Poverty And Poverty

Even though many Europeans saw only the idlers as the problems, many others had negative attitudes to all poor people. Juan Luis Vives who was a Spanish humanist wrote in, On Assistance to the Poor, that when a family becomes poor that the men begin to steal, the women become prostitutes, and their children grow up and become accustomed to this lifestyle while those with money believe the poor to not deserve their alms (Document 3). The POV of Vives is that of a humanist who feels they know the deeper meaning of all human, and he sees them as deplorable creatures who when pushed against a wall become thieving animals while those with money don’t even try to better these poor peoples’ lives by thinking that the poor don’t deserve their charity. Jean Maillefer, a wealthy French merchant, wrote to his children that the poor have grown accustom to being poor and they cannot leave due to them having no cares, bills, and fears while they feel great independence (Document 11). Maillefer’s POV is that the poor have no worries and are independent because they have no job which comes from him hearing them talk about and also from how he works long and hard every day while fearing that he has to pay rent and taxes

Further, Herbert J.Gans brings to light the ten defenses for the poor which are of crucial importance. He focuses on the non equivalency of moral failure to poverty.He also stresses on the poor not being responsibly treated by society leading to anger.

Post the economic crisis in America and the recession during the years of 2008 and 2009, the country saw a great increase in poverty and worsening of living conditions of Americans. Currently, almost 50 million of fellow Americans are living in extremely bad conditions under the poverty line which means earning less than $11490 for a single person or $23550 for a family of four people. That’s about 1 in every 6 people in this country are living under poverty. A person living in this country on minimum wage which is $7.25 an hour also cannot pull himself out of poverty even after working 40 hours a week.

During the mid 15th century to the early 18th century almost half of Europe’s total population could be considered poor and destitute. The attitudes of the clergy and the attitudes of the socially elite toward these people varied from pity to disgust, and their proposed solution to these problems differed. Some suggested helping all of the poor by giving them alms, some warned others to be careful of whom the money was given to and some people believed that being poor was a voluntary decision and if they wanted to get out of that situation, they do so without the help of others. In particular the clergy supported alms giving, government officials and the nobility advocated controlled giving, and some of the middle class were suspicious

Within 15th and 17th century Europe, responses as of what to make of the poor varied throughout the timeframe, though the attitude towards the poor remained two sided: whether they are deserving or undeserving of charity. At the time, institutionalization of the mercantilist policy left nearly half of Europe’s population on their hands and knees, thus absolving the poor became quite a dilemma that questioned both religion and morals. The Europeans that found the poor to be deserving of charity sought both spiritual and societal progress through commensalism. Other Europeans decreed that the poor is undeserving of charity, as they do not contribute anything themselves. Over the course of the 15th to the 17th centuries, the responses to the poor transitioned from an emphasis on

Life in Europe during the 1500’s and 1600’s was full of reformation, wars of religion, and exploration of new places and ideas. The poor were greatly affected during this time. They were part of the church reformation when Martin Luther separated from Catholic Christendom and created his own church. In religious wars, like the Thirty Years’ War, the poor were usually the people fighting which had a tremendous impact on their lives and families. With the growth of exploration, the poor moved around which affected their community. The attitudes and responses towards the poor in Europe between 1450 and 1700 included that they were undeserving and lazy; they needed help, should be put to work, and should be given help.

The concepts of “worthy” and “unworthy” poor came about during the English Poor Laws that were introduced in the 1500’s. The English poor laws classified poor or dependent people into three major categories and established many requirement before aid was provided. Dependent persons were categorized as: vagrant (nomadic; with no permanent home or employment), the involuntary unemployed and the helpless. In effect, the poor laws separated the poor into two classes which were the worthy and the unworthy. The worthy were classified as orphans, widows, handicapped, or the frail elderly. The unworthy were the drunkards, suspicious, or lazy. (Hansan, J.E. (2011). Poor relief in early America)

We get a glimpse of the Social Darwinism perspective “survival of the fittest” and only the strong will continue. We have been taught Democratic Egalitarianism and Individualism argue equality and privileges should be demonstrated and given to all citizens, this would be the ideal situation, unfortunately the poor was simply lazy and the master of their fate. Interestingly morality came into view never looking at the devices engaged to inhibit access to a free membership of the American life as the culprit. More over the article mentioned being poor is to be considered a religious factor by many. Those that were poverty stricken was stigmatized as beliefs dictated by Puritans and numerous religious communists an individual out of God’s favor was doom to suffer; poverty aided as a symbol of this social ill. Various subscriptions given however, with many prerequisites; such as acquiring skills or obtaining a job whose initial pay was favorable would serve as a cure all; certainly one could say, there is a degree of legitimacy as in some cases what was aforementioned has worked, but quite often is not the end result. If the success story yielded a higher rate one possibly will walk away with a greater

In Europe the attitude towards “the poor” has seem to play a significant role in affecting society. In the beginning when the Catholic Church was the dominate power in Europe the poor was viewed in a more positive light because the Catholic Church emphasized charity. However, when the power of the church began to deteriorate, so did this way of thinking. The poor were starting to get viewed as lazy, and this became the more prominent way of thinking. Europeans between 1450 and 1700 viewed “the poor” in two separate ways, either negative or positive.

At this time there was a growing population of ill, disabled, elderly, orphans, and widows with young children (Stern & Axinn, 2012, p.18). The economic need had risen after the wars and diseases such as small pox, measles, and yellow fever (Stern & Axinn, 2012, p.18). As the growing poor population began to steal resources to survive, the poor laws were put in place to stop these people from taking from others but also to establish a system of help. Although help was being implemented the old views of destitute began to change during the colonial period, these individuals were no longer being viewed as being born into unfortunate circumstances. Society was shifting their view from a mutual obligation society to a society that valued individual responsibility and individual salvation (Stern & Axinn, 2012, p.19). When the poor laws were adopted in American colonies it was specifically looking to ensure that colonist who were in need due to unfortunate events that occurred, would be able to receive cash relief. The poor laws were specifically trying to establish control over these individuals but also wanted to continue to follow old traditions of helping the poor (Stern & Axinn, 2012,

Homelessness is an epidemic problem that faces many American’s and families across the United States, especially in Detroit. You may see homeless people sleeping in the underpasses of freeways or walking and sitting on street corners or holding up a sign asking for some support for their next meal. We all have seen homeless individuals and thought it was not our problem for their circumstances or maybe had a belief he/she was lying about their situation. Many of us make a choice to give money or buy food, but there are others who make a choice to ignore or overlook the homeless population. Society has placed a stigma and label the homeless population labeling them destitute by choice, but for many homelessness has become a way of life.

The world is very different now, for man holds in his mortal hand the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.

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

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

Poverty traps are economic anomalies that continually reinforce poverty within a country’s, or multiple countries’, economies. There are many different types of poverty traps such as savings traps, “big push” models, nutritional traps, behavioral traps, geographic traps, etc. that all affect an economy in different ways. Not only can poverty be enforced through these traps, but also through the way an economy is run or the moralities of the government. According to Mark Koyama (2015), poverty traps are important due to more than 3 billion people, nearly half the world’s population, living on less than $2.50 per day, and about 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty on just $1.25 per day. Among these 3 billion some people living in poverty, one billion of them are children of which thousands are dying daily. It is necessary to study these different poverty traps in order to begin to decrease the distressingly high percentages of people living in poverty.