Poverty and its Effects on Society

Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence of Social Problem of Poverty
In delineation, poverty is the state of affairs in which an individual either owing to insufficient income or ill-advised expenditures, does not sustain a standard of living sufficiently enough to make provisions for his or her physical and psychological efficacy and to facilitate them and their natural children to function, more often than not to the standards of society (Sharma, 1997). In accordance to Ball and Tepperman (2016), social inequalities can be delineated as the uneven accessibility to rewards or prospects for individuals within a group or groups in a societal context. They are existent in any society or community when individuals have dissimilar amounts of income, affluence and social power. Canada is considered to be in the middle with respect to rankings for social inequality (Tepperman and Curtis, 2003). Poverty has always been one of the most severe social problems not only in the United States but also in the world, particularly poverty being more severe in other nations. In the present day society, statistics indicate that one out of eight citizens in America is experiencing poverty. From a quantitative perspective, approximately 10.7 percent of the population in the world are below the poverty line and live on less than $1.90 a day. This figure is equivalent to 767 million people across the globe. From a qualitative perspective, 50 percent of the extreme poor subsist in Sub-Saharan Africa. A huge majority of the internationally poor subsist in rural areas and have poor education, and are largely employed in the agricultural sector (UNESCO, 2017).
From a qualitative perspective, poverty is delineated as either being absolute or relative. On one hand, absolute poverty takes a metric in association with the amount of money or funds necessitated to meet basic needs, for instance, shelter, food, and clothing. This notion does not take into consideration the extensive quality of life issues or the general level of inequality within the society. Evidence shows that more than 50 percent of the populaces residing in low income nations are not able to afford the necessities that are basic and therefore are deemed to be in absolute poverty. On the other hand, relative poverty delineates poverty with regard to the economic status of other individuals within the society. This is in the sense that individuals are deemed to be poor if they are presently living below the prevailing standards of living in a particular societal context and framework. Relative poverty can be evidenced across the world through inequities in the societal order. For instance, within the workplace, despite the fact that there is a set income, there are people who earn at a significantly lower income level (UNESCO, 2017).
Causes or Social Roots of Poverty
One of the key causes of poverty is discrimination and social inequality. In accordance to the United Nations Social Policy and Development Division, inequalities with regard to the distribution of income and accessibility to productive resources, prospects, basic social services, marketplaces, as well as basic information have been progressively increasing across the globe, more often than not giving rise to and aggravating poverty. In particular, these inequalities emanate from the conviction that a number of individuals are worth less in comparison to others, on the basis of their religion, gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation as well as others. This discrimination brings about a two-tier social order where individuals experiencing prejudice fail to enjoy the similar opportunities that those who are privileged have. The consequences of these social inequalities is that the discriminated individuals end up living below the poverty line (Dabla-Norris et al., 2015). Another root cause for poverty takes into account poor education. Having low levels of education and talents gives rise to a limitation to the people’s capability to gain access to proper jobs in order to grow and develop themselves and totally participate in the society. This is also linked to having an education system that is faulty within the social order. This not only leads to lack of technical skills but at the same time also leads to unemployment. Moreover, another shortcoming encompasses the high cost of education incurred by the general public as well as lack of scholarships and funds (Sharma, 1997).
Another cause of poverty encompasses high growth of population. It is imperative to note that rapid population growth is one of the most significant factors that reduce the flow of the benefits that are meant to help poor people grow. Basically, a population that grows faster implies a decreased rate of the improvement in the standards of living. In addition, an increase in population adversely affects the battling of poverty owing to its influence on the concentration of land within the rural expanses as well as labor markets at large. High growth rates of population contribute to the contemporary austere pressure on land in numerous regions and therefore worsening the aspect of landlessness, all of which works against the best interests of the poor. Fast paced population growth as a result gives rise to a larger growth in the levels of unskilled labor and a sluggish stride of attainment of skills amongst the poor (Ahluwalia, 1990).
Broad Scale Social Consequences of the Problem
Irrespective of its causes, the social problem that is poverty has overwhelming consequences for the individuals in the society. One of the consequences encompasses issues within households. In particular, poor families face a greater risk level for issues, including aspects such as violence and divorce. One of the key reasons for these issues is stress. Imperatively, households that are poor have greater stress levels owing to their poverty and these become all the more intense. Even worse, when such issues take place, poor households have lesser resources in comparison to richer households to cope with these issues. Poverty also causes poor health, illness and the lack of accessibility and affordability to medical care. To begin with, individuals that are poor have a greater likelihood of experiencing several kinds of health issues, comprising of psychological illness and early childhood and adult mortality. In addition, they have lesser likelihood of obtaining insufficient medical care. Children raised in poor households are also probably bound to have insufficient nutrition, and relatively owing to this reason, suffer mental, behavioral and health problems in general. These issues hamper their capability to prosper in education and employment and this causes poverty to prevail across generations (Barkan, 2013).
Poor education is another consequence of poverty. Usually, children from poor families go to underprivileged schools with insufficient facilities where they obtain insufficient schooling and education. Their lack of or limitation to education as a result hampers them and their own offspring to poverty, which yet again helps in confirming a vicious cycle of incessant poverty across generations. There is also the severe consequence of lack of housing and furthermore homelessness. Expectedly, poor individuals have a greater likelihood of becoming homeless in comparison to the individuals that are not poor, who may even have the ability to purchase their own homes. Majority of poor households end up spending more than 50 percent of their income on rent for their houses and have a tendency of residing in poor neighborhoods that have inadequate job prospects, improper schools, as well as other features. Most of all, there is the social consequence of crime and victimization. There is a correlation between poverty and crime owing to the aspect that these individuals are significantly frustrated, have high levels of stress due to living in poverty and because they reside in neighborhoods with high crime. In these sorts of vicinities and environs, children have a greater likelihood of growing up under the influence of those associated with crime, drugs, and may also end up following suit. Statistics indicate that more than 2 million people in the present day in American jails emanate from poor backgrounds (Barkan, 2013).
Overview of Policy Solution Options for Poverty
There are various policy option solutions that can be employed to alleviate the social problem that is poverty. One of the policies takes into account income inequality within the society. Imperatively, as noted before, one of the key aspects that cause poverty within the society is income inequality. Therefore, the policy option solution that can aid in poverty elimination takes into account the reduction of income inequality that is existent between the rich and the poor people through increasing income taxes on richer people and giving tax credits to low-income and middle-income individuals. The policy can also include the eradication of income taxes for older individuals, and especially those that earn less funds (Crone, 2016). Lack of employment is another significant factor that causes poverty within the society. Taking this into consideration, a policy option solution to this issue encompasses the creation of job opportunities through employing low-income individuals on different projects such as the improvement of infrastructure. In addition, it is also recommended to increase the minimum wage to increase the income generated by people and at the same time index such income to inflation (Zastrow, 2013). Another policy option solution to combat poverty encompasses having family allowance programs. Basically, under this particular program, the nation’s government recompenses every household a predetermined amount on the basis of the number of children within the family. By having payments that are sufficiently large, such programs could aid the eradication of poverty, especially in large households (Zastrow, 2013).
Another policy option that can solve poverty encompasses promoting self-employment amongst the poor people. This encompasses targeting programs that are purposed to directly create additional incomes and returns for the poor. This is meant to help in setting up the poor people in becoming independent and cease from being dependent. It is imperative to note that there have been arguments made against self-help programs that provide the poor with funds to sustain themselves. Despite the fact that this has enabled, to some extent, the reduction of poverty, it continues to give rise to people that become dependent on such monies. As a result, they fail to improve their standards of living and this ends up being a cyclic poverty problem. Therefore, a policy potion to solve the social problem of poverty is to empower the poor people to become independent and self-sufficient in order to generate income on their own and for their households (Ahluwalia, 1990).


References
Ahluwalia, M. S. (1990). Policies for poverty alleviation. Asian Development Review, 8(1), 111-132.
Ball, J., & Tepperman, L. (2016). The Stacked Deck: An Introduction to Social Inequality. Oxford University Press.
Barkan, S. E. (2013). Social problems: Continuity and change. Flat World Knowledge, Incorporated.
Crone, J. A. (2016). How can we solve our social problems?. SAGE Publications.
Dabla-Norris, M. E., Kochhar, M. K., Suphaphiphat, M. N., Ricka, M. F., & Tsounta, E. (2015). Causes and consequences of income inequality: a global perspective. International Monetary Fund.
Sharma, R. K. (1997). Urban Sociology. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.
Tepperman, L., & Curtis, J. E. (2003). Social problems: A Canadian perspective. Oxford Univ Pr.
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. (UNESCO). (2017). Poverty. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/international-migration/glossary/poverty/