It is wrong to blame the poor for their plight in society because the problem is not with them but with the system. Poverty is considered a personal trouble and not a public issue. It is a personal experience that many think arises from one's own failures and are to blame for it. However, the decision to blame the poor stems from aspects of the society itself. In America, the poor are blamed for their plight because of the enduring belief that by merely working hard, anyone can achieve their dreams and make it in life. However, the reality is quite different. Sociological imagination provides the basis for appreciating the root cause of such social problems as poverty. Poverty is complicated in terms of its roots and in most of the cases, it is the system that fails some while providing opportunities for yet others.
One of the most common stereotypes that people have about the poor is they are lazy and do not work to earn a living. The society believes that these individuals have constructed their own deficiencies and as such, inequality and inability to access opportunities does not affect the outcome of their lives ( Edelman, 2013 ). It is imperative to note that this is not the case as these individuals normally have no control over the aforementioned factors.
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According to Greenbaum (2015) , the main solution that can be implemented to solve the issue of poverty is creating more job opportunities and raising the minimum wage of workers. Most employees stay below the poverty line because they do not have enough funds to access education, feed their families and support quality lifestyles.
In my opinion, I believe that no one chooses to be poor and as such, it would be wrong to say that only those who are born from a specific race or region are poor. Poverty affects everyone irrespective of their race or demographic location and as such, the society should not be quick to make judgments based on existing perceptions ( Edelman, 2013 ). They should instead try to come up with approaches that can be used to reduce this calamity so that the gap between the rich and the poor can be reduced. Instead of developing biased opinions and negative discernments about the poor, they should be on the forefront to ensure that they take an active part in eradicating poverty from their communities.
Best practices in poverty reduction should involve bringing a sustainable growth to poor regions ( Page & Simmons, 2002 ). It is imperative to note that most people are poor because they do not have access to quality education, health care, and job opportunity. International development agencies can, therefore, implement anti-poverty strategies by focusing on developing the factors that contribute to poverty.
Poverty in America affects mostly the people of color and is thus associated in one way or another with racial disparities between Whites and the people of color ( Edelman, 2013 ). That said, a poor White man is blamed even more for his plight. All this is happening while the truth is that it is very difficult to get out of poverty without getting some help. The rich have an obvious advantage over the poor and this advantage arises from the fact that the rich benefit from the network of families and friends. With this network, the rich can provide their children with quality education, can have someone to hold their hands while they are seeking jobs, and can have someone to teach them the right values to survive in the competitive society. On the other hand, the poor lack all or most of the opportunities for betterment that the rich have. Even then, the majority of Americans still blame the poor and hold onto misleading beliefs and behaviors that do not help the situation at all ( Greenbaum, 2015 ). Such social construction of poverty has seen increasing disparities between the rich and the poor in the global community.
References
Edelman, P. (2013). So Rich, So Poor: Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America . New York: New Press
Greenbaum, S. D. (2015). Blaming the Poor . Rutgers University Press.
Page, B. I., & Simmons, J. R. (2002). What government can do: Dealing with poverty and inequality . University of Chicago Press.
