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Chapter 5Poverty Poverty

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Myth or Fact?

Both the poor and the affluent are a drain on the treasury and both pay to support it.

Receiving welfare encourages women to have more children, to leave their husbands and to avoid work.

Fact Myth


Defining Poverty

An absolute definition of povertyestablishes a fixed economic level below which people are considered poor, and this level does not necessarily

change as society on the whole becomes more or less affluent.

A relative definition of poverty focuses on the idea that people are poor relative to

some standard, and that standard is partially shaped by the lifestyles of other citizens

A cultural definition of poverty views poverty not only in terms of how many

resources people have, but also in terms of why they failed to achieve a higher economic level.


Extent of Poverty in the U.S.

In 2005 in the U.S. 37 million people, or 1 in 8 citizens, or 12.6% of the population, were living in poverty

The poorest 20% of households receive less than 4% of the total income while the wealthiest 20% receive over 50%.


FIGURE 5.1 Percentage of People Living Below the Poverty Level, Among All People and Among Children Under Eighteen Years of Age,in the United States, 1960-2005


FIGURE 5.2 Percentage of Aggregate Income to Households from thePoorest 20 percent to the Richest 5 Percent, 1967-2005


Who are the poor? Racial and Ethnic Minorities

Most of the poor in the U.S. are white, while nonwhites are more likely to be poor than whites.

Children Thirty four percent of the poor are children under

the age of eighteen. The Elderly

Poverty is relatively low among the elderly: It is slightly lower than among non-elderly adults.


FIGURE 5.4 People Living Below the Poverty Level by Race as a Percentage of All Poor People, 2005


Who are the poor? Women

A growing number of women are among the poor, which has been called the feminization of poverty.

Central City and Rural Dwellers Poverty tends to be concentrated in certain

places such as central-city and rural areas. The Disabled

As many as one-third of the poor suffer from severe physical disabilities.


FIGURE 5.5 Percentage of People in Various Groups Below the PovertyLevel, 2005


FIGURE 5.6 Percentage of Children Younger Than EighteenLiving Below the Poverty Level, 2005


FIGURE 5.7 Poverty Rate of Single-Parent Families Headed by a Woman,1959-2005


Poverty and Employment

The Working Poor Despite common misconceptions, many

adults below the official poverty line actually work for a living, often at low-paying or part-time work.

The Unemployed The unemployed receive

unemployment benefits for a time, but these are exhausted eventually.


Homelessness

Causes of homelessness can be found in recent social trends, such as the decline in the number of industrial jobs

that pay a living wage, the flight of jobs from the cities where

people live, the contraction of social welfare, increases in poverty, and the decline in the amount of low-cost

housing.


The Functionalist Perspective

The Stratification System Stratification exists because it makes

some useful contribution to the ongoing maintenance of society.

Davis and Moore argue All societies must ensure that people will fill

essential positions and perform important tasks.

Some positions are more important or more difficult than others.

The stratification system serves to motivate people to occupy and work hard at all of these essential positions.



The Economy Normal and sometimes desirable

changes in the economy affect the level of poverty, such as inflation and technological innovation.

These kinds of changes are necessary for a healthy economy but their cumulative impact is to increase rates of unemployment and poverty, which is called structural unemployment.



Gans (1994) suggests that there are benefits to society from poverty ensuring that society’s “dirty work” will be done subsidizing many of the activities of the affluent creating jobs for people who serve the poor creating a market for inferior goods using the poor as symbols of the “underdog”


The Conflict Perspective Marx viewed society as involving

constant struggle between social classes over scarce resources. The affluent are merely using the resources

available to protect their own position. Once people become successful they

tend to pass on their success to their children and this makes it more difficult for people on the bottom to move up.


The Interactionist Perspective and Cultural Analysis

The cultural analysis of poverty focuses on the psychological orientations that may emerge among groups of people who live under conditions of poverty. People who live in poverty develop a

cultural orientation that helps them adapt to their life circumstances in a way that enables them to feel good.

Criticisms of this perspective include “blaming the victim” and its limited applicability.


Future Prospects

Approaches to reducing poverty include Encouraging full employment

A situation in which everyone or nearly everyone who wants to work can find a job

Educating and training the poor to compete effectively in the job market

Early childhood interventions include Head Start

Jobs programs include on-the-job training and temporary public service jobs


Future prospects

Providing income maintenance programs Social insurance programs

Social Security Medicare

Public assistance programs Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

(TANF) General Assistance (GA) Medicaid Noncash Benefits

Download - Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2009 Poverty Chapter 5 Poverty “This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are

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