Poverty Is A Growing Problem Around The World With Millions Of People

A growing problem that the United States is facing is poverty. Poverty affects around 46.5 million people in the United States. Poverty in America is decreasing according to the census “In 2013, the official poverty rate was 14.5 percent, down from 15.0 percent in 2012. This was the first decrease in the poverty rate since 2006.”("United States Census Bureau." 2015). One town in Pennsylvania shows an entirely different story though. For the town of Reading, Pennsylvania almost half of the population falls below the poverty line.

The axis of inequality that will be focused throughout this paper is the social class. Social class is defined as a group of individuals who are categorized according to class (i.e. poor, middle, and upper) due to their income, wealth, power, and occupation. Social class is socially constructed by the way we view how much income and wealth a person possess (Ore, 20011a, 10). In reality it is much more than that. According to the text, poverty is not only the shortage of income, but it is the rejection of opportunities and choices that leads a person to a standard way of living (Ore, 2011a, 10). Stereotyping also contributes to it being socially constructed. These stereotypes influence us by defining who is who based on their principles in each class category. This can cause some to feel worthless.

Poverty is a big problem in the United States. According to Charles Zastrow, “in 2012 over forty-six million people, about fifteen percent of our population was living below the poverty line” (p. 117). In other words, there were a great amount of people living below the poverty line the poverty line. The poverty line is the minimum level of income needed for secured needs of life according to the government. Poverty causes malnutrition, homelessness, School dropout’s drug abuse, and much more.

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

Homelessness can be described as the lack of safe, affordable, adequate and secure housing. It refers to a situation or condition of an individual person or a family without having the ability to live in a secured housing at their own. It is considered as a current growing problem in Canada including Hamilton. In past, homelessness was limited to city and urban areas, but now it spreads in diverse population even to the grass level. People experiencing homelessness are from a diverse population with many subgroups. Among those without housing are single men and women, families, youth, visible minorities, aboriginal people. Some of them with severe mental illnesses and other serious health problems. (Source: Adapted from www.raisingtheroof.org). Homelessness in Canada is attributed to societal factors, organisational factors and individual factors which require more attention from the government to resolve.

Race still predominantly plays a role in everyday classism. Discriminatory housing practices traps minorities in the lower class for generations. Moreover, America’s healthcare system unfair to people who have low income. Also, Public transportation does not properly serve the needs of those who use it; as well as, it makes it formidable to secure, and maintain a stable job. Additionally, education for the poor unequal in graduation rates; along with, a social polarization against lower class students. Classism in America is an old, yet consistent problem that, creates an unfair economic divide of

Together Aspire–Together Achieve: this is the motto of Hamilton, aptly summarizing its strengths and values. However, we must not limit ourselves to only acknowledging our strengths as there is always room for improvement. A problem exists in Hamilton that I, as mayor, would like to solve–homelessness. Our aspirations and achievements mean nothing if we fail to protect the most vulnerable members of our community. Having a roof over one’s head is a basic necessity and not addressing the needs of those who have been denied it reflects poorly on the ethos of our society. Homelessness is cyclical and contingent on economic development. With house prices increasing exponentially, the first step is to make affordable housing accessible to low-income

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 general definition of social class is the division of society based on social and economic status. Two famous views of social class are that of renowned sociologists Karl Marx and Max Weber. Karl Marx claimed that social class can be divided into two distinctive classes: the producers (bourgeoisie) and the workers (proletariat). The producers control the power in the class system by means of production, factories, business, the equipment needed to produce wealth, and through controlling the wages of the workers (Merton, 1938). Our present criminal justice system is based on Max Weber’s definition of social class. Weber argued that social class is not restricted to only two units, but instead defined by the combination of a quantifiable economic position and social status. An economic position is determined by groups that share a common set of life-chances and advantages with social status defined by their awareness of value and prestige (Merton, 1938). Apart from these two descriptions, modern sociologists claim that the United States, instead, has a five tier class system; upper class (elite), upper-middle class, lower-middle class, working class, and the poor, with the lower middle-class and working class comprising most of the American population. Most research and data on social class is modeled after the five-tier class spectrum. Although the relation of

Sue McGregor (2001) defines neoliberalism as a composition of two concepts ‘neo’ meaning new and ‘liberal’ meaning no government interference. Neoliberalism is based on three principles: individualism, free market via privatization and deregulation, and decentralization. Sue McGregor (2001) also explains that Deregulation implicates on the extraction of a portion of law that formerly permitted the government to distribute services to the public or modify laws so that the private sector has more influence. In the point of view of neoliberalists, markets are far preferable to government in the distribution of limited resources. With little or no interference of the government to implement policies to protect the lower social class providing a fair redistribution of the nation’s assets, the lower class end up with nothing. Without social programs to help them, it is practically impossible to change their life

Class is the relative location of a person or group within a larger society based on wealth power, prestige, or other valued resources. In other words, class can be defined as a socioeconomic status in which one’s capital defines their class position thus giving us a ranking of financial status. This categorization of class position is based on economic status that can be determined through income, profession, or inherited wealth. Blue collar (working class), white collar, and upper class (professional services) are the three class categories based on economic status. This class structure is society’s way of determining between the haves and have-nots. One’s ability to be aware of the class system and one’s place within it is known as class consciousness or class standing.

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.

The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, but yet poverty remains prevalent. Childhood poverty affects every aspect of their life. “Poverty is not having income for basic needs, food, medical care or basic needs and housing” (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 59). Poverty is affecting thousands of Americans every day, and it isn 't sparing anyone of a particular race, age or gender, leaving people on welfare, and without homes, or transportation. Poverty is a crisis that deserves attention from everyone, and it has many faces that are often not recognized

Every city has poverty. Travel around the world, I bet it wouldn’t be difficult to find a city that doesn 't have an impoverished community. Poverty is a global issue, but most importantly it’s a local issue to me in the city that I live in. Among the 10 largest cities in America, Chicago has the third highest poverty rate with 40-60% of our residents living under the poverty level. People who live in poverty are given less opportunities, resources and tools than people who live in the middle or upper class. Poverty is not a pleasant subject, however, poverty is real. In the daily lives of the poor, poverty becomes a network of disadvantages. The end result is that there is a lack of access to education, employment, health care, affordable housing, proper sanitation and good nutrition among many generations of the poor (End Poverty). Of the issues associated with poverty, the lack of access to an education stands out to me the most. In Chicago, education is greatly valued and is vital for all development and growth achievements in people. Education is the process in which people gain knowledge, help form and shape attitudes and opinions, and allow people to gain a set of skills that they can further use in areas outside of a school environment. However, education systems in Chicago are taking a huge deficit due to the effects of poverty. The effects of poverty are already big factors toward the concern about Chicago, and why it is portrayed as negatively as it is, but those

Poverty is a grave issue that many people face worldwide that is caused by political and economic instability, discrimination, war, and a history of colonialism. Poverty is a social and economic problem characterized by a lack of income and therefore lack of access to adequate resources like food, housing, and services. This problem is widespread and is fatal; the malnutrition and disease that comes along with poverty kills millions of people. Especially in developing countries, diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria are diseases that tend to infect those in poverty, yet they also perpetuate poverty because the medicines can be expensive or hard to come by. Even without the influence of diseases, poverty is usually perpetual, making it had for children who grow up impoverished to get out of poverty. For example in the United States, the perpetual cycle begins with poor housing conditions and leads to low property taxes, which would pay for an education. The lack of access to a quality education contributes to job scarcity, and in turn lower income. Income and economics are not the only problem caused by poverty. Crime rates and substance abuse problems are high in impoverished areas, contributing to the social problem. Additionally, the criminal justice system tends to be biased towards the poor because of high legal fees and institutionalized discrimination. Poverty is not just a problem to those who are impoverished because with less people able to