Nation Of Poverty

Poverty is a multifaceted issue, it is dependent on many factors and the ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work. Out of all the possible explanations as to why people are still living in poverty in the U.S., the structural view of poverty covers the most bases. The structural view of poverty explains that poverty can only ‘be understood and explained only with reference to political and economic characteristics of the society’ (Kerbo, p.266). With this in mind, this theory considers the position of the poor in the occupational structure. Since the poor have jobs that require low skill, which means anyone can learn how to do them, there is much more competition for such jobs. Those with jobs that require greater skills, such as doctors,

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.

To many Americans, poverty is merely a synonym for ‘not rich’. Even those who understand the definition may struggle with the concept that poverty is not a distant, foreign, concern; poverty can occur in any country, region, neighborhood, and household. In a study performed by Carroll et al, 60% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “poor people are poor because of laziness and lack of will power (2011, p. 116). In the same questionnaire, 77% of respondents felt most poor people have the ability to escape poverty without government assistance (Carroll et al, 2011, p. 117). As above facts show, despite the widespread nature of this issue those not living in poverty often have

The issue of poverty in the United States seems to lie on the grounds of race education and family structure. As expected I found that educational levels paralleled poverty levels. Unexpected , research was found to prove that race did in fact play a substantial role in poverty. Family structure along with other influential factors either locked an individual into poverty or provided a means for escape from the continuing cycle. Other factors contributing to poverty was the location of homes or neighborhoods and the accessibility to better paying jobs.

However, this system of measuring poverty is flawed because if a family makes a dollar more above the set limit, they do not qualify for financial help from the government (NCCP, 2008).The poverty threshold is an inadequate measure of whether people are considered poor or not. Current poverty measures are flawed because it assumes how much a family spends and does not accurately include family resources such as Earned Income Tax Credit (NCCP, 2008). The way that the government measures poverty is based on outdated information that was set in the 60s. Because it has not been sufficient to keep up with the standard of living, those who are living in “high cost cities like New York and those who live in rural areas of the country” (NCCP, 2008) are barely getting by.

We live in a world where technology is advanced and it has solved many of our problems in the past, but an issue that has not been solved is poverty. Poverty is being extremely poor to the point where one cannot afford the daily necessities to survive, like food and shelter. Amongst the many problems we face today such as, war and climate change, poverty is a significant problem we have yet to solve. Poverty cannot be solved in a day nor in a year, in fact it might never be completely solved. Taking the right steps to significantly reduce poverty such as, becoming strict on those who apply for government assistance, donating leftover food for those in need and funding more resources into programs for rehabilitation may help decrease poverty.

Living with a poverty level income is a difficulty facing many people around the world; poverty is a cultural universal, or trait found in every known culture – not an expression of individual differences. The most basic explanation for this is the trend towards social stratification, the system by which society organizes itself into a hierarchy. In some cultures this is manifest in the form of a caste system in which people who are in poverty have little to no chance of escaping it. In the United States the system is more in the form of a class system in which there is at least some degree of social mobility, and less status consistency allows people in poverty to have the possibility of changing their social status, but rarely the

In search for empirical evidence to explain poverty, social scientists have studied it extensively for many years. In 1959, the American Anthropologist Oscar Lewis studied poor families in Mexico and Puerto Rico and created the “culture of Poverty” theory to explain why some people are poor and others are not (Steinberg, 2001, p. 107). For Lewis, poverty is the result of individuals’ values and cultural norms; therefore, “the culture of poverty comes into existence as a reaction and adaptation to conditions of poverty” (Steinberg, 2001, p. 107). Based on this argument, people who live in poverty have different cultural values than those who are not poor and those values generated from constant exposure to poverty. In addition, the “culture of poverty” theory emphasizes that once a poor individual internalizes poverty and its values, the possibility for change and progress become unavailable (Steinberg, 2001, p. 108). Another proponent of the culture of poverty was Daniel Moynihan, a United States Senator from New York. In 1965, Moynihan produced the “Moynihan Report” to explain why black people in the United States stayed much poorer than white people (Geary, 2015). In his report, Moynihan argued that black families remained poor because of households headed by single women and high rates of unemployment (Geary, 2015). Thus, Lewis and Moynihan believed that poverty is an internal value that once a person acquires it, it is impossible to remove. This implies that programs

Poverty for centuries has been a very severe issue that has troubled many nations while impeding economic developments and progress. Poverty stricken countries are majorly concentrated in the continents of Africa and Asia. Continents like the Americas and Europe have globally been recognized as been wealthier yet still many parts of these ostensible countries face massive cases of poverty. Most at times, countries with high populations owing to high birth rates face the most cases of poverty. The definition of poverty can be boundless in the sense that poverty entails so many subsections as it sometimes gets complicated to group everything under one umbrella. Society tends to focus more on the tangible aspects of poverty because many people associate poverty with lacking money and it makes sense because poverty in terms of lacking money is a major problem affecting almost every country in the world. Even though it is debatable that poverty can be physical, intellectual, spiritual and even emotional, it is best to talk about the lack of money and economic developments in this essay. With reference to the oxford English Dictionary, poverty is state of being extremely poor and the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. Reflecting on this definition given, I deduced that malnutrition and hunger can define poverty. In the light of this, I think poverty is lacking a comfortable place of shelter, being ill and not having access to a better

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

Many describe poverty as an economic deprivation, or lack of income. However, this alone does not incorporate the different social, cultural and political aspects of this unfortunate reality. Poverty is not only a deprivation of economic or material resources but a violation of human dignity. The general scarcity, lack, or the state of one without a specific amount of material possessions or money. It is a versatile concept that may be defined as either absolute or relative. Time and again, poverty is a call to action, for the poor and the wealthy alike, it is a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities.

Thousands of individuals are living in poverty. Why is it that this worldwide dilemma is still rising in rapid numbers till this day? Is it because of a lack of authoritative power, or a lack of one’s self control to do good? Despite the unknown cause, it has managed to drastically affect the lives of many. Poverty is like a curse, one that is wrongfully placed, difficult to get out of, and resistant to many forms of help.

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.

Poverty cannot be defined as being affected by a few set examples, rather it is the result of an infinite number of factors. Human behavior, which is highly unpredictable, dictates what a person’s economic status will be. “Although the causes of poverty are varied, Americans strongly endorse individual responsibility as a primary cause” (Mistry et al. 704). However, it is not always their own decisions that will predict their outcome. Opportunity remains just as large of a decider as does dedication. Though it is impossible to list all the reasons for which someone may end up in poverty, sources such as the Census have thoroughly informed the public about the most direct influences. The impact that studies on poverty will make are unprecedented and can only get better. More knowledge on how other people in the same country are living will eliminate the chance of turning a blind eye as the information will be incapable of being ignored. As of right now, those in Beverly Hills, California cannot possibly know what life is truly like for those living on the other side of the country in the impoverished neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York. In part, people choose not to see the undesirable and saddening situations that some are in. If they are not directly affected then they will feel empathetic, but not inclined to contribute aid. The gap of wealth between the wealthier Americans and the impoverished is enormous, yet still unseen. The differences between the two on each end of