Poverty in the US

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Poverty in the US
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What is poverty?

• US govt defines it as the lack of minimum food
  and shelter necessary for maintaining life-
  absolute poverty
• Then decides what income is needed to sustain
  that minimum standard of living
• Multiplies the cost of food by 3 (average
  American spends 1/3 of its income on food)
• 23,492 for a family of 4
• 11,720
• 16.1 of the population

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How else can we determine poverty?

• Define it in terms of how people live relative to
  the majority of the population
• Relative definition
• According to this those who earn less than 1/2 of
  the nations median income are poor bc they lack
  what is considered to be needed by most people to
  live a decent life

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Feminization of poverty

• Poverty affects women more than men
• Most are single mothers or head of the families
• The US has the largest gender gap in poverty
• US women are more likely that their foreign
  counterparts to be both unemployed and head of
  families with children
• Single mothers make up the largest proportion of
  the poor adult population
• Why??
• Increased divorce rate
• Decrease in fathers paying child support
• Reduction in govt support for welfare
• Women live longer than men

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Blame the Poor Theory

• Assume that there are plenty of opportunities for
  making it in the US
• The poor failed to grab the opportunities by not
  working hard
• The poor have accepted being poor and see no way
  out
• Developed a culture of poverty-debilitating
  values and attitudes
• Passed from one generation to another
• Discourages the poor from working hard, which in
  turn keeps them poor

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Holes in this theory

• Poor people are not necessarily averse to working
  hard
• If given the opportunity they would work hard
• Problem is even if given the opportunity and
  work, they are still likely to be poor bc of
  changes in the economy and welfare policy
• The working poor account for 1/2 of the those who
  fall below the poverty line

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Sociological Theory

• According to functionalist theory, society create
  and maintains poverty bc benefits can be derived
  from it
• Poverty performs some positive functions for
  society
• Make it possible for societys dirty work to be
  done
• Poor people make it easier for the affluent to
  pursue their business and professional careers
• Poverty creates jobs for social workers and other
  professionals who serve the poor

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Holes in this theory

• Cant explain how society creates poverty in the
  first place
• Conflict theory explains that the unequal
  distribution of opportunities is the reason

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Who are the Homeless?

• Among the extremely poor
• Sleep in streets, parks, shelters and places not
  intended for dwelling
• According to Peter Rossis study of the Chicago
  homeless, most are
• African-American men in their thirties
• Average education level
• Never been married
• Held their last steady job 4 years earlier
• Other studies show that many are families with
  children, alcohol and drug abusers, and the
  mentally ill

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The new homeless

• More than 40 years ago, most of the homeless were
  old men
• Today the homeless are younger and include more
  women and families with young children
• Todays homeless are more visible to the public

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Causes of homelessness

• Increased shortage of inexpensive housing for
  poor families bc of diminishing govt subsidy
• Decreasing demand for unskilled labor
• Extremely high unemployment rate
• Erosion of public welfare benefits

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Welfare

• Most of the poor are NOT on welfare
• Only about 1/3 of the poor
• Majority of recipients are single mothers and
  their children
• Major push for welfare reform in the 90s

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Beliefs about welfare

• Most people think the govt should reduce
  spending on welfare
• Attacking the single mothers not the children on
  welfare
• People believe that welfare encourages dependency
  and wont ever leave
• Most people believe welfare recipients should be
  required to work
• Most recipients (about 70) stay on welfare for
  less than 2 years

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Welfare reform

• 1996 a law was passed to end welfare dependency
  in the US
• Head of every family on welfare must work and
  benefits are limited to a total of 5 years
  throughout a persons lifetime