Defining Poverty
Poverty has been defined in many different ways. Some attempt to reduce it to numbers, while others believe that a more vague definition must be used. In the end, a combination of both methods is best. DiNitto and Cummins (2007), in their book “Social Welfare, Politics and Public Policy,” present six definitions and explanations of poverty. Social reformers Webb and Webb (1911) present another angle on poverty. Essentially, all definitions are correct, the debate is of which to use when creating policy.
“Less than” Poverty
DiNitto and Cummings (2007) first present poverty as depravation. They explain that poverty as depravation is an insufficiency in an “item required to maintain a decent standard of living”
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However, there is another definition not mentioned in our text. Berleman (1970) in his article “Poverty- Some Dilemmas in Definition” quoted early twentieth century social reformers Webb and Webb as they describe poverty. Webb and Webb explain that destitution is “the condition of being without one or more of the necessities of life, in such a way that health and strength is so impaired as to eventually imperil life itself.” This definition provides the most concrete of standards as well as provides a harsh view of what poverty really is.
Preventing Destitution
The agenda to end poverty is nothing new in American politics. However, with the recent changes in the US economy the war on poverty is raging and politicians are making daring statements and promises. In the 2008 Compass Forum Barack Obama boldly vowed to halve poverty within 10 years. Later, Republican John McCain declared if he were voted president that the “eradication of poverty will be top priority of the McCain administration.” The interesting thing about these comments is the plan each politician created to support them.
Both John McCain and Barack Obama followed in the footsteps of politician John Edwards, supporting the plan that he had once proposed. The plan included a list of actions that needed to be taken to alleviate poverty in the US. However, a the top of the list were only temporary solutions including increasing minimum wage
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.
Poverty is a major global issue in today’s society. It also has a broad definition as it is very complex and cannot be specifically defined. Poverty is circumstance-dependent. According to Sharif Mohammed, author of Poverty Reduction - An Effective Means of Population Control, “Poverty is a multidimensional condition of human survival, not just a measure of deficiency in income. It is generally defined in relation to a minimum standard of decent living. The levels of living below this are referred to as survival standards. Failure to attain and enjoy the standard is called absolute poverty.” Millions around the world are affected by poverty and it’s an issue that has plagued the globe for centuries. Different
“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 is the condition of being unable to obtain socially money or possessions. Poverty has been established in multiple countries for years; in many divergent degrees. From the late
Poverty is a hard concept for people to put into words. Ruby Payne states a working definition of poverty in her book A Framework for Understanding Poverty in which she says, “The extent to which an individual does without resources” (7). For a better look, the dictionary defines poverty as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions”
However, what truly defines poverty? Is it a lack of money, or lack of food or even lack of proper hygiene? Although these characteristics alone or combined can often define people living in poverty, the truth is that these are only perceptions. To live in poverty means that your income falls below the official poverty line for a given family size. In a broader sense, the living conditions of the poor are difficult to measure, both because annual cash income is only one factor related to living conditions, and because the poor are quite heterogeneous (Federman, Garner & Short, 1997). The perceptions or "myths" that the population has about poverty are distinguished by a "high degree of constancy" across generations and by an "equally pronounced capacity for evolution", adapting to changes in knowledge and social circumstance (Blumenburg, 1995 pp.34). Society buying into these myths and some impoverished adhering to the myths feed the fuel for society's beliefs and perceptions.
Poverty is an authentic life issue people all over the world continue to struggle with. There are many countries that try to help those in poverty, but a complete solution has not been found. Although there are countless definitions of poverty, according to Schwartz, he states in his article the United States Government says; “Poverty is a state of deprivation, or a lack of the usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions”. The government calculates poverty based on the total income a person may receive and it does not include non-cash supplements (Schwartz).
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
Unfortunately, poverty is a complex phenomenon. It occurs on a structural level, as seen when discussing poverty rates, and on a personal level. In order to help individuals living in poverty, professionals must move beyond any myths and biases they may hold. Poverty cannot be fully grasped without an appreciation of the social environment in which poverty exists (Seccombe, 2011).
There is this idea that the poor are all the same and that they all became poor the same way. This is not true, the amount of information the average person has related to poverty is small, almost a “snapshot” of what is truly happening to the impoverished. Measuring poverty is very difficult because of this, every person’s experience is different which makes it hard to find a way to measure them all the same way. Although some people are born into poverty, many are only impoverished for a small amount of time. Without understanding a person’s past with poverty and their “poverty spells” it is hard to tell how poor they are and what should be done about it. To put a person on a certain spot on the poverty spectrum, not only will their financial value need to be evaluated but also their well-being. If poverty is to be defined correctly, poverty spells must be acknowledged. So that the view America has is not a “snapshot but a movie”
According to Pogge (2008), poverty is a state at which individuals are not able to fulfill their basic human needs of food, shelter and clothing. This is taken in the context of quality and insufficient amounts in quantity. Poverty is categorized into two main classes, absolute and relative
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
When it comes to poverty, there is the magnitude of definitions explaining the term. The definition of poverty has important implications from point of view of policy making, politics and academic debates. Each view has its own value judgments and explanations. Over the times, new definitions have surfaced the debates and yet, there is not a single universally acceptable definition of poverty. Definitions usually set the perimeters of the terminology and often subject to limitations and criticism. According to the definition of the World Bank, the term lack refers to the scarcity of economic resources while the term inability refers to the failure of competence to take part in a community (Bellu & Liberati, 2005). It is now widely
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
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.