Poverty And Culture

1358 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Poverty and human impacts

The Society and Culture of Poverty Poverty has been an ongoing societal pandemic in America ever since people were unable to make enough money to survive. Poverty, the condition of being very poor, affects Americans of varying races and genders. The two main types of poverty are relative poverty, the state in which someone lacks the minimum amount of revenue needed to sustain the average standard of living in the community they live in, and absolute poverty, the state of lacking one or more basic human needs such as food, water, or shelter because of their income level. Since suffering from relative poverty causes someone to suffer from absolute poverty because of their economic state, absolute poverty is a form of relative poverty. Poverty …show more content…

Rural areas are “often isolated geographically, lack resources and economic opportunities, and suffer from decades of disinvestment and double- digit poverty rates” according to the Housing Assistance Council (HAC). HAC is a nonprofit organization that assists local organizations in funding and building affordable homes in rural America. It helps develop single and multi-family houses to buy or rent for low-income rural families. HAC makes short term loans under the market interest rate for organizations to use on a variety of reasons for the houses. The reasons include buying land and the pre-development of it, paying architectural and environmental fees, paying other costs before the construction loans for the building of the house are available, and the construction itself. The future family or individual in the home must contribute sweat equity into the construction of the house if they participate in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program, which HAC loans to. Sweat equity entails the participant(s) in the program helping to construct the house. The loan may be forgiven if the participant(s) in the program meet the production goals and other requirements. After the houses are built, HAC set a rule stating that at least 51% of the new units must be affordable to low or very-low income people since their purpose is to serve the economically challenged. The organization also has a Technical Assistance team, the leaders of other organizations that HAC works with, that improves the housing conditions for the poor in rural areas, especially those deeply living in poverty. Many rural housing units lack adequate plumbing and/or are crowded due to financial challenges of fixing them. These are problems the Technical Assistance team can work to improve, although the specific improvements they make are not stated on the organization’s website

Show More
Related

  • Seeing And Making Culture: Representing The Poor: An Analysis

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    Basic education is mandatory for all kids in the United States. There are laws with minimum and maximum age limits for required free education, but this does not make all education equal. The minimum age varies from four to five to begin kindergarten, while most students graduate high school by age of eighteen or nineteen. However, there are kids that begin their education much earlier. Bell Hooks’ “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, Jonathan Kozol’s “From Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid”, and Barbara Ehrenreich’s “How I Discovered the Truth About Poverty” have a common topic, “poverty”. Moreover, each of these readings has a different perspective with a different agenda attached, but “poverty”

    Read More

  • Assess The Causes Of Absolute Poverty In A Developing Country

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    Absolute poverty refers to when a person does not have the minimum amount of income needed to meet the minimum requirements for one or more basic living needs over an extended period of time. This includes things like, Food, Safe drinking water, Sanitation facilities Health, Shelter and Education. It can also be measure by those living on less than $1.25 a day.

    Read More

  • Hidden America Children Of The Mountains Sociology

    1574 Words  | 4 Pages

    Relative poverty exists when people may be able to afford basic necessities but are still unable to maintain an average standard of living. In the film “Hidden America Children Of The Mountains” it displays that almost everyone in Appalachia falls under either absolute or relative poverty. Shawn Grim is a teenager in the hills of Kentucky, him and his family are considered under the poverty line. “The U.S. Social Security Administration has established an official poverty line, which is based on what the federal government considers to be the minimum amount of money required for living at a subsistence level” (Kendall). Shawn moved out of his home and lives in his truck and moves from place to place. This does not seem to hurt society but it does not benefit it either. One way Shawn benefits society is that he works at Burger King. This is considered as a structural functionalist approach. “A sociological approach to poverty that maintains that all parts of society (even poverty) contribute in some way or another to the larger system's stability” (Boundless). As it is shown in the video Shawn is trying to better himself which in ways helps larger system’s stability. This is also in some ways considered under the conflict theory. Shawn and his family members have gone on the side of

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Cultural Diverty And Poverty

    1670 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to Montgomery (2014) ‘Children in different parts of the world lead very different lives, partly because of the variations of cultural beliefs about childhood’. These variations are brought about by the fact that each child is different, with different beliefs, raised with different parenting methods in different countries with different cultural influences. All of which have individual definitions of what it is to be a child, and a child’s capabilities. These cultural and social differences all vary on their emphasis of traits that are important, such as individuality, independence, inter-dependancy and expectations of behaviour. Each child is constructed in a unique way according to these differences, and each difference impacts

    Read More

  • myth of the culture of poverty

    577 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article Paul Groski tells about a high school teacher struggling to connect with her low-income students. The teacher Janet loves her kids but assumes they are just lazy. By assuming this she is agreeing that poor kids have a certain culture about them. Many others also think the same, that poor people have a certain culture to them. The fact is that students living in poverty do not have the same benefits as a wealthier family. Facts show that most kids in low-income houses have at least one parent who is employed and works full time year round. Having jobs that do not pay as much makes it hard to support a family working part time. That is why a wealthier family works fewer hours than the average poor family. Many teacher’s like Janet also believe the parents of the less wealthy kids are uninvolved are unmotivated to help their kids. Poor Parent’s want their kids to succeed just as a much as a richer Childs parents do. Many poor parents’ work night time jobs and cannot afford to pay for public transportation. This probably explains why Janet does not see many parents at the...

    Read More

  • Cultural And Cultural Sides Of Poverty: The Great Debate

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    The cultural side being how a person is raised and the values that come from that. Whereas the structural side is based mostly in the government. However, as the article progresses, it becomes clear that Haskins and Sawhill lean more toward the cultural aspect rather than the structural side. The authors inform the reader of the structural issues that worsen poverty. Nevertheless, a great deal of the ideas Haskins and Sawhill introduce in the article are culturally based. Motivation and tradition seem to be the article’s main focus when it comes to culture. The motivation that comes from within, to the traditional family home, which instills the correct values. A family’s structure is an intricate part of the cultural side of poverty. Whether a child has one parent, especially a mother, or two

    Read More

  • Poverty in Less Developed Countries

    469 Words  | 1 Pages

    Absolute poverty is where people don't have enough money to provide standard living conditions for themselves and characteristics of substandard lives are disease, malnutrition, and low-life expectancy. Relative poverty is where a person is considered poor in relation to the average wealth held in their society. Poverty is a major problem within the developing world. The developing world holds 75% of the world's population yet only 20% of the world's wealth. This presents a problem and the shortage of money leads them into the vicious circle of poverty, where one factor leads to another and eventually the situation spirals to terrible extents.

    Read More

  • Poverty and Classism

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Schwartz-Nobel, America will lose as much as 130 billion in future productive capacity for every year that 14.5 American children continue to live in poverty (Koppelman and Goodhart, 2007). Sadly the seriousness of poverty is still often clouded by myths and misunderstandings by society at large. This essay studies the issue of poverty and classism in today's society.

    Read More

  • The Cycle of Poverty

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    “For most Americans, the word ‘poverty’ suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter” (Rector, 2007). Poverty can be socially defined through severe deprivation of education, food, safe water, sanitation, and health care regardless of one’s income. The U.S. Department of Health and human Services periodically updates poverty guidelines and depending on what state you live in the guidelines range.

    Read More

  • Cause Of Poverty

    2564 Words  | 6 Pages

    Poverty is a global epidemic that contributes to the deaths of millions each year. However, poverty is more prominent in some areas around the world than others. The Oxford dictionary defines poverty as the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support, but it’s so much more. Poverty can be defined as being hungry, lacking shelter, being unable to go to school, being unable to see a doctor, or being powerless and having a lack of freedom. The reason behind the many descriptions of poverty is that poverty has many faces, and its definition changes depending on the place and time, however the effects of poverty on the poor are always the same.

    Read More

  • Race and Prejudice toward the Culture of Poverty

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    Race and prejudice toward the culture of poverty was manifest during the civil rights movement and even in the American society today.. This paper will rely on examples, borrowing from past examples in trying to explain the culture of poverty, and how it can create prejudice among citizens in society due to their level of income or low-caste groups, which are considered poor within our societies. This paper will highlight a couple of examples to support its arguments.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Children And Poverty

    1952 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poverty is “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions” (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2015); in other words, struggling to provide a comfortable living style. It is the cause of family stress and many other problems, especially for the children. Millions of people around the world are struggling with poverty; families suffering to provide enough food seem to be growing in numbers. According to the United States Census Bureau, the poverty rate was highest in the 1960s and decreased greatly in the 1970s. However, it is now slowly starting to increase again. Recently released census data by the Bureau showed that one in five people are living in poverty (Census Bureau, 2014). Poverty is even

    Read More

  • The Negative Effects Of Poverty

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poverty is an undeniable problem in America. In 2014, 14.8 percent of the United States was in poverty (“Hunger and Poverty Fact Sheet”). There are more people in the United States than it seems that do not have their basic necessities. In an

    Read More

  • Solutions to Poverty

    1333 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poverty is a major problem in the United States today. Social, economical, political, and cultural factors all contribute to poverty. Education and economic development are two major issues that will help prevent poverty. The United States Census Bureau defines poverty as an "economic condition in which people lack sufficient income to obtain basic needs for food, housing, clothing, health services and education." In other words, poverty is powerlessness, a lack of representation and freedom. Poverty is an issue that the world faces everyday.

    Read More

  • The Causes and Effects of Poverty

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    Has anyone ever considered thinking about what the world is really going through? How many people don’t have the necessities in order to survive? If so, what are these people going through? Poverty is the state of one who lacks a standard or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Sometimes events occur that changes a person’s perspective on life. Poverty is one that can have a huge effect on not only one person, but also the people around him/her. Over half of the world is going through this tragedy and we, being the ones who created it, have the responsibility to end it.

    Read More

More about Poverty And Culture

Open Document