Essays on Poverty As you can see, these contemporary classifications retain an
emphasis on the ownership and manipulation of the means of production and on
what one does for work.
Absolute Poverty is when people do not have the means to secure the most basic necessities of life.
Who are the Poor in the US?
Economic Issues
Economic trends and issues have come to play in the creation
of poverty in America as well.
Other structural problems that have occurred in the US
include millions of US jobs being lost as corporations invest in creating
facilities where the labor is cheaper.
Job Deskilling continues
to be an issue as well. JD is the
reduction of skills needed to perform a job with a corresponding decrease in
wages.
Perspectives Functionalist Perspective
The functionalist perspective would support that there are
some positions within society that are considered more central to the
functioning of the society and are therefore occupied by the most skilled, and
highest rewarded, citizens.
Conflict Perspective
The conflict theorists would argue that those who are most
important in some philosophical perspectives (teachers and parents, for
example) are NOT actually the most highly rewarded.Meanwhile some, (professional athletes and actors) make
oodles of money but don't seem to be needed for society to operate.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
These individuals consider the effect that inequality has on people's lives.We can consider this the "Culture of Poverty" or even the "Culture of Socioeconomic Status". The Culture of Poverty
Although I am calling this lecture the Culture of Poverty it can be applied to any socioeconomic group.
Consider that there is a "culture" for each of the
Socioeconomic levels in our society.Each culture socializes its members to understand the skills and
knowledge that they need to "remain part of the group".
What skills and knowledge must an individual have in order to stay rich? What skills and knowledge must a person have to remain poor?
We select our groups.
Our groups, all of those we belong to, formulate a
significant part of our identity.Most of us are very reluctant to give up aspects of our identity (for
example:how many people would
change their first name?Some do,
but not many.It is an important
part of who we are.)
We don't like people who leave the group.
When members of our peer group begin to perform outside the
expectations that we have of them we are often not pleased.We can lose friends this way.Consider that the deviant who is
beginning to act outside the group's expectations…he or she stands to lose the
group as well.
We hold values about other groups.
As educated
individuals we may come to the conclusion that money and happiness may affect
one another, but are not dependent on one another.
Now on the other side of the coin, the rich may also hold
biases and expectations about the poor and others.When I was living in Southampton NY I had the opportunity to
meet many individuals who came from money.One of the interesting aspects of their culture was
traveling.Many of the individuals
I met had done some extensive traveling to Europe and Asia.From their point of view, nearly
everyone they knew had been there and discussions would arise about different
locations and where the best beer was and so forth.
Not having grown up in this sort of environment they were
surprised to learn that I had not been to Europe.
Now what skills and knowledge are passed from generation to
generation among the rich?Investing
ones funds, don't work for other people (work for yourself), education is
important, work hard to advance up the ladder, play golf…whatever…
One of the fascinating aspects of our culture is that there
are organizations designed to assist individuals in staying poor.It is not that staying poor and playing
the "game" is what people want to do, it is just very often rewarded
more than other options.
Social programs are available to help people to get ahead,
but often times they come with limitations that keep the person from working
harder.
I certainly favor the existence of these program as they are very important for some individuals whose choices can be very limited, however, there are improvements that might be made to assist those willing to go alternative paths to reach their success. Inequality Inequality.org describes itself as follows: "Inequality.org was created to serve as a dependable portal of information. Too much inequality, we believe, undermines democracy, community, culture and economic health. Because the problem is so important, accuracy is important, and we are committed to presenting the best and latest information."
|