It’s nearly impossible to live or visit a city and not be confronted with homelessness or impoverished people. Invisible factors such as mental illness, lack of education, abuse or neglect in the formative years of someone’s life all contribute to whether or not a person can hold down or even access a job. And yet, […]
Poverty is the deprivation of resources and necessities needed for living. The income considered necessary to meet needs determines the poverty line. Anyone living under the poverty line is considered to be poor or on the brink of being poor. About one in every eight Americans are impoverished. Many children are facing the hardships of […]
Our editors will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+!
Get startedImpoverishment throughout the United States of America has affected many. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2017, the official poverty rate was 12.3 percent (“What is the Current Poverty Rate in The United States”.) With such an alarming and high number of poverty, what did Congress propose to the people? In order to fight […]
Akello lives in a 25 square feet room in Kisoro, Uganda. To save money, he skips his breakfast as much as he can tolerate the hunger. A bottle of clean water is not abnormal on his Christmas gift list. He has never seen a computer in his life. No doubt that in his school there […]
Throughout the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry a very prominent theme is poverty. This theme is exhibited through the difficulties the Younger family have balancing all their needs due to financial difficulty. The author starts to show how poverty affects the Younger’s from the very beginning of the play. She does […]
Socio-economic inequality leads to poverty amongst individuals. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines poverty as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.” The concept of poverty is complicated because there are many factors that help aid in an individual being affected by poverty. Individuals who are typically […]
There are many key factors that lead to many people in the united states to live in poverty that include lack of resources, not enough education, no jobs, conflict, and non-governmental structure. Poverty is something that makes up most of the population here in the United States but what many people don’t understand is the […]
Money is a necessary and vital commodity for all of us. The effects of being poor or simply just substandard can be devastating, and at times life threatening. Throughout this paper I will discuss the effects of being unfortunate. Being one who experiences poverty doesn’t necessarily make you mediocre to the rest of society but […]
In this society, there are different economic statuses. Everyone gets their statuses based on what their career is and how they spend their expenses. No one can be rich from the start, but they can start from the bottom and build their way up. Being rich and being in poverty have their similarities and differences; […]
Introduction In the work done by all the people in the world, generally if their wages increase it means there will be reduced need in their live since their salaries cater for their needs in their live. This paper is going to highlight the importance on the wage increase on the society. This is the […]
Poverty has been proven to be one of the most feared situations by Americans, but poverty is also known to deprive all the hope and dignity a person may think they have (Kafka 40). Dignity and hope are often the last resort a person mentally can rely on before fully collapsing into the closing realm […]
Most people would agree that two of the major problems our world faces are global warming and poverty, and many people spend their time trying to solve one or the other. For the past 150 years, the global temperature has been rising. This is largely due to emissions of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide, which […]
Everyone has crazy neighbors. Esperanza Cordero, the protagonist of House on Mango Street knows that all too well. Esperanza is a young girl who lives in a barrio in Chicago with her family in a small, beat up house where the whole family shares one bedroom. This house is one of many in which she […]
America has had many influential leaders over the past 200 years, including the most famous Andrew Jackson. Jackson has been seen as a very important figure in the United States history and was well known even before becoming president. Jackson was born in the Carolinas in 1767. Andrew was the youngest of three boys, raised […]
Poor people live in the street, In the alley of restaurants and even fast food places. They may have children that need to eat the and also go out looking in garbage even in trash cans for food and if they find something they give it to their kids and the parents go without eating. […]
Homelessness in America has always been an issue but it has become an even bigger issue over the past years. With a world filled with global conflict, disappearing jobs, higher education cost, and increasing poverty in America, the homeless need our help more than ever. Just last year, the national poverty rate rose to include […]
Do you know that over 20 million people are being robbed of their freedom and dignity as of right now? Well, they are being abducted, coerced and deceived by traffickers. As a result; victims have been trafficked for used as forced labor, sex trafficking, debt bondage, forced marriage and the removal of their organs. The […]
America was once able to provide everyone with achieving the American Dream, but that seems to no longer exist. America has evolved in both good and bad ways, but this is a prime example of a bad way because the American Dream has faded away from the people. There are many obstacles in the way […]
War has plagued humanity since the beginning of history. Nobody enjoys war, but people have fought others for centuries to defend and hold onto their beliefs. What this shows is that human nature is naturally conducive to war and conflict. As humans are prone to the wills of their environment, they have consistently been forced […]
Abstract On a college campus, “diversity” refers to the variation of people and experiences to which students will be exposed to. Although you may think of diversity mainly in the standing of race or ethnicity, there are actually several student characteristics which can contribute to a diverse campus, including religion, cultural background, geographic location, socioeconomic […]
Released on December 20, 2017 and directed by Michael Gracey, The Greatest Showman received a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Drama. Family-friendly and rated PG, children and adults may enjoy this movie. The musical film tells the story of P. T. Barnum who rose from poverty to create the worldwide sensation of the circus. […]
Empires and kingdoms faced many internal and external challenges to their rule. The three main type of challenges faced by the Romans, Chinese, and early medieval Europeans are Political problems, social problems, and Economic problems. It wasn’t easy to overcome these problems, but later Emperor overcome these problems by rules and laws. Roman faced so […]
When Esch Batiste wanted winds of change to blow through the bare bones of her broken home, she did not expect them to come in the form of a devastating hurricane. But, as if the hurricane did not present enough of a challenge in and of itself, a much more debilitating threat laid ahead for […]
In 1968 the Civil Rights Act passed abolishing legal forms of racism but it didn’t end racism in the United States. Structural racism blocks access to economic, political, and/or social opportunities for people of color due to a class system where European Americans are placed on top while people of color are placed at the […]
Have you heard of The Mother of Love? Her name was Mother Teresa and she cared, nurtured, and supported people all over this world. She lead a simple life, but she did so much within it. Mother Teresa truly earned the title of Mother by dedicating her life to helping people in any way she […]
Sleep is one of the most overlooked necessities we have. We stay up late with colleagues or labor over unfinished work without a second thought to the amount of sleep we might be losing. High School students develop in fast paced and demanding environments that require the best they can offer. Often at the cost […]
The purpose of this assignment is to examine how the perception of a population can influence the shape and effectiveness of a given policy. The difference between the “culture of poverty” vs the “restricted opportunities” in understanding poverty will be analyzed. Most explanations for poverty and wealth place the blame or praise on individual shortcomings […]
What does the word poverty mean to you? Why does it tend to always follow black families? Well, one could argue that it is because of the income and family hardship. Many people do not really see what a black family goes through because of not having enough money to pay the light bill, gas […]
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; […]
Rights, liberty, opportunity, and equality. When it comes to America, these are the first things that come to many people’s minds. In fact, these ideas are the American dream that draws so many to do whatever it takes to come to this country. Sadly, there is very little left of this so-called “American dream”, unless […]
It is proven that every society want to be wealthy. However almost every country even the wealthiest contry such as America have some part of poverty. Poverty level change from one country to another. There are several types of poverty, and the cause of poverty. There have been many researchers discussed on poverty in America such as Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins, who have broadly classified many perspectives on poverty. Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins researches were focus on poverty from both structural and cultural point of view.
In their researches, they were able to determine that the causes of poverty are nearly complex and so effective solutions must be formulated and implemented (Haskins & Sawhill, 2009). There have also been many films such as the Ava Duvernay’s film 13th which explores poverty from the cultural point of view. Some of the cultural form the film critically evaluates include media representation, political racism, and the stereotype of linking the minorities with criminality. The systematic form that the film evaluates included mass segregation, mass incarceration and voter suppression between many other factors. This discussion explores to propose some effective ways to address both cultural and the structural poverty factors.
Various factors cause poverty ranging from cultural to structural factors. Markedly, people likely to form poverty to lack of money which is true, however; poverty is more than just the lack of money but also the wellbeing of an individual and community at large. Before classifying the causes and the viable solutions for poverty, it is necessary to have an overview of what poverty require. John Iceland in his article “Early Views of Poverty in America” has explored various aspects of poverty. Iceland defined poverty as the lack of necessaries and being unable to consume the necessaries.
Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill have widely examined the different perspectives of poverty from the culture as well as the structural point of views. Before providing viable solutions, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the major causes of poverty in the United States of America. Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill’s article provides the causes of poverty. They argue that heads of families of poor families in contrast to the head of families of the wealthy families tend to have less positive attitude, less orientation of the future and have less confidence. They argue that culturally poor people differ from others on personality and motivational measures (Haskins & Sawhill, 2009).
Most of the poor families find it difficult to mix the common values into their lives. These cultural attitudes including the different values, attitudes as well as predispositions of a group and the resultant impact of these attitudes to their behaviors are essential in the understanding of poverty. The authors also highlight without a job and low-income jobs as the main reason for people to indulge in self-destructive behavior (Haskins & Sawhill, 2009). In as much as America is highly developed, there are still many citizens that are jobless or have low-income jobs that cannot maintain them. The article, as also stated by the film by Ava Duvernay’s states that there are stereotypes about the minority groups in America.
Minority groups such as Black Americans are largely perceived to be poor and associated with criminal activities. Consequently, media representation and political racism are other cultural aspects of poverty. John Oliver in a YouTube video discusses the extent and root of America’s epidemic of opioid addiction. In the video, Olivier highlights how drug addiction specifically addiction to Opioid is most likely to affect the person’s economic status adversely. They are more likely to spend all their money on drugs and are also more likely to lose their jobs as their production levels are most likely to be affected by the addiction.
Besides cultural aspects, there are also structural perspectives on poverty. Ava Duvernay’s film 13th highlights some of the structural perspectives on poverty. He specifically highlights mass incarceration, voter suppression as well as segregation. With regards to voter suppression, in the past, there have been many instances where some people are locked out of the voting process especially the minority groups. For instance, in America in the past, black Americans, Asian voters, and Hispanic voters were suppressed from engaging in its elections.
In the just concluded Mid-Term elections, President Trump has been accused of voter suppression. Critics have argued that there were tougher registration requirements in most of the states were designed to limit participation. The incarceration levels in the US have also been on the increase and are considered a major perspective of poverty. For instance, in 2013, the incarceration rate in the United States of America was the highest in the world at seven hundred and sixteen per every 100,000 of the national population.
The cultural factor about the stereotypes about minorities as criminals and media representations can be changed. The government should take control of information portrayed through the media and ensure that there are no negative media representations and instead foster for a campaign to change the stereotype linking the minorities like criminals. The media is the best avenue to change this perception as it sets the tone for the values, morals, and image of the American culture.
Stringent measures should be taken against media houses that are displaying false information about the minorities. Consequently, the government can give the minorities an opportunity for representation in the government, through this they will have a representative who can help fight for their rights and will make them feel valued and part of the American society and the general perception about the minority as criminals is most likely to fade away.
With regards to structural factors of poverty, the government has a responsibility of ensuring that there are equal rights about to the voting process. Every citizen should be accorded similar opportunities and restricted when it comes to their right to choose their desired leader. Incarceration laws and policies should also not be discriminatory, but the law should apply equally to everyone. When the government can develop a culture of equality among the citizens where every citizen feels valued and equal to the rest, their productivity levels are most likely to increase, and the resultant impact will be high-income levels and consequently reduced poverty levels within the American society.
