Factors of Poverty

Factors of Poverty

No one universally accepted definition of poverty exists because it is a complex and multifaceted phenomena. Poverty is borne out of economic factors that include a lack of access to secure employment, insufficient income, and a lack of assets, especially that of real-estate.

There are social structural elements and psychological factors that both contribute to, and have a tendency of perpetuating poverty. While both of these contribute to poverty they are very different from one another. Social psychological factors are attitudes and values held by all citizens regardless of economics and are the sum total experiences, which have molded the individual's mind-set. These experiences may bias an individual in a negative manner in regard to poverty. Social structural elements only improve poverty, meaning aid in eliminating it, by the collective work of society. There are several ideas implicit in the notion of social structure, mainly that of the distribution of power. This concept embodies the idea that human beings form social relationships that are not arbitrary or coincidental, but actually exhibit some regularity, persistence, and purpose. According the distribution of power, social life is not unstructured but is differentiated into groups, positions, and power structures that benefit a select group of players; and may be interdependent or functionally interrelated to another social group of influence. However, there is a hurdle to be overcome in assessing poverty, the fallacy of retrospective determinism, which states that the non-poor believe poverty is inevitable. (Lauer & Lauer, 2006) In other words, a defeatist platform: there is no way to improve, just accept things the way they are and don't make waves.

Social structural factors of poverty are comprised of government, family, economy, and education. Programs designed to assist the poor such as health care and education had a tendency to be vulnerable to veto, sabotage, or failed due to neglect, case in point the Medicaid program. Some states elected not to assume any financial responsibility for health care of the poor, so they did not contribute while other states set low limits on benefits.

Today the majority of the poor are not adequately covered. The people who control and influence governmental policy, are usually some of the wealthiest citizens. These people are very powerful and influential, and seem to give to each other insider information to influence policies and programs they designed to benefit their special interests. This same group also believes it would make no difference to give to the poor in fact some may believe it would make things worse rather than better to give aid to the poor. Congress should not be pursuing policies that take adverse trends in poverty income, health insurance and make them worse but should be managing programs that improve the quality of life of the poor. The American people would be best served if the elected officials would focus on policies that realistically address the growing problems of poverty and inequality in our nation and put forth equitable solutions.

The family unit is one of the most important elements that shape the behavior of the poverty stricken because it is within the family unit that children learn their basics beliefs, values, attitudes, and general patterns of behavior. Familial education gives birth to how the child will come to behave in society, to know his/her place in it, and come to form his/her identity, hence the family unit is the initial transmitter of culture and greatly shapes the personality of children. For the cycle of generational poverty to be broken children must witness their parents/caregivers successfully overcoming societal obstacles and becoming economically productive.

Economic decisions like; what goods are to be produced, where they are produced, by whom, and under what conditions, are primarily made by people with economic power and are predominantly corporate executives and government officials. The nature of this type of socioeconomic paradigm ensures that the basis of economic decisions will be determined by the bottom line, since it is a profit driven system. Enterprises that are profitable to their stakeholders become bigger and stronger while smaller businesses are forced out of the market place. Whether the actual product is rational or irrational, beneficial or useless, it doesn't enter into the decision unless if effects the bottom-line's profitability. There are three reasons the economy works against the poor: they are caught in a chain of failure, the lack of access to a middle class education and health care, and the concentration of wealth residing with big business, prevents the poor from obtaining stable employment. (Economic Policy Institute; Income Picture: August, 2005)

Schools, education, and family are interdependent and play a major role in shaping the future of those living in poverty. In my opinion, education is one of