Persuasive Essay On Poverty

In the article, “What’s So Bad about Being Poor” by Charles Murray, Murray states that “One of the great barriers to a discussion of poverty and social policy in the 1980s is that so few people who talk about poverty have ever been poor”. He discusses how, contrary to present day, in America up until the 1950s those in positions of influence and power included a sizable amount of people who had been raised “dirt-poor”. Murray states that, because of this, many Americans with their lack of exposure to such people, they develop a skewed perspective of what poverty is. On account of this, Murray challenges the reader with several thought experiments which he uses to help the reader come to certain conclusions that convey his message.

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.

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

We hope for a prosperous future and fear poverty for ourselves and our future generations. In “Poverty in America: Trends and Explanations”, they show statistics representing poverty through the Census Bureau and Current Population Survey data. The definition of poverty given by the Census Bureau is based on families pretax money income compared to the family size and age composition. In the United States groups of people are more likely to live in poverty based on factors such as gender, race and ethnicity, and level of education. The statistics show that men are more likely to have greater wealth than women, especially if the woman is not married. African Americans and Hispanics are nearly three times more likely to struggle from poverty than whites. Immigrants are also more likely to live in poverty than native born citizens. Education also plays an important role seeing as 31.3 percent of families where the head of the family has less than a high school education live in poverty (Hoynes, Page, Stevens

Those who argue that poverty has no effects on the mind and development of those who grow up and live in it are merely blind to the struggles of families that cannot afford the basic necessities needed to live. While I knew that there had to be some adverse effects brought on by growing in environments that are undoubtedly less than ideal but, this writing has given me a new perspective on poverty and more of a reason to help bring an end to

As described by Shipler, “poverty is an unsatisfying term, with a broader region of hardship,” that society has failed to properly recognize (Shipler, preface x). The blunt reality of poverty has been unexpectedly reflected in the lives of many working single parent households’. Since poverty has no racial boundaries, many hardworking individuals’ around the country are affected by associated hardships. In 1997, Shipler visited rural neighborhoods across the country, where he interviewed numerous workers’ surviving just above the poverty line. The purpose behind this social investigation, was to gain further insight on the cause and effect of each individual scenario.

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

We never really hear about those who live in poverty. It is as if those who are affected get pushed to the side and forgotten about. Everyday we are plagued with the harsh reality that everything we have could easily be taken away from us. That reinforces the importance of doing everything we can to succeed and to not be subjected to a very unpleasant lifestyle. In Order to do so, we first must gain awareness of what poverty is and the harsh reality to being in poverty. Not only that, you have to know how difficult it would be to actually prosper and get out of that situation realistically. Once you begin to think realistically, your mind starts to wonder if your race could play a major role. You even begin to think does getting a degree really matter? There are various reasons why living in poverty isn’t ideal, but does that mean you are condemned to live in poverty?

Poverty is a considerable social problem; with a significant impact on those who suffer within. Growing up in poverty “reduces a child’s chance of growing up to be a healthy, well-adjusted, and contributing adult in our society” (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 59). Poverty is families having to struggle to afford necessities. Poverty does not know where your next meal is coming from or having to choose between paying rent and seeing a health care provider. The impact of poverty affects one’s ability through physical, social, emotional, and educational health. Even though individual overcome poverty it still extends across cultural, racial, ethnic, and geographical borders. Children represent the largest group of poverty in the United States. “Growing up in poverty places a child at a profound disadvantage and substantially lowers the chances that the child will mature into a well-adjusted, productive, and contributing

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 refers to the state of having little or no money, goods, or means of supporting oneself. It may be described the inability to secure basic needs. Rural researchers define poverty by adding fine distinctions that are exclusive to how poverty exists and experienced in rural and small town communities. The issue of poverty alleviation has long been a primary subject of developmental debate. However, to date, there is still no technical definition that gives a clear understanding of the meaning of poverty. Poverty in itself is a debatable occurrence; this is because the circumstances leading to poverty differs from one individual to individual. Impoverished individuals have their own understanding and interpretation of their social reality. Ark-Miss-Tenn (Mid-South) are poverty stricken and the unemployment rate is epidemically high. Consequently, many available jobs cannot be filled due to lack of skilled employees.

Poverty is all around us, although many people when asked to define it cannot because they do not have a complete understanding of what it means. In his novel, The Other America: Poverty in the United States, Michael Harrington discusses how poverty is not well known by people who have not experienced it first hand. He writes; “Poverty is often off the beaten track. It always has been. The ordinary tourist never left the main highway, and today he rides interstate turnpikes. He does not go into the valleys of Pennsylvania where the towns look like movie sets of Wales in the thirties…” (3). What Harrington is saying is that people tend to purposely stay away from poverty even though they are not sure they know what it means.  If so many people are affected by this nightmare, why does no one who has all these opportunities try to fix anything? Poverty needs to be studied and solved because it affects health, education, and social skills.

Poverty is a widespread social issue known throughout the world. It is defined by its three different types: biological, relative, and official. The first of the three, also known as absolute poverty, refers to a person’s inability to have his or her biological needs such as food and shelter. The second type compares living standards to conclude “that some are better or worse off than others.” The third refers to the income level at which a person can receive welfare. Unfortunately, the United States is known to have one the highest rates in the world due to social inequalities. Poverty rates are known to be related to a person’s social location. A person living in a more southern state in more likely to experience it than someone in the north. Moreover, minorities are two to three times more likely to suffer from its affects. Likewise, children and the elderly, along with a rising number of women, are more affected than others. Furthermore, these groups are more likely to live in lower standard houses, have poorer educations, have less job opportunities, and are less likely to receive justice for crimes. They are forced to stay in these situations in which they have to pay for housing they can barely afford, while they send their kids to schools that are unable to provide adequate education due to the communities’ low property rates. This can especially be seen in the PBS documentary Poverty, Politics, and Profit: The Housing Project.

Historically, poverty has been associated with individual failure; however, there is substantial literature that supports that poverty is a structural phenomenon. Living in New York City and observing racial and socioeconomic segregation within disadvantaged neighborhoods has significantly increased my understanding of poverty and how it is correlated with race and social class. It is very shocking to learn that in the United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, one out of six people lives in poverty (Abramovitz, 2014, p. 11). This finding suggests something bigger than individual deficiency. Therefore, this paper aims to explore implications of poverty as a structural phenomenon and examine the posture of some scholars on possible causes to poverty. The “culture of poverty” as it relates to neoliberal and conservative perspectives will also be analyzed in this paper.