Poverty
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Institutional affiliation: Introduction
Author Browning & Cagney (2003), defines poverty as a state of inadequate resources and low living standards that cannot cater to basic human requirements. Poverty thus means lack of basic needs such as food, clothing, health institutes, and shelter. For most countries around the world, poverty is a prevalent social issue. It usually leads to multiple social ills like parental and domestic abuse, drug abuse, diseases, and corruption among many others. The poverty line distinguishes the poor and the affluent in society. From Salem & Lewis (2016), the poverty line is the minimum level of income needed to satisfy basic human needs.
Poverty as a Social Problem
The causes of poverty are
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Such harsh conditions are especially damaging to children who lack access to proper diet, good medical services, and decent education. Author Thernstrom (2009), states the homeless persons are twice as probable to experience hunger and malnutrition that non-homeless counterparts. Poverty usually impacts the social, physical, cognitive and emotional growth of children. Poverty also results to increased instances of child abuse and domestic violence (Salem & Lewis, 2016). According to Salem & Lewis (2016), research revealed that 25% of children from poor homes had experienced violence and around 22% of them have been disconnected from their families.
There are numerous theories that have been brought forth to explain and offer possible solutions to poverty as a social problem. There are three key theoretical perspectives, they are
1. Functionalism- this theory argues that stratification is necessary to induce persons with specialized training to handle particular occupations and thus it is essential and unavoidable
2. Conflict theory- this theory argues that stratification exists because of inequality that stems from prejudice and discrimination. It is neither essential nor unavoidable.
3. Symbolic interactionism- the final theoretical perspective argues that stratification impacts on person 's lifestyles, beliefs, relations
Many individuals all over the world are affected by poverty. In order to completely understand the cause, the effect, and the solution to ending poverty, we must first understand the meaning of poverty. Poverty is the condition where an individual’s basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter are not being met (business dictionary). According to the World Bank Organization, poverty is also the lack of healthcare, education, information, and jobs. There are two general types of poverty: Absolute and Relative. Absolute poverty occurs when individuals cannot obtain adequate resources to support a minimum level of physical health. Relative poverty occurs when individuals do not
Conflict Theory – Macro level – This is built off of resources, status and power that is not evenly distributed throughout groups in our
215 chapter 8 Sociology In Our Times: The Essentials) this is to suggest that the different classes in society are in conflict because the more powerful groups maintain and control the distribution of resources, rewards, privileges and opportunities by exploiting the less powerful. They also believe that inequality is a result of profits being generated from the cost of labour being less than the cost of the goods and services being produced from that labour, also known as the surplus value. Conflict theorists do not believe that stratification is functional for society, or that it serves as a source of stability. Rather, they believe that stratification will lead to instability and social change.
“What is poverty? Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom” (The World Bank, 2009).
Poverty, in economic terms, is typically based on a poverty line, which measures the minimum amount of income deemed sufficient for livelihood. Although, poverty can also connotate the deprivation of capability.
Poverty is a situation in which income is inadequate to provide for basic needs such as food, shelter, medical care, and clothing. Poverty has been a problem for societies since the beginning of time.
Poverty is where one person or a group of people don’t have enough money and recourses to meet needs that are considered acceptable in the general public. Although there has been effort to prevent poverty, it is still rampant around the world. 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day while 1.3 billion of those people live on less than $1.50 a day. Poverty also affects children. Every 4 seconds a child dies of poverty. 1 billion children live in poverty. Two examples of world powers with large populations but still have child poverty are the United States and Brazil. The poverty line in the United States for a family of four is $23,550. [Federal Poverty Level 2013-2014]. The poverty line
Poverty is a pervasive problem throughout the world. Many people must live in harrowing and undignified conditions because they simply lack the resources to have a better life. If people worldwide can become more informed about poverty and its consequences, there is a chance its impact can be diminished and the wellbeing of those living in poverty can be improved
Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support: condition of being poor (Poverty, n.d.). There are numerous reasons that contribute to the overwhelming poverty rates in America, some of which cause sever hunger and death. The economy, cultural beliefs, minimum wage, and lack of jobs are a just a few reasons more than 45 million people are in poverty. The American government has set the limits to what is considered to be poverty under a set guideline of 48 possible thresholds. The thresholds vary according to the size of the family and the ages of the family members. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, poverty
Symbolic Interactionism suggest that humans define situations upon past experiences, and then act on those definitions. The legitimacy of the stratification structure is established and perpetuated through teaching beliefs to the young and enforcing those beliefs. Children are taught that ones place in the stratification
Poverty is “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor” (Dictionary.com, 2017). Based off this definition poverty is a condition that can cause a cascade of cause and effect actions that is detrimental to families and individuals both physically and mentally. Haan, Kaplan, & Camacho (2017) completed a study on the correlation between social and economic status and health in adults in Oakland, CA. They found that the lower the socioeconomic class the higher incidents of diseases and deaths related to chronic diseases (p.1161-1162). Just being without money or little money was not the only indication of health indication, a person living in an area with higher poverty issues
The conflict theory believes that stratification occurs through a conflict between different classes, with the upper classes using superior power to take a larger share of the social resources (Social Stratification, Definition Social Stratification, n.d.). The conflict theorist argues that social stratification causes an inequality in society.
There are three main arguments believed to be the explanations for the existence and persistence of poverty. The first account is the Dependency-Based Explanation that puts the blame of poverty to the individual or to their cultural background. The Exclusion-Based Explanation and Structural-Based Explanation are the next two which establishes the society that condemns people to poverty.
A social problem, is “a general factor that effects and damages society”. It can be used to describe an issue or a problem within a certain group of people or an area in the world. Examples of contemporary social problems today include anti-social behaviour, drug abuse, and sexual abuse. Poverty is an example of a social problem that exists all over the world, and to different extents. In the UK, poverty has effected at least a third of the population, as shown by the Office of National Statistics, providing evidence that it is a massive social problem in the country. Tameside has a big poverty problem. 1 in 4 children in Tameside are born into poverty, and workers in Tameside earn significantly less than other workers in the rest of the North-West area. In addition, Tameside has the largest proportion of people claiming unemployment benefits compared to the rest of the North West of England.
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