...It has always become hard to explain what poverty is, and the cause. Poverty has lots of different definitions which resulted from different understandings or perspectives of people. Poverty is an age-old concern’, however, we cannot talk about any common or general reason of poverty. We can find many different reasons that engendering poverty and it is obvious that in every different age, the causes of poverty are changing. So, the dynamics of societies and relations are very effective factor that directly affecting poverty. This assumption seems more accurate for especially capitalist era. Naturally, there could be many different reasons of poverty between nations or within nations. However, I think capitalist production relations and the structure of global economy are the most effective factors that create poverty in all around the world. According to an article in the New York time, written by Paul Krugman in 2008, “Poverty is Poison”. The article states that according to neuroscientists “many children growing up in very poor families with low social status experience unhealthy levels of stress hormones, which impair their neural development.” The effect is to impair language development and memory and hence the ability to escape poverty for the rest of the child’s life. I think this has great impact on both poverty among nations and poverty within nations. Poverty among nations can be thought as a direct result of the structure of global economy. Rich and powerful...
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...War on Poverty Begun officially in 1964, the War on Poverty was an ambitious governmental effort to address the problem of persistent poverty in the United States. Over the next decade, the federal government—in conjunction with state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, and grassroots groups—created a new institutional base for antipoverty and civil rights action and, in the process, highlighted growing racial and ideological tensions in American politics and society. Marked by moments of controversy and consensus, the War on Poverty defined a new era for American liberalism and added new layers to the American welfare state. Legislatively, the first two years were the most active. Between President Lyndon Johnson’s State of the Union address in 1964 and the liberal setbacks suffered in the congressional elections of 1966, the Johnson administration pushed through an unprecedented amount of antipoverty legislation. The Economic Opportunity Act (1964) provided the basis for the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the Job Corps, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), Upward Bound, Head Start, Legal Services, the Neighborhood Youth Corps, the Community Action Program (CAP), the college Work-Study program, Neighborhood Development Centers, small business loan programs, rural programs, migrant worker programs, remedial education projects, local health care centers, and others. The antipoverty effort, however, did not stop there. It encompassed a range of Great Society...
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...WEALTH AND POVERTY – JUDAISM The Jewish scholar of old viewed poverty as a great trouble and said that “he who is crushed by poverty is as though he were liable to every one of the sufferings of the world" (Midrash Rabbah, Exodus, 31:12). Poverty is a challenge and an opportunity for poor and most importantly for those with the means to help the needy. The bible lays down the brief precept as follow: In the event that, there is a poor individual among you, don't solidify your heart and close your hand. Maybe, you should open your hand and loan him, adequate for whatever he needs. Be careful keeping in mind that you harbor the base thought, with the goal that you are stingy towards your penniless brother and give him nothing and he shouts out to the Lord against you and you have sinned. Provide for him promptly and have no second thoughts when you do as such … the Lord your God will favor you in every one of your endeavors and in every one of your endeavors. For there will never stop to be destitute individuals in your property, which is the reason I charge you; open your hand to poor people and penniless family in your territory...
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...TERM PAPER NAME: Richmond Sagoe TOPIC: Eliminating poverty in rural areas in Ghana THESIS STATEMENT: Rural poverty as an economic woe; eliminating poverty through agriculture and natural resource management, women empowerment, rural infrastructure and education. In Ghana, poverty is primarily rural, with the northern regions recording the highest incidence of poverty in the country (GSS, 2007). Low agriculture productivity, undeveloped markets and lack of gainful wage employment opportunities as well as restrictive access of the less endowed to productive resources have been identified as the major causes of poverty. Governmental policies hardly favour rural areas, leading to rural-urban migration. The number of job opportunities in these poor remote areas is limited and therefore, standard of living in rural areas is generally low. Farming activities which is taunted as the backbone of the economy is left to the old-aged to pursue since the youth sees farming as an activity for people who ‘have nothing to do’. Rural poverty as an economic woe; eliminating poverty through agriculture and natural resource management, women empowerment, rural infrastructure and education. According to the FAO (2015), the severity of the natural resource constraints facing the rural poor in Ghana requires that government focus a good number of projects on natural resource management. Many rural areas in Ghana have natural resources that are untapped. The majority of the rural poor are smallholder...
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...The issue of poverty seems proves to be more of an issue for other emergent countries, but is just as much an issue for the United States of America. For Americans, the average person’s earnings are not enough income necessary to maintain a comfortable living. Most of us all know what it is to struggle; but for some the struggle worse. . America, a promising country said to be the land of “milk and honey’, and one of opportunity, but we can only estimate the number of our population that doesn’t know if they are going to make it from day to day. People living in this country are often misrepresented by the wealthy because the cameras are on the celebrities, athletes, and politicians. These people are not the image of every American. There are the reappearing infomercials showing starving children and people dying to bring awareness to the conditions of other countries, when more attention should be directed to our own communities. There are so many homeless, and even more hardly making ends meet. Analyzing the causes of poverty in America really calls for you to look in to people’s lives. Majority of Americans are not born with money, and cannot depend on trust funds and inheritances. Many of us are us are living from check to check. The concept of saving today for tomorrow is almost impossible when you have to do so much with so little. Not everyone can take what they have and open up a business. Even so in this economy, we have seen businesses start and fail. For many...
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...To start with, we need to know what poverty is. In all over the world many countries have this global problem. The fact is that poverty includes a lack of access to services like education, markets, health care, lack of ability to make a decision, and lack of communal facilities such as water, sanitation, roads, transportation etc. So lets take a look what kind of causes the poverty has. First of all, it is overpopulation. High birth rates contribute to overpopulation in many developing countries. Overpopulation is defined as the situation of having large numbers of people with too few resources and too little space. A high population density pressures the available resources in the country, as the resources can only support a certain number of people. For instance, usually in very poor countries the families have a lot of children because they need somebody to help them with keeping their agricultural. Here the problem is that the governments of developing countries often provide little, or even no support. Second, lack of education. Illiteracy and lack of education are common in poor countries. Sometimes the governments can’t provide for good public schools, especially in rural areas. Sometimes just student doesn’t want to study because he doesn’t focus on his education. Their priorities just in finding a new girlfriend, spending more time with friends, smoking and so on. These kinds of students don’t think about their future. Finally, it is disability to earn money...
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...Poverty is a global phenomenon affecting every country. According the United Nations, poverty is the inability to seek basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter based on the incapability of not having enough money. However, it is not all about the inability to seek basic needs but beyond that. “It is about the denial of opportunities and choices that are widely regarded as essential to lead a long, healthy, creative life and to enjoy a decent standard of living, freedom, dignity, self-esteem and the respect of others” (United Nations- Global Teaching and Learning Project, 2014, 1). Poverty makes other major problems worse including slave labour, human trafficking and the spread of diseases. However, the root cause of these global issues is the relationship between poverty and the lack of education. The big question is whether increased education will reduce poverty or, is a lack of education a result of poverty? Increased education can lead to the reduction of poverty by providing people with learning skills to get a job and provide a source of income. Education has the most crucial role in eliminating poverty as with education there are many more opportunities. For the eradication of poverty, primary education is essential because with the increase in education, people will not lack cognitive skills- being able to progress better. (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2001; Brown, J., Pollitt, E. Malnutrition, 1996). A counter argument is...
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...however when the topic of generational poverty and socioeconomic backgrounds are approached it seems to fall to choice more often than not. If we can agree that a child can be born into affluence, why then is it so difficult to believe a child can inherit poverty as well?(Beegle, D. 2007) Generational Poverty is a complex issue requiring a holistic approach. Upcoming generations must actively work against the cycle of poverty. There are so many stigmas attached to devastating issues that it is difficult to identify the causes. It would seem that the major focus is the effects of poverty, not the causes. This is the case with generational poverty which is saddening; if the why is not identified, how then can a course of action be set into motion? Too often it is said, “Poverty is a choice, it’s their fault” and this could not be further from the truth. One of the most difficult issues around generational poverty is the way it is viewed by society and the other is the way political parties pass the buck back and forth. These views keep the issue stuck in the problematic zone, where no one is accountable and nothing can be done. (Search for Clarity and Truth. Pitts, S., Conservative. Kalamaya, R., Liberal.). So once the buck stops, if it stops at all, only then can the causes can be addressed. Where exactly does poverty stem from and what are the barriers that prevent people from escaping this inheritance? In his article “Poverty, Family Stress and Parenting”, Dr. Zahid...
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...Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not being able to go to school, not knowing how to read, not being able to speak properly. Poverty is not having a job, fear for the future and living one day at a time. Poverty is loosing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of freedom Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways. Most often poverty is a situation people want to escape. So poverty is a call to action - for the poor and the wealthy alike - a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and protection from violence. Unfortunately, poverty is often an invisible problem. The voices of the poor are seldom heard. And what makes me feel like writing about poverty is the unwillingness of our society to deal with this preventable problem and how politicians who rule the country pretend that poverty is simply a given human existence - a force of nature - unstoppable and eternal. In fact what makes a good life? Material and physical well-being, security, freedom of choice and action - the very things that bring joy to human existence, all make a good life. It is living healthy and peaceful lives in love with no hunger; no worrying about the future of children that brings the principal pleasures of everyday life. Physical health, strength...
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...Poverty is general scarcity or dearth, or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money.[1] Absolute poverty or destitution refers to the deprivation of basic human needs, which commonly includes food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, health care and education. Relative poverty is defined contextually as economic inequality in the location or society in which people live.[2][3] After the industrial revolution, mass production in factories made production goods increasingly less expensive and more accessible. Of more importance is the modernization of agriculture, such as fertilizers, to provide enough yield to feed the population.[4] The supply of basic needs can be restricted by constraints on government services such as corruption, tax avoidance, debt and loan conditionalities and by the brain drain of health care and educational professionals. Strategies of increasing income to make basic needs more affordable typically include welfare, economic freedoms, and providing financial services. Poverty reduction is a major goal and issue for many international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank. The World Bank estimated 1.29 billion people were living in absolute poverty in 2008. Of these, about 400 million people in absolute poverty lived in India and 173 million people in China. In terms of percentage of regional populations, sub-Saharan Africa at 47% had the highest incidence rate of absolute poverty in 2008. Between...
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...Warren Etkins Professor Lago College Writing October 18 2011 Poverty . When it comes down to the subject of poverty it is usually touchy. It is a concept that is hard to grasp especially if not known firsthand. Depending on when someone was raised the view on how poverty is represented can be different. Why do so many people believe one universal idea of poverty? People in society have always influenced the way certain things are seen. Whether it’s in school or the media they usually correlate each other. Having grown up in a time of prosperity and now a time of recession my view on poverty changed drastically. I don’t remember first-hand what poverty was, but i know what I was taught to believe about poverty through the media before I actually knew. One subject has many ways of reaching people, but the media and someone’s surroundings bring a different definition to a word so universally known. Living in a predominately white upper-class town I do not see impoverished people very often. Compared to us those who are poor live in the mostly minority town next to us. The reason I describe it like this is because many people in today’s society express poverty with race. It never changes whether times are good, or bad. Although there is some truth behind it that most minorities are the ones poor it still stereotypes. The media is the key reason for why people think like this. In many urban movies or anything dealing with a poor class the races are definitely divided...
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...Chapter 1 THE PROBLEM AND REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Introduction Poverty is a condition where people's basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter are not being met, which remains at the core of concept today. However, “food, clothing, and shelter” are itself no less problematic than the concept of poverty. Townsend (2010) posited that people can be said to be in poverty when they are deprived of income and other resources needed to obtain the conditions of life such as the diets, material goods, amenities, standards and services that enable them to play the roles, meet the obligations and participate in the relationships and customs of their society. In most developing countries, poverty is more widespread and severe in rural than in urban areas. According to International Fund for Agricultural Development (2011), the largest segment of the world’s poor is the women, children and men who live in rural environments. These are the farmers and herders, the fishers and migrant workers, the artisans and indigenous peoples whose daily struggles seldom capture world attention. Furthermore, Olinto (2013) cited that more than three quarters of those living in extreme poverty are in rural areas and nearly two thirds of the extremely poor earn a living from agriculture. The world of today performs strikingly well in terms of important measurable indicators of human development: nearly all children are immunized, almost all children of school going age are enrolled and attendance...
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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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...11/14/13 Review on Poverty Definition: the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor. deficiency of necessary or desirable ingredients, qualities, etc.: poverty of the soil. scantiness; insufficiency: Their efforts to stamp out disease were hampered by a poverty of medicalsupplies. Causes of Poverty Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why is this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What about their governments? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But deeper and more global causes of poverty are often less discussed. 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 Facts And Stats Most of humanity lives on just a few pennies a day. Whether you live in the wealthiest nations...
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...II. BODY POVERTY DEFINEDhbernard Shhtaw, “peducation, housing and fair treatment under the law. We will examine the inequalities of treatment recorded to the poor in each of these areas, and the resulting degradation is the quality of their lives. The World Bank Organization describes poverty in this way: “Povergrgfrbfr I n addition to a lack of money, poverty is about not being able to participate in recreational activities; not being able to send children on a vdsvcdsour economy. Whilevrdvny definitions, one thing is certain; poverty is a complex societal issue. No matter how poverty is defined, it can be agreed that it is an issue that requires everyone’s attention. It is important that all members of our society work together to provide the opportunities for all our members to reach their full potential. It helps all of us to help one another. Joseph Julian, Social Problems: 3rd Edition (Prentice Hall, Inc. 1980), p.256. George Ritzer, Social Problems: Second Edition (Random House, Inc. 1986), p.341. http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/esic/overview/content/what_is_poverty.html CAUSES OF POVERTY 2. Cutback’s in health, education and other vital social services around the world resulted from structural adjustment policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as conditions for loans and repayment. In addition, developing nation governments are required to open their economies to compete with each other...
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