Poverty in America
Working Outline of Poverty in America
Poverty remains a difficult social problem. The distribution of the poor is stratified along ethnic and gender lines. The main suffers of poverty however, are children for whom poverty results in severe future outcomes. The difficult persists because attempts to reduce poverty are stymied by organizational and political issues. The organizational approach to poverty reduction is limited because of bureaucratic and structural impediments. Poverty is an intractable social problem.
Poverty remains an intractable problem
The need to reduce poverty is a major concern for organizations and governments
Poverty has multiple forms across America
a.
The definition of poverty is linked to multiple indicators
Absolute poverty is based on a specific dollar value
Relative poverty is linked to some relative threshold value
b.
Within America there are multiple categories of poor persons
Working poor
Individuals who live in abject poverty
3. Individuals are often blamed by society for being poor this seeks to absolve society of their responsibility.
a. Mabughi, N., & Selim, T. (2006).
c. Poverty is at all levels is more than a lack of money
i.Weaver, C., & Park, S. (2007).
IV. Poverty...
Minority groups are generally poorer than white Americans
1.
Kodras, J.E. (1997).
b.
Women and children are also disproportionately represented among the poor
1.
29.9% of households led by women were poor (Poverty in America 2011)
2.
20.7% of American children live in poverty (Poverty in America 2011)
a. Corcoran, M.E. & Chaudry, A.(1997).
b. Crowley, M., Lichter, D.T., & Qian, Z. (2006).
c.
Rural vs. Urban poverty
1. Poverty within the rural areas is less severe in consequences than in urban areas
2. Urban poverty often leads to homelessness
3. Tickamyer, & Duncan (1990)
There have been multiple approaches to reduce poverty and they have met with limited success.
1. Governmental approaches
a. The government addresses poverty through the establishment of agencies
b. Agencies attempt to reduce generational poverty
i. Hamilton, M.A. (2010).
c. The agencies are focused on reducing poverty through education
i. Duncan, G.J., Ludwig, J., & Magnuson, K.A. (2007).
2. Personal approaches demonstrate the duty wealth persons have to assist in…
