Introduction
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.
Culture of povertys
The culture of poverty suggests that the poor people have bad hygiene, have diseases, lack education and can only be able to work hard manual labor, and this has been the prejudice associated with poverty-stricken people. People with a culture of poverty have no sense of history. They are people who hold strong feelings of helplessness, not belonging and marginality. The culture of poverty states that poor people are unmotivated and have poor work ethics. It also states that poor parents are uninvolved in their child's learning process because they do not value education, and this creates the cycle of poverty. In that, the children will lack the necessary skills to succeed in society. The culture of poverty also states that poor people are linguistically deficient and they tend to abuse drugs and alcohol, (Phillipe 2001).
Prejudice
Prejudice is a biased thinking, it refers to thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and feelings that someone holds about a group of people. Prejudice is a prejudgment that is not based from actual experience. Racism is a type of prejudice that is used to justify that one race is superior to other races. There are three levels of prejudice that exist, cognitive, emotional and action orientation. Cognitive level of...
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...med people including women, the elderly and even the children. in Vietnamese village of My Lai because they were probably aiding the Vietcog, hence their actions were justified, (Parrillo, 2011).
Conclusion
The culture of poverty resonates from the social theory that elaborates on the cycle of poverty. This theory suggests that the poor do not lack resources but have acquired a poverty- value system. The marginalization of the poor due to their social status of an individual, has created a society that is a society based on the income or wealth they become class conscious. From the paper, it becomes apparent that the culture of poverty creates a prejudice attitude towards a group of people, as it encourages them to think that people are poor or rich because it is what they want. This paper has used examples of different times in history, to support its arguments.
David K. Shipler in his essay At the Edge of Poverty talks about the forgotten America. He tries to make the readers feel how hard is to live at the edge of poverty in America. Shipler states “Poverty, then, does not lend itself to easy definition” (252). He lays emphasis on the fact that there is no single universal definition of poverty. In fact poverty is a widespread concept with different dimensions; every person, country or culture has its own definition for poverty and its own definition of a comfortable life.
Although poverty has minimized, it is still significant poverty which is characterized by a numerous amount of things. There are two types of poverty case and insular. “Case poverty is the farm family with the junk-filled yard and the dirty children playing in the bare dirt” (Galbraith 236)Case poverty is not irretraceable and usually caused if someone in the household experiences “ mental deficiency, bad health, inability to adapt to the discipline of industrial life, uncontrollable procreation, alcohol, some educational handicap unrelated to community shortcomings” (Galbraith 236).Case poverty is often blamed on the people for their shortcomings but on some levels can be to pinpoint one person's shortcomings that caused this poverty. Most modern poverty is insular and is caused by things people in this community cannot control. “The most important characteristic of insular poverty is forces, common to all members of the community, that restrain or prevent participation in economic life and increase rates of return.
Gorski, P. (2010/2011). The Myth of the Culture of Poverty. Annual Editions: Social Problems 10/11 , pp. 67-70.
society poverty has various definitions that lack the true picture that poverty depicts. Dictionary defines poverty as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money on material possessions.” In other words poverty is a situation where a person fail to earn a sufficient amount of income to purchase basic necessities such as food, shelter, clothes etc. In reality, poverty is much more than the capital resources. According to Laster Brown explained poverty as “the world without orders’ and further emphasized that “unfortunately it is a human condition. It is despair, grief and pain.” However, the issue of poverty and how we deal with it could differ among people. This idea is reflected in Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence and Morality” essay and the opposing essay written by John Arthur in “World hunger and moral obligation: the case against Singer.” Peter Singer raises the question of poverty and our obligations toward it in his essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”. In the essay, Singer addresses the question of what obligations we have toward those ar...
Poverty can be defined in many ways. Some consider it an issue caused by the lack of ambition in certain individuals. On the other hand, many also consider it to be an issue caused by outside forces such as class, education, and economic conditions. Essays by Lars Eighner, Anna Quindlen, and Jonathan Kozol all touch base on poverty and what it means to be in poverty.
While prejudice and discrimination are closely related, the terms are not interchangeable. Prejudice is a negative attitude, feelings, thoughts or beliefs toward an entire category of people. There are two important factors that are present in the definition of prejudice, and they are attitude and entire category (Schaefer 35).
Most people of the society still blame the poor for their own predicament. They believe that "if there is a will there is a way". However, they do not think about their government that might had made bad decisions and policies that could actually harm successful development. This causes of poverty and inequality are usually less discussed and often neglected. We must recognize the effects poverty could have on the society and seek ways to create better understanding and resolve the issue before it is too late.
To some, poverty means a lack a lack of options and prospects while simultaneously being looked down on by others, which creates low self-esteem. Others would argue that being in poverty is an inability of a human being to effectively contribute to society. There is, however, a definition of poverty that should not be overlooked. Although oftentimes poverty is negative, it should not always be looked at as such, especially when one’s needs are met; for some poverty is an individual choice and defining one as a success or failure because of one’s economic standing is entirely a personal matter.
Over the last 10 years or so, the way of looking at the concepts like poverty and social exclusion has changed by a million miles. More and more people are drawn towards the idea of thinking about such things in a more detailed manner so as to gain a deeper understanding of it. For that is the only way, we can actually move towards truly dealing with them, instead of being the bird that puts its most sincere efforts in trying to catch the horizon which always moves away from it. The reason behind this shift in people’s mentalities is the broad acknowledgment that poverty is about more than just low incomes. What lies at the heart of how most people understand ‘poverty’ are their observations of instances of lower than reasonably required consumption and inadequate living standards. Aspects of poor health, a shortened lifespan, limited access to education, knowledge and information, and powerlessness in various domains are also associations that this term has conjured up.
Structuralism is the result of economic or social imbalances within the social structure that serve to restrict opportunities for some people. Culture of Poverty blends features of the previous two approaches and suggests that the poor have developed a subculture with a related set up values, traits and expectations as a direct results of structural constraints associated with living in isolated pockets of poverty. Fatalism is some believe that poverty is attributable to quirks, chance, luck, inevitable human nature, illness, low intelligence or other forces over which people have little control. (Secombe, 2011, pp.
Oscar Lewis asserts that the term “culture of poverty” is the theoretical label that describes in positive terms a subculture of western society with its own structure and rationale. Also, Lewis argues that these attitudes and beliefs are handed
Generally, definition of poverty can vary on the basis of their breadth; whether they are limited to the material core; and whether they hold also relational factors related to poverty. For instance, United Nations broadly defined the term as, ‘a violation of human dignity’, ‘lack of participation in decision-making’, ‘susceptibility to violence’ and ‘powerlessness’ (Langmore, 2000, p.37). These definitions also vary with the means of measurement of either material resources or actual product in individual life. In other words, it is defined on the basis of income and standard of living. For the purpose of this essay, the main discussion will be restricted with the definition of poverty in the words of Amartya Sen. Additionally, thi...
It has been said that poor people have poor ways. Professionals use the term culture of poverty to describe that people in poverty share consistent and observable characteristics. Critics of this concept argue that many of these conceived universal characteristics are myths (Lewis, 1998). Whether the culture of poverty is a legitimate concept or not, it is truth that families that are in poverty tend to be that way for generations. Since the beginning of civilization there have been individuals with means and those without. The issue of those that have and those who don’t is a divisive topic. As Aristotle once said, “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” (Stefan, 2003, p.1)
Some people believe that the answer to this question lies in the so-called culture of poverty. The phrase dates to the 1960’s and describes the idea that the poor possess a set of values that perpetuate the cycle of poverty. However, social scientists rarely think of poverty in these terms, focusing instead on the structural explanations for poverty (Heise & Suh, 2014). Despite this,
Social issues are problems in the society today that are described as wrong, widespread and changeable. A category of conditions that people believe need to be changed. Poverty is a serious social issue in the society today. According to Peilin (2012), poverty brings hardships to families and individuals as well as political thereby negatively affecting the social stability and social development and posing a severe threat to human security (p. 243). This paper focuses on poverty as a social issue in today’s society. First, it gives a succinct introduction of the social issue, and then describes how it fits into the field of sociology. It also evaluates the sociological theories and terminology that relate to the social issue. The section that follows evaluates what is known and unknown about the particular social issue. This is followed by a discussion regarding the value of sociological research into the issue determining the available or possible practical implications of the sociological inquiry. The information presented here is strongly supported by the concepts and theories derived from reliable sources.