Poverty

Being in a state of poverty means not having enough money to cover your basic needs, which include clothing, housing, and food. However, there are many different ways to define poverty. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNPD), poverty is not a one-dimensional marvel but a multidimensional issue with a wide range of issues and a need for a diverse range of remedies (Casazza, 2015). Asserting that it stems from social, economic, and political factors that interact to worsen people’s living situations, the World Bank concurs with this characterization. Poverty has serious negative effects, and almost everyone suffers from them. For instance, exclusion from the society, poor education and higher incidences of illness are a negative consequence to the society. Absolute poverty denotes an established standard that is similar in every nation and does not vary over time. This case is common with third world nations where the emphasis is on permanent income thresholds based on the minimum amount needed for mere survival. On the other hand, relative poverty is the standard based on the standings of the society that a person lives and which varies among nations over time. In other words, it is the inability of an individual to attain the basic standards of living in a particular society.

It is arguable that poverty can be understood in a relative way. For instance, poverty in India is much obvious considering that many people have literally no food and money. However, in the United States, it is a bit complicated since while the welfare system may not be very effective, there is no mass starvation. In America, it is about the inadequacies of necessities along with shortfalls in security. But what is the cause of poverty in the U.S.? One is that the U.S government has not focused on the issue of poverty for a long time. Many of the legislation concerning poverty in the country were formulated years ago which means they have a little impact today. The other cause of poverty is the stagnation of wages for the least skilled in U.S. For most of the people languishing in poverty, most of their income comes from work. Data from the Census Bureau in the past, reveals that about 35 million American people live in poverty (The Heritage Foundation. No 2607, 2011). This leads to the next cause whereby while wages remain stagnant, the cost of living always increases. The Consumer price Index (CPI) has increased by 17% since 2007 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016). This means that the cost of essential products has substantially increased hence causing poverty.

Conflict theory states that struggles, as well as tensions, come up when possessions, status and power are inequitably distributed among various people in the society (Yakkaldevi, 2014). As a result, the conflicts inspire social change. The main foundations of this theory are that the society is structured in a way to profit a selected few at the expense of the majority. The view of Karl Max on class society assumes that stratification comes from a central conflict between the interests and needs or those who have and those who do not have in the society. The wealthy therefore takes advantage of their position in all means to oppress the poor since they can influence the media, law and other institutions to maintain the class structure. In other words, the theory considers poverty as the discrimination and lack of opportunities for the poor.

The functionalist theory states that all the elements of society are interdependent for the proper functioning of the society as a whole (Holmwood, 2005). It tends to explain that social institutions are collective means for the satisfaction of social as well as individual needs. Therefore, functionalism affirms that nearly everything is vital to the overall utility and that everyone in the society has a purpose. The functionalist view contends that poverty subsists to serve various positive functions in the society. For this reason, the upper and middle class tends to neglect it to ensure continued existence for the sake of their vested interests.

The conflict theory provides the best explanation of poverty. This is because, in the contemporary day, social life can be viewed as a competition. Individuals and institutions are constantly competing for the limited resources such as money and even sexual partners. Thus, it means that individuals are to take the blame for the continual existence of poverty. However, various solutions have been proposed to combat the poverty situation in the United States. Experts agree that the fundamental solution to this challenge lies in the need to have a coherent policy on all fronts. A coherent framework for the social welfare will offset the inequality and thus help to reduce poverty. Besides, being conscious about the wellbeing of others and setting up of welfare programs will significantly contribute to poverty reduction.

References

Barkan, S. (2013). Social Problems: Continuity and Change (1st ed., p. 436 pages). Saylor Foundation.

Casazza, A. (2015). How are all countries, rich and poor, to define poverty?. UNDP. Retrieved 14 March 2017, from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/blog/2015/10/16/How-are-all-countries-rich-and-poor-to-define-poverty-.html

Haughton, J. & Khandker, S. (2009). Handbook on poverty and inequality (1st ed.). Washington, DC: World Bank.

Holmwood, J. (2005). Functionalism and its critics. Modern Social Theory: An Introduction, 2, 1-8.

How are all countries, t. & Alessandra Casazza, U. (2017). How are all countries, rich and poor, to define poverty?. UNDP. Retrieved 14 March 2017, from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/blog/2015/10/16/How-are-all-countries-rich-and-poor-to-define-poverty-.html

Poverty Overview. (2016). Worldbank.org. Retrieved 14 March 2017, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview

The Heritage Foundation. No 2607, (2011). Understanding Poverty in the United States: Surprising Facts About America’s Poor (p. 21). The Heritage Foundation.

U.S. Census Bureau, (2016). Issued September 2016 P60-256(RV) Bernadette D. Proctor, Jessica L. Semega, and Melissa A. Kollar Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015 Current Population Reports (p. 59). U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, U.S. Census Bureau.

Yakkaldevi, A. (2014). Sociological Theory (1st ed., p. 540). Solapur, India: Laxmi Book Publication.