Welcome to the year 1963. Three years into this decade have proved to be not only influential to the future of our nation but also to serve as a cautionary tale. New technological inventions, major political occurrences, and a more aware society have proved to be very important events. These events in addition to many others will undoubtedly influence our nation in many ways but it seems to be that our nation has lost grip of a crisis much closer to home and much closer to the individual person, this specific person mentioned is the American citizen. Rich, poor, middle class, privileged, etc. are all ways to define oneself in the American Society, but as we reach the end of this decade, will we be able to say we efficiently took care of …show more content…
Harrington’s book would surprise most Americans who are sitting in their new suburban home in front of their new TV. To these members of our nation America appears to be doing completely fine economically and in terms of social welfare. In the start of his book, Harrington says, “here is a great mass of people, yet it takes the effort of the intellect and will even to see them” (Harrington 2). According to Harrington’s research, he found that nearly 50,000,000 Americans live in poverty. Not only is this number quite large, but also worrying because these individuals have essentially become invisible to those who are not considered to be living under the poverty line. What Harrington means is that it takes someone who is actually paying attention to this issue in order to fully understand what is truly happening to our society. Harrington calculated our nation’s poverty by figuring the number of Americans who got by with an annual income of less than $3,000. He argued that this data wasn’t hard to come by as it was census data, but the average American who is well off has little to no real reason to ever pay attention to this sort of shocking truth.
Our diverse country has beautiful coasts, large cities, and miles and miles of rolling hills in the Midwest. However, part of the problem we are experiencing is the lack of awareness of the isolation certain portions of our country create. The “Other America” Harrington references exist in the dirty slums of the
The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.
The view that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer has been heard repeatedly in reference to America’s income inequality. Though ironic, it comes as no surprise that America, a continent that easily trumps other countries in terms of wealth would be affected by the issue of poverty at such high levels. While much has said regarding the poverty levels, many economists, educators and scholars feel that the income inequality in America may be the reason why it is difficult to live and maintain a middle class lifestyle or to rise out of poverty into the middle class in the current economic state. With this in mind, the only way America, has a chance of lessening or eliminating poverty altogether is by understanding how it exists.
A question one might ask themselves; why would two authors write a book on the working poor? This topic is of high importance but people in the United States do not seem to understand. The census taken in 2012 tells us 46.5 million people in the United States are living in poverty and 20.4 million people are living in deep poverty which is where income is 50% lower than the poverty line. 80% of humanity living in the United States lives on $10 a day; that is over half of the people living in poverty, and they are hardly being able to provide for themselves. Working class is the majority in the United States which makes this topic very important. When 80% of the U.S. population is considered the working poor, and they live below the poverty
Overall, this exercise showed me the very real struggle that those who live in poverty face when trying to simply provide the bare necessities such as housing and food. Even so, the need for reform in intense. The first step in overcoming the financial barriers of poverty is not merely raising minimum wage or providing more governmental assistance, but the main area that needs reformation is in the eyes of the American populace. By changing the viewpoint of Americans who are not in financial poverty, the rest of the reform will follow
Poverty effected many individual families around the world for many years, and it wasn’t until 1935, The Social Security Act was passed, therefore assisting many families in need. The effects of poverty is an extraordinarily obscure social experience, and the finding those causes is very similar. As a result, sociologists considered other theories of poverty, such as the journey of the middle class, employers, from the cities into the suburbs. The government has taken many steps over the years to put an end to or decrease welfare assistance. Although, the welfare system is extremely important to millions of people, it has been an underlying problem for many others causing idleness and laziness. There are many pros and cons to
Author Bryan Stevenson (2014) writes, “The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned”(p.18). According to the non-profit, Feeding America (2016), in 2015, 43.1 million, or 13.5%, of people in the United States were impoverished. Poverty is a vicious cycle, trapping people and families for generations. The inability to escape poverty is due in part to difficult class mobility in the U.S. but also because certain factors reinforce the idea and state of poverty. Bryan Stevenson’s bestseller Just Mercy, Lindsey Cook’s article “U.S. Education: Still Separate and Unequal”, Michelle Alexander’s excerpt “The Lockdown”, and Sarah Smarsh’s “Poor Teeth” all explore the idea of poverty and the systems that sustain it. While all four readings focus on poverty differently and explore it using different techniques, they all share similar big picture ideas about how poverty is fortified through systematic, societal, and psychological efforts.
Poverty is present in today’s U.S. social system. For example, as Lesser states in the Clearinghouse Review, “Forty-six million Americans live in poverty” (1). Lesser then goes on to say how forty-six million Americans living in poverty correlates to almost one in every three single-parent families is poor (1). This is a daunting fact as it applies to today’s economic context with “rising unemployment rates and mortgage crises driving more individuals and families to seek the support of a cash-strapped social welfare structure” (Grijalva 1). With this in mind, many legislators are discussing the topic of poverty in the political realm. In order to tally the score of representatives the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law conducted its sixth annual Poverty Scorecard. “The 2012 Poverty Scorecard grades the voting record of every U.S. senator and representative on the most important poverty-related votes in 2012” (Lesser 1). The 2012 votes covered a range of topics such as budget and tax, food and nutrition, health care, housing, and many more (1). The results of the 2012 Poverty
In this article Massingale highlights the lack of concern for the marginalized in America by comparing Hurricane Katrina to a similar hurricane in Cuba where different precautions were taken and no one died. Katrina on the other hand, killed at least 1,706 people most of which were poor, black, elderly, or otherwise disadvantaged in society. Massingale explains three factors that contribute to our country’s “cultured” indifference to the poor. The first is the idea that poverty is the fault of the poor. Since America is regarded as the “land of opportunity” those who do not thrive here are viewed as careless and lazy. The second factor is the value we place on material objects—the more you have the more you are worth. The third factor is how
“People Like Us” by David Brooks examines diversity in America and argues that even though society tends to idealize diversity in a way, most of us don’t really care too much about it as long as we are happy. In the first paragraph Brooks states “ what I have seen all around the country is people making strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves”. This is something that most of us notice on some scale, but what does it say about the need for diversity in America? Brooks explains “The United States might be a diverse nation when considered as a whole, but block by block and institution by institution it is a relatively homogenous nation” This is an irrefutable truth, we all know that cities like Laredo Texas and Lincoln Nebraska are predominantly white and in cities like Detroit Michigan and Jackson Mississippi the population is predominantly black. However, what we fail to realize is the extreme racial separation that is taking place naturally at a much smaller scale, not even city to city but neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house. Brooks backs up his claim with the following example, “In Manhattan the owner of a three million dollar SoHo loft would feel out of place moving into a three million dollar Fifth Avenue apartment”. Politics, religion, income, lifestyle and general outlook on life can change in a matter of blocks. This may all seem
During these times, Harrington wrote “The Other America” which detailed just how ingrained poverty is in the society of America and how it is concealed throughout the country by the manner of dress, mannerisms, and character and how that inadvertently affects them drastically simply because they blend in with the rest of America that is not struggling economically. Harrington surmises that not only do those in poverty struggle economically but politically as well as their voice is not heard.
Author Harrell R. Rodgers, Jr. uses his article, “Why Are People Poor in America?,” to discuss the cultural/behavioral and structural/economic theories of why poverty exists as a social problem. First, Rodgers reviews the conservative theories, also known as the cultural/behavioral theories, of poverty. These views mostly consist of blaming the existence of poverty on the culture of laziness that has been growing in the poor population due to the availability of welfare. Many of the conservative authors that are mentioned in this article agree that welfare automatically makes the poor think that they are not personally capable of getting back on their feet by themselves; therefore, the poor
Poverty has been a predictable issue all through history. Regardless of what the middle wage, unemployment or general success level is, there will dependably be individuals who are destitute and hungry. In spite of being a standout amongst the most prosperous nations on the planet, the United States is not safe to it either. Indeed, even today, there are still individuals attempting to discover safe house, nourish their children and discover warm apparel. This social issue impacts affects distinctive foundations and individuals. Nonetheless, there are attainable arrangements that are accessible to lighten this social issue. In talking about destitution in the United States, I will be using three noteworthy points of view: the general condition, the developing white collar class neediness and the relationship between little organizations and vital measures to reduce neediness.
In conclusion, The Atlantic’s Matthew O’Brien with his article Poverty Is Literally Making People Sick Because They Can't Afford Food makes us reconsider what has been said about poverty by showing us graphs from researchers, explaining the graphs and also giving us some helpful information that can help with poverty. It’s shocking to see how people aren't getting up and doing something about this horrifyingly shocking news. Now that we know the facts, hopefully more people will start getting up. Something should've been done about poverty a long time ago. But it’s never too late, now is better than
Ronald Reagan once said, “We fought a war on poverty, and poverty won.” I read the book, Dancing in the dark by Morris Dickstein. This book was about the great depression, and the impacts it had on American life. The traditional thought of poverty, people dying of hunger and people lying in the roads, has been erased. America has abolished poverty by the traditional standards but the thought of poverty and what it is has changed. In America we consider poverty to be spending all your money on bills, so you have no money left for food to feed your family. We consider poverty to be just being poor. One-Third of our population makes less than $38,000. This is not enough to be able to be above the poverty line. Anything below this
Many Americans believe that America has one of the most powerful economies that is involved in the global market and the best average living standards. Since the creation of the United States it has been known as the land of endless opportunities, regardless of social or economic classes. Under this philosophy, all citizens should have equal rights and given equal opportunity to progress in the workforce. However many Americans are living full lives and do not have financial obstacles to get over. Even so, millions of Americans are still faced with poor living conditions and struggle with providing for their families basic needs. Whether Americans believe poverty and inequality exist in America exists or not, the authors in three different articles:” Culture of Success” by Brink Lindsey, “A Great Time to Be Alive?” by Matt Yglesias, and “Born Poor and Smart” by Angela Locke, and “The War Against the Poor Instead of Programs to End Poverty”by Herbert J. Gans, shared ideas on how to help fix the problems of the impoverished community and address the cause of the problem. The four articles also explain different biases that the impoverish have to endure everyday.