over the world who are starving without homes, food or clothes. The issue is controversial because, people living in poverty aren't able to pay for certain things they need to survive such as clothes, food and housing while others around the world live in large homes with more luxury. Poverty leads
Since America began to keep count, 11.1 percent was the lowest percentage rate for poverty which was in 1973. The rate climbed as high as 15.2 percent in 1983 and in 2000, after a spurt of prosperity, it went back down to 11.3 percent. Today we have 15 million more people that are poor today; due to programs like Social Security, food stamps and earned-income tax credit keep 40 million people out of poverty. There are four main reasons that contribute to poverty in America. Many people work low-wage jobs; also, more households are headed by a single parent.
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