The Social Justice Issue Of Poverty

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

The topic of poverty is America has been both a huge focus and a sore subject for many. There are differing opinions on how to handle our growing population of people below the poverty line, with some saying the solution is the good old “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” rhetoric to others saying impoverished people have children and refuse to work just to get bigger checks from their states.

Poverty and inequality have virtually plagued every country on the planet, including our own wealthy, free, and developed nation. Poverty is when people lack certain resources to meet basic living requirements. Inequality can be equated as the different levels of wealth, opportunities, and resources given to different groups of people. While white people do suffer from poverty, minorities are impacted by poverty and inequality on a much larger scale. Although there are far more white Americans in our country, poverty among African Americans is almost three times the percentage of white Americans in poverty. Overall, poverty affects more than 40 million people in the United States alone. Both poverty and inequality hinder the ability of these 40 million people to provide for their family and pay for housing, food, and living necessities. From my understanding, poverty and inequality are interrelated.

The scourge of poverty in the United States of America is a tragic story that seems to never end. When President Lyndon B. Johnson fired the first shots in the “War on Poverty” in 1964, the rate declined by a several percentage points in the coming decade. Sadly, whereas in 1964 the percentage of Americans in poverty was approximately 17 percent of the population, the rate still stood at 14.8 percent a full 50 years later in 2014. The ongoing plague of poverty has given rise to a moral value shared almost universally in communities across America: in a society as prosperous and successful as ours, it cannot possibly be considered moral to bear witness to so many poor people who can see little or no way out of their lot in life. Unfortunately,

However, my reaction to this article was stunning. Yes, we have anti-poverty policies in place, but how effective are they? However, I feel we need to come together as a society and deal with this issue. We need to advocate for changes in current policies, and implement new ones, which will address poverty. Historically, we have to analyze how policy experts tackled this issue in the past, and look for gaps that need fixing. Everyone is unique and different in many ways, and deserve fair treatment. Everyone should have a chance at equal opportunity, and as a society, we need to advocate for change, so we can dismiss this war of

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).

American economist and statistician, Mollie Orshansky, was the woman who gave America the way on how to measure poverty that we call the Orshansky Poverty Thresholds. The Census Bureau issues the poverty thresholds every year and that produces the status of the American people economically. The very term “poverty” continues to evoke debates on what it actually means to be poor. There are many studies that have been conducted to determine what is the cause of poverty in America and what we can do to help diminish it. From a sociological standpoint, one thing everyone should focus on when it comes to poverty is to ask yourself why people are living the way they are. People do not just wake up one day and decide that they want to be poor, let

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.

Poverty has been evident since The Great Depression in the 1930’s. Since then, there has been an attempt to lower poverty level, though only a 2.5% decrease has been seen since 1965. It is argued that we do not need another war on poverty since nothing has seemed to help, but this is an issue that affects everyone. As Mark Bittman stated in his article “Why We’re Fasting” “This is a moral issue; the budget is a moral document.” Poverty can be improved if more emphasis is added to helping individuals or families out of poverty, instead of assisting them through their lives, by improving existing laws or implementing new laws centering around the idea of a fixed income.

Poverty is a massive issue today, it surrounds all of life’s experiences, and it impacts on the future for people everywhere, and on health everywhere in society. Poverty is not just related to unemployment or

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

When we attack poverty on many levels, bringing together aid and education, community and economic development, and bringing empowerment to individuals, women and children, then we can begin to see real change in the communities and society. However, society is strutted in such a way that not all

When I began this journey, I had a finite perception of the injustices present in our world and society. Serving a church in inner city West Baltimore, Maryland, I encounter many different people, circumstances, issues and situations. The perception I had as to why the crime was so high, there were so many high school drop outs, so many persons on public assistance, a drug epidemic and such an increase in the violence, was finite and lacked comprehension of the factual issues. One of those major foundational issues is that of poverty. A widespread commonsense understanding is that poverty is caused by individual fate or bad choices people make in their lived: dropping out of college, getting pregnant, getting divorced, ending up in one of the famous female-headed families that haunt the “moral” debates on poverty, having a “culture of poverty,” sliding into the “black underclass” of the inner-city ghettos, lacking an education, failing to adapt to the demands of the economy, and so on .

Walking down the street in Missoula, Montana often brings you into contact with poverty. From the courthouse lawn to the sidewalks in front of the grocery stores there are many people who are homeless and begging for money and food. Living in this city for the majority of my life, I have been exposed to people in poverty everyday. This topic is of interest to me because I have worked with these people firsthand and seen their struggles within their lives. These people are often very warm-hearted and hard working but just cannot seem to get back on their feet. Many different organizations have been created to try and assist these individuals and families and help them to maintain a steady income, provide food for their family and achieve some level of financial stability. There are many different opinions of poverty that vary throughout the world but regardless of your personal ideas, the proportion of people who are in poverty is increasing at an uncomfortable rate.

If the concept of a perfect world were a large puzzle, justice and equality would be the pieces needed to complete it. However, just as the idea of a perfect world is fictitious, the notion of unadulterated justice and equality is utopic. It says so in the United States “Declaration of Independence” that “all men are created equal” however, social justice and impartiality remain a significant issue all societies around the world face (Jefferson). Social justice is the state in which exists when equality of equal rights and opportunity is well apparent throughout the general public. In order to create a world that is just, it is crucial to focus on all aspects of equal rights and opportunity because it is central to any well- functioning society