Poverty as A Social Problem

Question 1: The scope of this social problem over the last 30-50 years.

Social problems are large factors that impact and damage the society as a whole. Poverty is a major social problem in the society today that has raised considerable concerns. It means the lack of basic needs, for instance, shelter, clothing, health facilities, and food, etc. Poverty means an environment where there are restricted resources and low living standards which fail to sustain the basic human needs. It can cause and drive individuals to bribe, corruption, domestic abuse, lack of education, drug abuse as well as unemployment.

The level of income that determines poverty varies from place to place hence social scientists hold the belief that is best explained by conditions of existence such as lack of access to shelter, clothing together with food (Thernstrom, 2009). Individuals living in poverty typically experience continuous starvation or hunger, absent of or inadequate health care and education and are regularly alienated from the society as a whole. Poverty is a result of the unequal distribution of resources and wealth on a universal scale and within countries. According to sociologists, poverty is a social condition in societies with an uneven and inequitable distribution of wealth as well as income, and the exploitative impacts of world capitalism.

Poverty originated in the sixteenth century, with the emanation of the New World order, growth of trade and the arrival of current economics. It emerged at the same time with wealth. Income gaps developed within and among many countries, via combinations of politics, geographical locations and adequate access to resources as well as training. There was the existence of poverty in the era of the 1770s as seen in the book “The Wealth of Nations,” by the author Adam Smith. Smith saw that there were inequalities in income among the people in the United States. Nonetheless, economic success varied among countries in addition to the U.S citizens. Some countries improved technologically and obtained wealth quickly, while other nations struggled to supply citizens with basic resources and needs (Cagney, 2009).

Question 2: Your original analysis of how you think addressing the social problem could be improved.

As a sociologist, there is need to reduce the level of poverty in the world today. Governments should focus on generating adequate employment opportunities for people to alleviate poverty. Carefully and substantially planned programs of work funded by the government can increase growth in jobs. Industries and companies that require substantial forces of labor can also be supplied with larger assistance from the government. More attention should be placed on improving enterprises that present sustainable and long-term jobs to the society. Corporations should consider additional budget sufficiently for staff training and other related programs in the community so that workers and prospective employees can maintain their skills that are relevant to the job.

There should also be transparency in government expenditure. How and where a federal government decides to spend the money of taxpayers and its revenue should be visible to the common man as well as the media. This enables governments to be accountable for their activities and inaction becomes apparent to address and pinpoint. For instance, transparency will be advantageous to citizens who government might be allocating money to themselves rather than to its programs of poverty.

Emphasizing on equal education for all is also critical in alleviating poverty. Even though poverty is a social condition, it is also a psychological and mental cage. When the citizens are offered adequate education, impoverished populations have the ability to see their way out of poverty and able to work hard towards it in a reliable and organized way. Education supplies training to the workforce of tomorrow and hence fortifies the economy and the nation against poverty. When affluent populations are offered education about poverty, it invokes feelings of compassion as well as a sense of responsibility to the hardships of the rest of the globe.

Question 3: Define four concepts from our readings that relate to your chosen social problem and analyze how these concepts help us better understand the social problem.

The idea of stratification explains the manner in which different groups of individuals are placed within a society. People’s status is usually influenced by how the society is stratified on the foundations of wealth, ethnicity, social class, political status, gender as well as religion. Stratification highly contributes to poverty as a stratified society favors the wealthy people in the community hence the rich continue to grow richer while the poor continue to remain destitute. All the fine things in life are reserved for the wealthy. Stratification leads to competition between the rich and the poor as people act for their economic benefit.

Ethnicity is also a critical concept in explaining poverty. An ethnic group is a group of individuals who share a distinctive and shared culture, language or religion. Ethnicity usually influences the economic status of a person (Mario Luis Small, 2010). People from minority groups are characterized by low levels of education, poor health and high levels of poverty. Ethnicity determines the distribution of resources where minority ethnic groups are denied access to adequate resources hence they continue to live in poverty.

Gentrification is the unplanned or planned process by which affluent or wealthy people in the middle class force out poorer individuals in poor neighborhoods by buying property and improving it via renovation and modernization. Gentrification contributes to poverty as the new improved cities attract skilled workers, new businesses, large corporations as well as major developers who increase the demand for and housing costs. As a result, older residents are forced to vacate because of economic restraints. The displaced people are being pushed out of neighborhoods of working class individuals that are suitable for attracting investment and population, while the impoverished regions continue to remain in persistent poverty.

Sexism is a belief that one sex is more valuable or superior than the other. Sexism contributes to poverty as men are given more resources than women because they are more useful to the society. Girls and women are hardest hit by the impact of extreme poverty because they are denied opportunities in education and other sectors which can help them grow economically (Chant, 2008). Gender equality is imperative in alleviating poverty.

Question 4: Define one sociological theory that relates to your chosen social problem and analyze how it helps us better understand the social problem.

Conflict theory relates to poverty in the society. The theory asserts that stratification is harmful and dysfunctional in society as it benefits the rich and powerful people at the expense of the poor. Hence, it develops a system of losers and winners which are maintained by the upper social class. This shows that there is poverty in the society as wealthy people continue to benefit while the poor continue to suffer. The losers in the society lack a fair chance to compete, and as a result, they remain at the bottom of the social class.

Following conflict theory, capitalism is advantageous to the rich. Governments that favor capitalism often comes up with corporate welfare via tax breaks, direct subsidies and other support that is profitable to big corporations. The assumption is that the market will enable these benefits to the rich to make their way to the destitute through competition. However, the reality is that the rich will continue to grow richer while the poor suffer from poverty as a result of unequal distribution of resources (Rucell, 2015). In the society today, there is extreme poverty as there is inequality in the allocation of resources as the rich are favored more than the poor. The rich use their resources to benefit themselves instead of helping in eradicating poverty.

In a nutshell, poverty is a serious social problem in the world that needs to be addressed and eliminated. The unequal distribution of resources has largely contributed to extreme levels of poverty where the poor still suffer from poverty.

References

Cagney, C. R. (2009). Moving beyond Poverty: Neighborhood Structure, Social Processes, and Health . Journal of Health and Social Behavior , 552-571.

Chant, S. (2008). TThe 'feminisation of poverty'and the 'feminisation'of anti-poverty programmes: Room for revision? The Journal of Development Studies 44.2 , 165-197.

Mario Luis Small, D. J. (2010). Reconsidering culture and poverty. 6-27.

Rucell, T. S. (2015). Sociological Perspectives on Poverty. 10-44.

Thernstrom, S. (2009). Poverty and progress: Social mobility in a nineteenth century city. Harvard University Press.