The Importance Of Poverty

Poverty is a multifaceted issue, it is dependent on many factors and the ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work. Out of all the possible explanations as to why people are still living in poverty in the U.S., the structural view of poverty covers the most bases. The structural view of poverty explains that poverty can only ‘be understood and explained only with reference to political and economic characteristics of the society’ (Kerbo, p.266). With this in mind, this theory considers the position of the poor in the occupational structure. Since the poor have jobs that require low skill, which means anyone can learn how to do them, there is much more competition for such jobs. Those with jobs that require greater skills, such as doctors,

The poor is also from the changing labor market. In recent years, the labor market has gone from industrial to service related jobs. This itself has eliminated many good paying jobs for people who has little education. These people usually have a dead-end jobs, with no benefits at minimum wages that does not pay enough to pay someone out of the poor social class. This is the major cause of poverty.

In some cases, lazy people lack money simply due to the fact they refuse labor, on the other hand,diligent workers have money because they work a considerable amount. In addition to working hard, money

While most people know that eating well is important to staying healthy and for prolonging life, poverty makes it difficult to access good nutritious food. Easy access to abundant food is not

Most of Americans view people in poverty as being lazy or unmotivated and there can be a universal solution to fix poverty. As a child that did not have to deal with the problems of poverty personally I also believed that there could be an easy or quick solution to fix all of these problems. Now that my family has experienced poverty first hand, I know that is not the case. The solutions that are in place currently are more of a band aid fix. What I mean by this is you deal with problems quickly but you have not fully resolved the root of the problem. This view of poverty also has been the belief historically. Tratner discuses that in the early 1800’s people who were poor were separated into two different groups the worthy and the unworthy. The worthy poor were mainly widowed women and orphans. The unworthy were deemed as drinkers, and people who were too lazy to work.

Society commonly refers to people in America who are living in poverty as people being lazy or saying that there are plenty of jobs and that

To many Americans, poverty is merely a synonym for ‘not rich’. Even those who understand the definition may struggle with the concept that poverty is not a distant, foreign, concern; poverty can occur in any country, region, neighborhood, and household. In a study performed by Carroll et al, 60% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “poor people are poor because of laziness and lack of will power (2011, p. 116). In the same questionnaire, 77% of respondents felt most poor people have the ability to escape poverty without government assistance (Carroll et al, 2011, p. 117). As above facts show, despite the widespread nature of this issue those not living in poverty often have

For example, when she mentions that her father keeps getting fired from jobs over and over again on top of page 110. Her father continually gets fired from jobs and he can’t maintain the household with food if he doesn’t receive money. This is one of the reasons why her family lives in poverty because both her parents at times don’t receive income because they don’t have jobs. The second reason her family lives in poverty is her father’s addiction with alcohol. Her dad spends the money that should be used for the household food with drinks, Brian mentions, that “’He spends more than he earns on booze’” (Walls 78). Brian even knows that their father wastes his money on his addiction instead for the family. This shows why their poverty keeps continuing because her father can’t keep a job and when he has money it’s only for his

Dailey and Ellin quote Levine by saying, “‘The idea is to fight obesity and not obese people’”(579). By learning to cook nutritional meals, students will have the tools neccessary to fight the disease that is plaguing their country. To show that households have lost their way of food preparation, Pollan recalls a conversation with Harry Baltzer: “‘Not going to happen,’ he told me. ‘Why? Because we’re basically cheap and lazy. And besides, the skills are already lost. Who is going to the next generation to cook? I don’t see it’”(584). Schools are designed to supply students with the knowledge to thrive. Therefore, they should include information on culinary arts because it will help reestablish the ideals once thought to be traditional. Likewise, Beebe and Thompson state, “By changing our children’s environment so they have access to healthy foods and physical activity, we improve the opportunity for all members of a community to improve their health”(1). Their statement reinforces the idea that students who learn healthy recipes in school are more likely to lead a healthy

But why are so many people in the United States of America stuck in poverty? The answers, like the problem, are complex. Some speak of a “culture of poverty” that keeps people from working their way out of poverty because they have come to see it as a way of life. Others speak about a growing technology gap, with higher-paying jobs going to computer-smart, educated workers and leaving others out. Still others say that racism and prejudice are strong factors in keeping minorities poor (Myers). One factor in the poverty story that nearly everyone can agree on is the increase in the working poor. For centuries, poverty has been mainly an

She also talks about their appearance and how they suffer from hunger. She explains that the government only gives her a small amount of money per month and how that’s not enough money to afford more nutritional foods and soaps to clean her kids. The outside world, in her eyes, won't help her. She says how hard it is to tell her story over and over to people. Due to this kind of situation poverty will only increase.

The cycle of poverty is a powerful weapon and those who are close or below the line of poverty are trapped in this vicious cycle. The viciousness of poverty is a universal problem; every country as to deal with poverty, but some people are more vulnerable to becoming victims of poverty than others. Society often makes it appear as if people want to be poor because they are lazy. Just being close to the poverty line means limited access to jobs. There has been a scarcity of jobs because most companies have moved overseas for cheaper labor, or have been replaced by technology, or have been shut down.

Most poor people are lazy. Since they have nothing they stop trying. Others just want welfare for doing nothing. They also use tax payers tax money to live. However, some people, like Victor Cruz work very hard towards a goal and have no time to work for money. But, most freeload off of others, and are lazy.

The stereotypic explanation persists that the poor cause their own poverty. One of the problems is the unemployment. Firms these days are constantly searching for well educated, experienced, skilled and intelligent employees. The high unemployment rate is because of the lack of education given to poor people. This is because poor people are not able to afford education and instead, they stay home and feed their families. When given the chance, most of the people living under poverty will do the best they can to earn enough money to support their families. Poverty is also due to high housing costs. These days, the price of houses are getting higher and higher and soon most people won’t be able to afford a place to live in, let alone food to eat or water to drink. There are numerous causes of poverty including lack of individual responsibility, bad government policies, exploitation by people and businesses with a lot of power and influences, etc. Some poor people do not know how to be responsible for their own being and therefore they live on the streets waiting for donations just to get by their day. The government is trying to clear out the people on the streets but they do not do anything to help out the poor people and that is why they remain on the streets. High levels of inequality - the gap between the rich and poor - will lead to problems such as increasing crime and violence. Inequality is usually a

It can be seen that there are a multitude of reasons that the poor tend to remain poor. Reasons ranging from the spending patterns of the poor to the health and nutrition of the poor all attribute to the creation of a poverty cycle that seemingly condemns the poor to being poor. Obviously this isn’t a rule of thumb but rather an accurate observation, it is not to say that the poor can’t become affluent but rather the conditions and environment that surrounds those who are poor severely impedes their ability to earn an income and move over the poverty