Poverty is a phenomenon that affects many populations in the world. It is experienced everywhere, including in developed countries where the living standards are relatively high. Poverty emerges as a social problem because those who are poor in the society have their class. According to the World Bank (2016), poverty is a challenging experience as those who manage to move out of it enjoy the benefits temporarily and eventually find themselves back there. Economic instability, climatic changes, and food insecurity are major challenges to the attainment of progress. So many people all over the world are living in extreme poverty defined by World Bank as a phenomenon in which one spends less than $1.90 per day. The experiences of poverty vary with gender, age, ethnicity, source of income, and residence (Khan, 2000). Children and women are affected more than men in a poverty-stricken household. In ethnic or religious scenarios, the minority groups are more adversely affected than the majority. Moreover, a poor person residing in the rural area experiences worse problems than on living in the urban. The differences in the magnitude of poverty are outcomes of public policies, markets, and cultures (Khan 2000). The implication is some populations that are poor may actually be perceived as rich depending on how each individual experiences the day to day life.
My interest in poverty as a research topic was driven by a book I once read, authored by Joseph Stigliz (2002), and titled Globalization and its discontents. Stigliz narrates the escalation of poverty, particularly in developing countries, despite the several benefits manifested by globalization. I was amazed by how he describes the role of the developing countries in boosting the levels of poverty in developing countries rather than helping such poor countries to move out of their plights. According to Stigliz (2002), developing countries collaborate with international bodies, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to enforce principles that enhance the competition of businesses whose origin is in developed countries while closing the routes that can enhance the competitiveness of businesses whose origin is in developing countries. One example offered by Stigliz (2002), in alignment with this argument, is the notion of trade agreement. He narrates how the US has been at the core of various trade agreements in its interest rather than every other country involved in a similar context. In alignment with the position taken by Stigliz (2002), a trade agreement is fair if it reinforces the elimination of barriers to boost the competitiveness of the US businesses in other country and restrains those countries from entering US to do business. In essence, developing countries are only involved in business with the US in exporting their goods at a price lower than the market price, what is referred to as “dumping” (Stigliz, 2002, p.172). To Stigliz, this is “Unfair fair trade laws” with unfairness depicted to the developing countries while fairness is an attribute for the developed countries and which is eventually attained in collaboration with international bodies involved in the enforcement of various trade principles.
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Literature Review
As mentioned before, the poor have their class and can rarely interact freely with the rich in the society. In most cases, they engage in various activities in a bid to reduce or alleviate their poverty. At times they find themselves working for the rich in society for a meager pay. While some poor individuals have access to government’s assistance and others of good will, there is a public’s perception of those who deserve. The implication is that there are people who are poor but not considered to be in the category of needing assistance. This means that people who are extremely poor are the only ones considered as deserving. Every society has its measure of extreme poverty depending on the cost of living in various regions of the world (Will, 1993). The World Bank is one of the international bodies with a motto that targets the poor in the society. The World Bank aims to eradicate poverty in the world by establishing standards that intend to ensure the accessibility of quality life for the world population. While the World Bank has succeeded in reducing the level of poverty in the world, much still needs to be done as there are factors that rewind all that is done and take people back to where they started. Hunger is the factor that receives the highest consent in alignment with the public’s perception of those who deserve assistance. In essence, it emerges that an individual who cannot afford food is in extreme poverty and, therefore, deserves to be a member of a welfare program (Will, 1993). While widows are also considered under welfare programs, it emerges that this idea is supported by few amidst the belief that some of them are in the working class. A need arises, therefore, to measure the needs of these widows to determine whether they deserve the assistance which is mostly founded on the attribute of being a widow rather than their poverty level.
Poverty and Population Growth
There has been a misconception in the past that population growth escalates the level of poverty. Even for most widows registered in welfare programs, the public’s perception is that such women need assistance if they have several children in their household. Poverty is also highly associated with high birth rates. Most poor families fear that one or more of their infants will die prematurely as a consequence of their misery and, therefore, find it plausible to have many children to compensate for those who might die (Jillani, n.d.). Research has, however, shown that population increase aligns with excessive food production. While there are people dying of famine in Africa, Asia, and other continents where poverty is eminent, the industrialized countries have lots of food in silos. Most of such nations use hard currency and this makes it impossible for poor countries to buy their food. As such, it emerges that a lack of economic resources is at the core of escalating poverty in developing countries rather than high population (Jillani, n.d.). The economic problem is further responsible for disease, squalor, pestilence, and socio-economic progress which are at the core of every poor nation. In developed countries where poverty is also evidenced by some members of the population, inequality in resource distribution is a major factor. Some regions of a country are more developed than others in the same country and the poor cannot afford to buy some resources from the developed regions due to economic turmoil.
Gaps in Literature
Other than new articles and articles authored on behalf of international bodies, such as the United Nations (UN) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there is little research, if any, that focuses on poverty in developed countries. This does not mean that there are no poor people in the developed nations. There are several articles that have focused on elements that depict the presence of poor populations in the developed countries. The issue of healthcare access is one that depicts the magnitude of poverty in the American society with the US documented as the developed country with the highest level of inequality in terms of wealth distribution. In an article by Dickman, Himmelstein and Woolhandler (2017), titled “Inequality in the healthcare system in the USA,” the life expectancy of the wealthy exceeds that of the poor by ten to fifteen years. A search of articles that directly address poverty as an independent issue of concern in developed countries yields no results. Researchers and scholars have greatly focused on developing countries and this yields the misconception that poverty is only in developing countries. While income distribution is a major problem in developed countries, one finds few, if any, journal article that explores the same. There is, however, an article that comprehensively discusses the income distribution issue in alignment with developing countries. One can never exhaust the number of articles that have explored the notions of poverty in developing countries. If a layman was to be involved in undertaking a research, he or she would wonder whether developed countries have had an experience of poverty at any time of their citizens’ lives. Ironically, the Washington Post, Huffington Post, The New York Times, and CNBC report news about the increment of poverty in the developed countries. Hartogs (2016), reporting for the CNBC, estimates the number of people living in poverty at 300 million in developed countries. This number is huge, especially when one considers the fact that academicians are not interested in studying the phenomenon due to the misconception that poverty is only in third world nations. This raises the question of the elements that characterize one as poor. Khan (2000) depicts poverty as a state of powerlessness, susceptibility, and deprivation which constrain one’s endeavors in the attainment of well-being.
Another gap in literature concerns the elements considered in drawing the poverty line. The current poverty line in alignment with World Bank announcement of 2015 is $1.90 (World Bank, 2015). This means that an individual who spends $1.90 or less is categorized under the poor populations. As the World Bank updates this figure from time to time to align with the cost of living, the factors they consider in their calculations are not clear. Again, the World Bank has utilized the figures obtained from the lives of 15 poorest countries in the world in coming up with the last two figures, $1.25 in 2005 and $1.90 in 2015 (World Bank, 2015). There is a conception that the poor could be paying more for the goods they buy and this creates uncertainty as to how the World Bank arrives at a poverty line figure. Research has also shown that the prices of broad food categories rather than specific items may be utilized in drawing the line between the rich and poor in society (Broda et al., 2009). Unit prices may also pose a challenge as sometimes the poor choose for a low-priced commodity without considering the quality. Again, the poor will seek for a shop or store that offers lower prices and can actually pay less for a commodity that costs more than he or she has. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has a way of estimating the cost of living and enabling the calculation of the poverty line figure. However, there are times when the CPI overestimates the COL and this has implications in reporting about the poverty rates both in developed and developing countries (Broda et al., 2009). Again, the fact that populations from the developed countries are rarely included in the list of the poorest nations raises a question about the accuracy of the data used. In essence, 13 out of the 15 countries used in the calculation of the poverty line were from the African continent (Kakwani & Son, 2015). My interest in exploring the notion of the poverty line emerges from the many questions that emerge from every aspect of poverty as presented by the World Bank and other international bodies, such as the UN and IMF. Why focus so much on Africa while there is poverty everywhere in the globe? One is left with the view that the elements considered in calculating the poverty line are not experienced by others who are categorized as poor.
Further Research
Many causes and outcomes of poverty have been documented in alignment with various research studies. In alignment with the outcomes, I would suggest a study about education. The question I would recommend to a social psychologist is: How does poverty affect the educational outcomes of the affected populations? Since there is a lot of research that has taken place in developing countries, I would suggest that this study be conducted in a developed country in an educational context comprising of minority groups.
Conclusion
Poverty emerges as a social problem of interest, particularly because it is experienced in both developed and developing countries. It is one of the discontents of globalization as developing countries continue being deprived of their limited resources through trade agreements with developed countries. International bodies, such as the IMF and World Bank, have been at the core of enforcing policies that enhance the deprivation of developing countries. A major challenge in being poor is that there is public misconception that categorizes individuals as deserving or undeserving assistance. The fact that each individual experiences poverty differently; in alignment with gender, residence, or ethnicity; leads to differences in public perceptions of who is poor or rich. Poverty in developing countries is highly documented. The World Bank actually uses the poverty figures obtained from the poorest countries of the third world countries to come up with a global figure for the poverty line. The literature review that aligns with poverty as a topic culminates into two main gaps. First, there is little research, if any, in alignment with poverty in developed countries. Second, it is not clear which elements are utilized in arriving to the final figure in the calculation of the poverty line. These are two areas I would engage in further research if given a chance. A research question I would suggest to a social psychologist is: How does poverty affect the educational outcomes of the affected populations?
References
Broda, C., Leibtag, E. & Weinstein, D. E. (2009). The role of prices in measuring the poor’s living standards. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 23 (2), 77-97.
Dickman, S. L., Himmelstein, D. U. & Woolhandler, S. (2017). Inequality in the healthcare system in the USA. The Lancet, 389 (10077), 1431-1441. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30398-7
Hartogs, J. (2016, 19 May). Poverty increasing in developed countries: ILO. CNBC, Europe News. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/19/poverty-increasing-in-developed-countries-ilo.html
Jillani, M. S. (n.d.). Population growth- The social development and poverty dimension. The Lahore Journal of Economics, 4 (1), 41-52.
Kakwani, N. & Son, H. H. (2015). Global poverty estimates based on 2011 purchasing power parity: Where should the new poverty line be drawn? Working Paper Series, 371. Retrieved from http://www.ecineq.org/milano/WP/ECINEQ2015-371.pdf
Khan, M. H. (2000). Rural poverty in developing countries. Finance and Development, 37 (4). Retrieved from http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2000/12/khan.htm
Stigliz, J. (2002). Globalization and its discontents . New York: W.W. Norton.
The World Bank (2015). FAQs: Global poverty line update. Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/brief/global-poverty-line-faq
The World Bank (2016). Poverty: Overview. Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview
Will, J. A. (1993). The dimensions of poverty: Public perceptions of the deserving poor. Social Science Research, 22, 312-332. Retrieved from https://www.unf.edu/uploadedFiles/aa/coas/cci/publication%20Dimensions%20of%20Poverty.pdf
