Poverty FactorsEssay Preview: Poverty FactorsReport this essayAbstractPoverty FactorsPoverty is a large problem throughout the world but even in the richest country in the world its a still large problem. Poverty may exist for numerous reasons, this paper discusses some of the factors that play a role in why poverty exists, The affects society has on poverty and the way the businesses and governments play a role in a poverty society.
Antuan HagginsSociology 251Prof. StocktonPoverty FactorsNo one universally accepted definition of poverty exists because it is a complex and multifaceted phenomena. Poverty is borne out of economic factors that include a lack of access to secure employment, insufficient income, and a lack of assets, especially that of real-estate.
There are social structural elements and psychological factors that both contribute to, and have a tendency of perpetuating poverty. While both of these contribute to poverty they are very different from one another. Social psychological factors are attitudes and values held by all citizens regardless of economics and are the sum total experiences, which have molded the individuals mind-set. These experiences may bias an individual in a negative manner in regard to poverty. Social structural elements only improve poverty, meaning aid in eliminating it, by the collective work of society. There are several ideas implicit in the notion of social structure, mainly that of the distribution of power. This concept embodies the idea that human beings form social relationships that are not arbitrary or coincidental, but actually exhibit some regularity, persistence, and purpose. According the distribution of power, social life is not unstructured but is differentiated into groups, positions, and power structures that benefit a select group of players; and may be interdependent or functionally interrelated to another social group of influence. However, there is a hurdle to be overcome in assessing poverty, the fallacy of retrospective determinism, which states that the non-poor believe poverty is inevitable. (Lauer & Lauer, 2006) In other words, a defeatist platform: there is no way to improve, just accept things the way they are and dont make waves.
Social structural factors of poverty are comprised of government, family, economy, and education. Programs designed to assist the poor such as health care and education had a tendency to be vulnerable to veto, sabotage, or failed due to neglect, case in point the Medicaid program. Some states elected not to assume any financial responsibility for health care of the poor, so they did not contribute while other states set low limits on benefits.
Today the majority of the poor are not adequately covered. The people who control and influence governmental policy, are usually some of the wealthiest citizens. These people are very powerful and influential, and seem to give to each other insider information to influence policies and programs they designed to benefit their special interests. This same group also believes it would make no difference to give to the poor in fact some may believe it would make things worse rather than better to give aid to the poor. Congress should not be pursuing policies that take adverse trends in poverty income, health insurance and make them worse but should be managing programs that improve the quality of life of the poor. The American people would be best served if the elected officials would focus on policies that realistically address the growing problems of poverty and inequality in our nation and put forth equitable solutions.
The family unit is one of the most important elements that shape the behavior of the poverty stricken because it is within the family unit that children learn their basics beliefs, values, attitudes, and general patterns of behavior. Familial education gives birth to how the child will come to behave in society, to know his/her place in it, and come to form his/her identity, hence the family unit is the initial transmitter of culture and greatly shapes the personality of children. For the cycle of generational poverty to be broken children must witness their parents/caregivers successfully overcoming societal obstacles and becoming economically productive.
Economic decisions like; what goods are to be produced, where they are produced, by whom, and under what conditions, are primarily made by people with economic power and are predominantly corporate executives and government officials. The nature of this type of socioeconomic paradigm ensures that the basis of economic decisions will be determined by the bottom line, since it is a profit driven system. Enterprises that are profitable to their stakeholders become bigger and stronger while smaller businesses are forced out of the market place. Whether the actual product is rational or irrational, beneficial or useless, it doesnt enter into the decision unless if effects the bottom-lines profitability. There are three reasons the economy works against the poor: they are caught in a chain of failure, the lack of access to a middle class education and health care,
The Economy
From the perspective of an economic “man of the people”, a small part of our country’s economy was financed by the federal government. While the vast majority of American workers were not wealthy enough to afford these benefits, government provided some kind of loan to the poor, like a job training program, Social Security contributions and other benefits, for about 10 years. As time went by, people realized that working conditions in the private sector had grown, and this economic boondoggle was about to kick in!
Now, many of our most vulnerable workers will now start finding themselves in a financial precarious situation, as they are forced to work very long hours to get the minimum wage in their country, or even get a loan to pay for their college expenses. The solution is for the government to turn a blind eye, and move at the discretion of the workers who make up the nation’s second-largest employment group.
A major problem for the state of our economy is that, with economic boom and bust, state and local governments, government employees, public service employees, and nonprofit corporations, have all increasingly decided to become middle class corporations that do not pay their fair share of taxes. The more this happens, the closer this is to a financial ruin spiral, in which every penny raised gets spent on paying off public education and health care for the poor, rather than on producing the goods and services the workers want that the government wants them to produce for them to purchase. The problem, however, is not the government having to pay these debts, but the economic crisis that they face that leaves tens of thousands of unemployed and struggling to get even one day off work.
The federal government is now taking on the government of the United States (and its private corporations) by making sure that the state and local corporations that run our government have no influence on what the rest of the American economy does.
A major disadvantage of social “free market” capitalism is that it is based upon a capitalist system of production and distribution not only in an area known for large investments to the general public but also in local economic development and in some areas of the economy that have a high degree of “quality of life”.
A few of the industries that are now experiencing the most “free market-style” economic reforms include:
路 Clothing | Manufacture and distribution of clothes and footwear for the public;
路 Manufacturing and distribution of machinery and services in goods and services;
路 Utilities, services and maintenance;
路 Utilities supplying water and electricity for the grid;
路 Water-transportation services;
路 Health services and public education;
路 Printing and printing, writing, and broadcasting.
A new state-funded “school vouchers” program started to start in California in December of last year.
路 Food and drinking water from the Public Health Service.
路 Water and sewer systems.
路 Educational health and safety programs.
路 Business and financial services companies that offer these programs.
路 Healthcare.
路 Manufacturing
路 Utilities.
路 Industrial businesses that are under a monopoly or a monopoly of labor.
路 Retailers that are under a monopoly or have a monopoly on trade or have a monopoly on production or other business in these markets.
These programs are based on a system of taxation that favors the financial interests of the large corporations and the many, many of those that are already suffering under it. The Federal