Gough’s Definition of Needs and His Different Categories for Basic Human Needs

Abraham Maslow was an American philosopher who was born in the early 1990 's in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of the leading theorists that promoted humanistic psychology during his era. Maslow sought to understand what motivates and inspires individuals. He theorized that individuals possess and hold a group of motivation and incentive systems not related to plunder or insensible desires. Maslow declared that people are motivated and provoked to attain certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. The earliest version of Maslow 's hierarchy of needs includes five motivational needs, often viewed as hierarchical levels inside a pyramid. The five stage representation can be separated into basic needs and growth needs. The deficiency or basic needs are said to motivate and stimulate individuals when they are unmet and not fully attained. Also, the desire to fulfill and accomplish such wants and needs will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied. Once these needs have been relatively satisfied, an individual may be capable of reaching the highest level of the pyramid called self-actualization. Maslow though that self actualization is a state that exists when an individual is acting in harmony with his or her full capabilities. In Cormac McCarthy 's novel, The Road, we will examine the character 's physical journey towards self-actualization on Maslow

Psychologist Abraham Maslow created Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a list of necessary needs in order to live with healthy mental. The levels are physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. Physiological deals with survival needs which include food, shelter, and water. Safety is the need to be secure from danger, a shelter or safe environment. Love is the is need for affection and belongingness, friends and family. Esteem is the personal worth, success and achievements. Self-actualization is actualizing one’s potential and what you are capable of. According to Maslow, the most important level is physiological and is needed for survival.

After reading the extensive “The New Face of Hunger” (Tracie McMillan), my eyes became more open to the overall issue of hunger, faced by many people today. In a few words, I was absolutely shocked by the true meaning and examples provided of what exactly food insecurity is. Honestly speaking, when I hear the word “hunger” I think of a human who has no food, living on the streets. “The New Face of hunger” brought to my attention that food insecurity is much more than simply having no food. In fact, “In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat” (The New Face of Hunger). Not only was I able to see the harsh

Iran was faced with high unemployment rates and immense property, as workers had low wages and protection, and the country was underdeveloped. Iranians lost hope for a better future, as the promises of a prosperous Iran made by the Shah were not coming true. For example, the Shah believed that developing an industrial base with multiple foreign contractors and corporations would be economically beneficial for the country. Due to these investments made, Iran's oil market was flourishing in the late 1970's. However, an increase in oil profits resulted in problems with absorbing funds, leading to an increase in spending. Iran was therefore hit with effects such as inflation and corruption. Another example is that the Shah hoped for a modernization program for Iran. With this, the hope was to limit the land one could hold, decreasing the financial gap between the wealthy and poor. The result was that wealthy families continued to be as wealthy and the economic status of peasants generally worsened. Modernization also negatively affected religious institutions relying on a network of exchange, as limited land made it harder for trade. A final consequence of land reform was that peasants were forced to move to cities, begging to Westerners in order to feed themselves. These peasants began to see the negative impact western culture had made in society. They found inner peace through

Iran was now unprotected, and a new power came into being. The Arabs invaded and the quality of life changed. “People fell into poverty as the greedy court imposed ever-increasing taxes. Tyranny tore apart the social contract between ruler and ruled that Zoroastrian doctrine holds to be the basis of organized life” (21). The Iranian people couldn’t survive with a ruler who had no sympathy or respect for them. Their life was being over run by foreigners.

In Janet Poppendieck's “Want Amid Plenty: From Hunger To Inequality” she argues that America puts excessive focus upon hunger issues among the poor when there are many other important issues that go unnoticed. Poppendieck believes that it is time to find a way to shift the discourse from undernutrition to unfairness, from hunger to inequality. In today's society, there are many food banks, food drives, soup kitchens, etc. Food is extremely abundant in America, therefore Poppendieck's statement is proven true when she states that there is too much focus on hunger. Throughout this text, she strongly supports her claims about hunger, equality, and poverty in general.

The second part of Megan Carney (2015) focused on the various different food assistance programs and solutions for food insecurity. Across the country there are countless of organizations and programs that aim at assisting and improving food insecurity among marginalized communities. The truth of the matter is, that there are structural issues in the government that prevent individuals from making enough to support themselves and their families. It is hard to comprehend how the United States disagrees in recognizing food and its access to food as an inalienable human rights (Carney 2015). No one should be denied access to nutritious food.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is used to analyze motivation of consumers, which are composed of 5 five stages. From the lowest level to the highest one respectively are physiological, safety, belongingness, ego needs, and self-actualization. (Solomon and Barmossy et al., 2006)

He brings up a multitude of disputes between poverty, hunger, and even the discrepancy within our fast food nation. Though the topics may be bold, the purpose of it all requires all to listen given the importance dawning on the simplistic idea of how anyone can end up in the exact category of in need (Berg 45). Nonetheless, much more can be expanded upon.

Richard Robbins explores and analyzes the creation and the upkeep of hunger in his book “Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Each day, over a billion people in the world lack basic food needs. Common misunderstandings about world hunger are that it is the result of insufficient food production, famine is the common reason for hunger and that hunger is caused by overpopulation. Robbins argues against that theory and says that famines is not the leading cause of hunger and hunger is not due to overpopulation or insufficient food production. “Food production is not determined by the global need for food; it is determined on how many people have the means for it” (page 176). The documentary “The End of Poverty” reinforces Robbins belief that food is a commodity.

“Food insecurity isn’t a measure of hunger; it is based on the measure of a person’s financial circumstances and their perception of how much food they can afford to buy.” It is estimated that 31 million people in the United States have experienced either food insecurity or actual hunger (George, 1). Roughly a third of food insecure households have  “very low food security.” And the number of people going hungry has grown dramatically in the U.S. “increasing to 48 million by 2012 (McMillan,1) has caused one in five children to grow up in poverty which has affected academic performance and social skills”. “In 1980 there were

Iran has always, it seems, been the breeding ground for some kind of political upheaval or another. In recent times, back in 1979, there was a major revolution which was, in some ways, similar to the revolution we are seeing today. The people were angry and they were tired of being controlled by the government that was in power. They had concrete ideals and were incredibly passionate about their revolution. The revolution Iran is experiencing today does not appear to be quite as passionate and does not appear to maintain a belief in any real solid political system. They just know they want something different. In the following paper we present an illustration of the current revolution that is taking

Additionally, the Shah’s lack of care towards the majority of citizens in his country and his worry about money and power trouble millions. He only cares about giving oil to the western governments and building up Iran’s infrastructure as much as possible. His plans for the country do not accommodate the middle and lower class citizens, ultimately leaving them with few resources and not

Unfortunately, it was estimated that roughly 1.2 billion people in 1993 lived in extreme or absolute poverty, that which Robert McNamara regards “‘a condition of life so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality and low life expectancy as to be beneath any reasonable standard of human dignity’” (Singer 219, 220). These estimates can be projected at nearly 2 billion today. A large majority of the people living in absolute poverty resides in underdeveloped countries. Among the nearly 4.4 billion people in these countries, “3/5 lives in societies lacking basic sanitation; 1/3 go without safe drinking water; 1/4 lack adequate housing; 1/5 are undernourished, and 1.3 billion live on less than $1 a day” (Speth 1).

Poverty is a social problem that affects everyone on an economic, political and social level. The problem of human suffering is one that we must combat strategically on many levels. According to the United Nations, “in 2015 more than one billion people around the world live in a state of poverty, lacking the basic goods food, clothing, and shelter that humans need to survive” (“Poverty”). There are a great number of areas that keep individuals poor, such as lack of resources, inadequate income, lack of education, language barriers and the high cost of child care. Being able to work and provide basic necessities is our basic human right and we should not be deprived of these basic human rights that individuals need in order to live satisfying lives. The government has the responsibility of helping individuals in need with the economic assistance to feed, clothe, house, educate, provide health care and decent wages for every individual. They should ensure that individuals have access to resources that will help them build a better future. There are several ways that we can work together to strategically find solutions to end inequality among the poor individuals in our society.