Poverty in America

Poverty in America

With the growing divide between the rich and the poor in a generally wealthy nation, it becomes interesting to know just what exactly entails poverty within the United States of America. For some, poverty runs along the lines of unsustainability, one in which an individual or groups thereof are incapable of providing necessities that sustain life. This is an absolute extreme of poverty. However, Duncan Lindsey and John Iceland further purport this definition of poverty, indicating that those who live in poverty might be much more than just the "ultimately poor." In their cases, there is an inequality that takes effect, which is the major cause of relative poverty in the United States.

In Iceland's case, poverty is "economic, or income, deprivation resulting in one's inability to sustain oneself." For the most part, this is true. However, there is a distinct division between "absolute poverty" and "relative poverty," two types of measurements of the poor that Iceland further discusses in his book Poverty in America: A Handbook. It is the relative poverty line that becomes controversial to toe, as it is defined differently according to geography as well as time. "Views of poverty vary over time and place. What it meant to be poor in the early twentieth century is not the same today. Nor is the standard of what constitutes poverty in the United States the same as that in the developing world" (Iceland). At the present time, the causes of poverty are mostly due -- not so much through a failing in the economic system -- man-made barriers.

This argument is further solidified in Lindsey's arguments about poverty in his book Child Poverty and Inequality: Securing a Better Future for America's Children, which details an inequality affecting children who grow up in poverty. Lindsey's main concern is the fact that the United States speaks highly of a promise to cultivate children to achieve a comfortable standard of living. This achievement, however, seems to be unattainable for the majority of those children who have grown up facing numerous barriers and glass ceilings. Where education and hard work were once "steady paths to economic success," they "no longer lead as far as they once did" (Lindsey).

Both authors pinpoint the cause of poverty to the social class structures created between high society and everyone else. Presently, even those of the middle class are finding it more difficult to break barriers, some of which are even considered living "in poverty" depending on the neighborhood. Most of the class structures and social differences that Iceland and Lindsey point out are the same; that inequality in accordance to relative poverty lie in the fault of social structures in culture, ethnicity, race, and gender. There is still unequal access to economic and educational opportunities for African-Americans, Hispanics, women -- particularly single mothers --, and children. Mostly they are deterred by various tools of inequality; bias, discrimination, and sexual harassment are only some aspects. Children growing up in these types of homes would also lack the proper ties and access to education and economic opportunities, continuing the long-standing tradition of poverty in the country.