...Brown April 10th 2014 Sociology 1101 Class Exercise 5 Did you know More than forty-six million people live in poverty in America? Well even before the recession, families were having hard times making ends meet. With unemployment rates raising and with the increase of living, families have to choose between healthcare to putting food on the table. Poverty is when you do not have enough money to meet your basic needs in life including food, shelter, and clothing. Poverty is getting up in the morning on a stained mattress with hardly any covers and sheets, going without a meal to see if you can even get one throughout the day. Poverty is when you are sick cant even go to the doctor. Poverty is not being able to have an education. However, poverty has many faces and names over history. Like most families in poverty, they arnt able to let their children participate in extra curricular activities because they simply do not have the money for it. These are all the cost of being poor. Having to prioritize your life for life can be very stressing, and sometimes even frustrating. Everyone wants the good life but simply cant even consider other expenses. Nonetheless, there are many countries stricken with poverty, The United States poverty rate was 15% as of 2012, the poverty rate increased by 7% since 2007. The numbers of people living in poverty in the United States is the largest amount seen since poverty estimates were released fifty plus years...
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...Poverty and Social Inequality ‘Inequality remains a significant part of life in contemporary Britain’ Some argue that Britain is the most unequal society in Western Europe, Research conducted by Sutton Trust from 2010 suggests that poverty affects children’s ability to do well in schools, the study indicates that just 45 per cent of children from poorest fifth of families were ready to read daily by the age of three compared to 78 per cent of children from richest fifth of families. This proves that British society is unequal; there are social groups that have access to better standards of living than others (Morning Star Online 2010) In order for Inequality to take place, some people need to have more than others, creating boundaries in society that stop some people from getting equal status despite their work and effort. There are several ways of measuring social class, subjective method simply is based on people’s perception of what social class they should be in. However it is quite vague as some people may be middle class and have a lot of money whereas other might have education, lifestyle and manners of the middle class but are poor. Where objective method takes things into account like occupation, unemployment, income, education and so on therefore it is more reliable way of measuring social class. In order to measure social class effectively, stratification is needed to enable evaluation of inequalities; best way to do it is consider morbidity and mortality factors...
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...Poverty in Canada since 1989 The poverty rates across Canada have seen a rise and fall since 1989. The poverty rates are based on age, gender and family type. However, the poverty rates have seen a decline since 1989. The poverty for all persons in 1988 was 10.8% and in 2007 it was 9.2% (Statistics Canada, 2009, Table 202-0802). That is a 14.8% decrease in poverty for all persons in Canada over time (Statistics Canada, 2009, Table 202-0802). The decline in poverty could result for many reasons. Education, jobs and the economy of Canada may have improved a lot during the past twenty years. Canada is a developing country and is seeing improvements in social status of people. The class system plays a huge role. Could it be that families across Canada are moving up a class? Persons in economic families had a poverty rate of 8% in 1988 and it dropped to 6% in 2007 (Statistics Canada, 2009, Table 202-0802). It can be seen that there is a 25% decrease in poverty for persons in economic families over time (Statistics Canada, 2009, Table 202-0802). Therefore persons in economic families are doing well compared to how they were in 1989. It is pretty clear that the economy of Canada is developing. This would not be the case if poverty had increased during the past twenty years. Poverty still exists, no doubt about that but it will continue to decline if Canada continues to improve its economic situation. Poverty still exists for many reasons such as people in poor class work as much as...
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...Jennyfer Medy Sociology Professor Sobel POVERTY IN SINGLE MOTHERS Poverty is defined as “the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money” (http://www.ask.com/wiki/Poverty). Poverty continues to be an epidemic we face in the United States. “According to an analysis of census data, 7.9 million people live in high-poverty neighborhoods. About 30 percent of the population in these neighborhoods is Black, 29 Hispanic, and 24 percent White. (Chapter 10/Social Class, pg.255; handout). As we take a closer look, poverty is at an all time high in single mothers. “In 1970, the number of single-parent families with children under the age of 18 was 3.8 million. By 1990, the number had more than doubled to 9.7 million” (http://www3.uakron.edu/schulze/401/readings/singleparfam.htm). According to textbook Sociology Matters by Richard T. Schaefer, “since World War II, women have constituted an increasing proportion of the poor people in the United States” (Schaefer, 2013, pg 146). The factors that lead women into poverty include the departure, disability, or a death of a husband. Single mothers are also more likely to be poor because of the lower income earnings, inadequate public assistance and lack of child support from fathers. The conflict theory is highly depicted among poverty in single women. “Conflict theorists and other observers trace the higher rates of poverty among women to three distinct factors;...
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...Alana B Mr. H ONU Sociology 24 April 2015 Sociology: Poverty In the Ted talk I viewed, Gary Haugen, a civil rights lawyer, spoke about the "hidden reason for poverty the world needs to address now." Haugen started his talk off by introducing himself and what he does as a civil rights lawyer. In the first two minutes he began to talk about compassion, and how although he was involved with the world's greatest failure of simple compassion, the Rwanda genocide, he's been involved with the world's greatest successes of compassion, the fight against global poverty. Haugen began to speak about the most jarring moment he experienced dealing with poverty. A women from Zambia, Venus - a mother of three and recent window - traveled 12 miles by foot in the only garments she owned and spoke to Haugen for hours about living in poverty; she described what it was like when "...the coals in the cooking fire finally just went completely cold. When the last drop of cooking oil finally ran out. When the last of the food, despite her best efforts, ran out. She had to watch her youngest son Peter, suffer from malnutrition..." According to Haugen, 35 years ago 40,000 children died everyday due to poverty. Now, however, the number has dropped to 17,000 children a day. The number of people in our world living in extreme poverty (defined as living off of a $1.25 or less a day) has fallen from 50 to 15 percent; although that massive drop is fantastic, there are still so many people...
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...Ways to Stop Child Poverty “Child Poverty” Each country has its own definition of the poverty line, or the minimum annual income necessary for an adequate standard of living. In developed countries such as the United States, this is relatively high. However, for billions of other people around the world, living in poverty means living on an income of approximately one dollar a day. This condition affects not only adults, but the children in their care as well. More than half of the children living in developing countries have a severe deprivation of one basic human need and over one third of the children in these countries are living in conditions of absolute poverty in which basic human needs are not being met, including the need for adequate food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, information, and access to social services. The Millennium Development Goals articulated in 2000 by the United Nations address these issues with the hope of severely reducing poverty by the year 2015 (United Nations, 2006). However, although progress is being made toward meeting these goals in many areas, other areas still show little or no progress. Much more work is still needed. Poverty cannot be completely eradicated, as it largely caused by human factors. Over the past years there has been a lot of Poverty Alleviation Programs designed to break the cycle of poverty in many households and communities in the world. The result is remarkable, but there...
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...Denise Johnson Professor Nicole Braun Sociology 300- Sociology of Develop Countries 3 February 2014 The Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid The country that I believe has been affected mostly by both peace and war is Africa. The foreign aid that have been received includes relief operations, medicine, and reconstruction in assisting the various programs in this country. The advocates wanting to get aid to Africa are lifting their voices to the U.S. government to push the international assistance for roughly $ 50 billion each year. The evidence that demonstrates that this aid is being used to help the poor seem limited compared to the funding other countries such as the U.S and China has provided. The aid that is going to Africa has made more debt, more inflation and even more vulnerable to the currency markets and more unattractive to higher quality investment. It's increased the risk of civil conflict and unrest that caused an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster. The examples of some positive effects are the relief programs that continue to support the development and reconstructing of poverty stricten areas in Africa. Another look at the the development is recovering from war to addressing the causes of inequalities, discrimination, and structural insecurity which would reduce terriorists. There are few people that will deny that fact of a clear moral imperative for humanitarian and charity-based aid to step in when...
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...Personal development and Academic Skills | Poverty and Crime | Does poverty foster crime? | | SHI Hanwei | 28 September 2012 | Introduction: There has been an ongoing discussion over the relationship between poverty and crime. Some of the researches have concluded that poverty does not increase the crime rate, because in some of the most undeveloped countries where people have low standard of living and some even struggle to survive, the crime rate was proven to be low (Christine 2005). However, in contrast, some scholars have developed a direct relationship between poverty and crime. The researchers indicated that since people who live in poverty are already having a bad life and the benefit of committing a crime is greater than the cost of committing it and ultimately, people who live in poverty is more likely to commit a crime (Niskanen 1996). This essay will examine both perspectives over the relationship between poverty and crime and subjectively suggest possible causes of crime rate. However, since only secondary data are gathered, there might not be sufficient information to present the real issue. Contents of Discussion: In order to prove the direct relationship between poverty and crime, it is crucial to understand the direct influences of poverty and then the potential threats it might oppose to the society. Poverty is defined as the state of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of poor (Dictionary.com 2012). The money is...
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...Assignment Two: Outline & Preliminary List of Resources Nichole Catron Strayer University SOC100: Introduction to Sociology January 26, 2015 I. Hypothesis Those who live in poverty stricken neighborhoods tend to turn to crime due to very little access to job opportunities among other things. Research shows that areas with the most crime tend to be in neighborhoods with the highest rates of poverty. This is not a race issue, whether the community is predominately white or black studies show that disadvantaged areas have the highest crime rates. A disadvantaged area would be an area with crowded neighborhoods, underperforming public schools, single parent homes, and poor housing conditions. II. While some believe people put themselves in the situation and can move out of the neighborhood if they feel unsafe, others feel that they are stuck in the environment and cannot financially afford to move to a better neighborhood with lower crime rates. Due to little or no job opportunities and very little if any savings moving seems like just a fantasy to most. In the poverty stricken neighborhoods the rent tends to be very cheap so it is easy for a single parent or person with little or no income to maintain their household. III. Practical Implications Unfortunately this seems to be a viscous circle for those who grow up in this environment. It seems they turn to crime because of a lack of finances then end up in jail or in the system, which in turn then puts them...
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...communicable diseases like pneumonia. Today, millions die each day from poverty. How can poverty be defined? And what is the difference between absolute and relative poverty? In the paper I will address these issues along with sociological views of poverty. Poverty is a social issue that affects the world. Poverty causes many to be malnourished and die at a young age, it is a cause of deviant behavior such as crime, and also causes the poor to be marginalized from society and have little voice in public and political debate causing individuals to remain in poverty. Poverty is a condition of people who lack adequate income and wealth. Whereas absolute poverty is individuals live without adequate food, clothing, water or shelter. In other words the little money they make is not enough to provide these necessary materials of life. The United Nations defines absolute poverty as living on less than $1 a day, which equates to over one billion people, or about one–fifth of the world's population, falling in that category. The poorest part of the world is now in Sub–Saharan Africa. According to Thomas Malthus the amount of land, food, and water was fixed; there could be no more of these natural resources than what was available. As the population increased in size, it would eventually outstrip the environment's ability to sustain them (Malthus, 1798). This would result in poverty, misery, and famine for the peoples of the world. His premise has become...
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...POVERTY: A GLOBAL ISSUE Charles Williams Introduction to Sociology – SOC100 October 29, 2011 1. Describe how society defines poverty. Poverty is a condition in which a person or community is deprived of, or lacks the essentials for a minimum standard of well-being and life. Since poverty is understood in many senses, these essentials may be material resources such as food, safe drinking water, and shelter, or they may be social resources such as access to information, education, health care, social status, political power, or the opportunity to develop meaningful connections with other people in society. Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people. In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle. Poverty is also characterized by a chronic shortage of economic, social and political participation, relegating individuals to exclusion as social beings, preventing access to the benefits of economic and social development and thereby limiting their cultural development...
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...country in terms of the World Bank tables but according to Wilson (2011:2) as well as Cornell and Wilson (2012:1) poverty in South Africa, despite its high income ranking, is widespread and severe. The only possible explanation for the contradiction in South Africa’s characteristics would be the deep levels of inequality experienced within the country (Wilson 2011: 2). This essay is going to prove, through looking at what poverty and inequality entail, how it originated in South Africa as well as evaluating statistical evidence, that inequality is indeed a more pressing socio-economic challenge than poverty is in contemporary South Africa. According to Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007:1) most policies now a days are somehow related to the impact of poverty on the country but in order for these policies to make a difference it is important to know what we are aiming at and therefore a clear understanding of what poverty and inequality is as well as where these terms originated from is essential for success. Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007) supply us with multiple approaches to poverty including the monetary approach, capabilities approach, social exclusion approach as well as participatory approach. Universally the monetary approach is dominantly accepted and used. This approach describes poverty as being a shortfall below a minimum level of resources or poverty line which is assessed through whether the individual can meet the requirements of an adequate diet as well as being...
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...Poverty Jonathan Rojas Professor Debra M. McCoy Sociology 100 January 23, 2014 Page 1 We are fortunate to live in a country where those who work hard are able to achieve financial freedom. Others are not as fortunate to be able to achieve that same freedom, as a nation I believe we are capable of achieving a goal of eliminating or reducing the poverty level in our country. A way to help decrease poverty would be to guarantee shelter, education, food, clean water and healthcare. By providing assistance to those in need we are giving those individuals an opportunity to succeed. There are those that are oppose helping others and believe that individuals are responsible for their own well being and should not depend on the help of others or a government entity. There are many reasons why we have poverty in this country and around the world. While many believe that each individual is responsible for their financial independence. Providing assistance may help those in need take the first step into a more secure financial lifestyle. There are many ways of reducing poverty, but the main goal is to provide assistance. “rich people have to be involved, to help donate money to provide people with shelter, water, and food. This is just one more solution to stop world poverty there are many more solutions to this issue, but without having the heart to help those in need we would never be able to end poverty.” While having rich people...
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...Assignment 1: Investigate a Social Issue Part 1 Poverty Author: Josue Benitez Instructor: Tasha Anderson SOC100030VA016-1122-001: Intro To Sociology Publish Date: 03/17/2012 1 Abstract In this report we will define poverty in society, as well as describe the affects that it has on society today. We will also discuss how society has changed over time in regards to poverty. In addition, we will attempt to find at least two possible solutions to improve the social issue of poverty that is affecting mankind on a global scale. 2 Poverty When some people live below a level which a society defines as a reasonable minimum, they are in poverty, but there is no agreement on how to define it more precisely. Poverty is often identified as a lack of resources or its causes, or its deleterious consequences in human experience or behavior, but meanings and usages change over time. Debate often focuses on people in poverty (the poor) or disparate measurement methods rather than the concept of poverty itself. Many incompatible discourses are separately but simultaneously used to discuss its forms, dimensions, causes and cures, and to address different audiences in the industrialized societies and in developing nations, with little attempt to integrate the approaches. Until the twentieth century, poverty was used to describe the conditions in which much of the urban...
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...Title: Equality and Inclusion Assignment. Introduction “Children’s early years have been stressed as being fundamentally important to their future development and consequently to society as a whole”, (Early Years Framework, 2009). There are however multiple and diverse childhoods. This report will firstly examine legislation which has been introduced to reduce inequalities and promote social inclusion in relation to early childhood. The second section of this report will critically examine some of the sociological concepts pertaining to poverty, class, health inequalities and the harmful effects of stereotyping and prejudice. The report will also explore some of the factors that can influence and shape children’s identity and multiple identities. The third section of this report will discuss the effectiveness of government policy and how this is translated into practice. The final section will discuss practice which promotes equality and inclusion with reference to a placement task. In conclusion the report will discuss if current legislation, policy and practice is effective in demonstrating an inclusive approach. Legislation The Equality Act (2010) streamlines and strengthens the law and gives individuals greater protection from unfair discrimination and makes it easier for employers and companies to understand their responsibilities. It also sets a new standard for those who provide public services to treat everyone, with dignity and respect. There are nine protected...
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