Poverty & Class Current Event
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Chapter21.pptxPoverty
Chapter 2
Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Defining Poverty
Absolute measure
Based on a threshold, usually annual income
Relative measure
Compares person or group to the rest of the community or society
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Poverty Threshold
Census Bureau considers age, family size, and number of dependent children
In 2016, poverty thresholds:
4-person household (two children): US $24,339
3-person household (two children): US $19,337
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Extreme Poverty Neighborhoods
Areas with poverty rates of 40+ percent
Often have higher crime, poor health outcomes, fewer education, and job opportunities
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Social Safety Net
Programs emerged to ameliorate problems related to the Great Depression
Charitable programs had been private
Example: Social Security, Medicare, means-tested programs
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Social Class
Groups stratified by their access to resources
Wealth, income, education, employment, land
Many Americans see United States as egalitarian and classless
Myth of the self-made man
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Class as a Social Science Concept
Marx: class based on ownership of the means of production
Capitalists own factories and other mechanisms to produce goods
Working class sells their labor to capitalists in exchange for wage
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Class as a Social Science Concept
Max Weber: three aspects of stratification
Class: Position in economic sector
Status: Social position based on honor, education, prestige, religion, and so on.
Power: political connections and affiliations
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Class as a Social Science Concept
Social class in modern United States seen as a continuum, not a set of distinct groups
Socioeconomic status (SES)
Sociology uses an index of class based on concepts, like education, income, occupation
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Social Mobility
Upward or downward movement in social position over time in a society
Americans substantially and consistently overestimate income mobility and educational access
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Gilbert–Kahn Model
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Inequality
The fact that some in a society have more than others
Inequality is increasing globally
Gap is greater in the United States than in nearly all other industrialized societies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM&t=4s
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Income and Wealth
Income
Earnings, unemployment payments, social security, interest/dividends, rental income
Wealth
Family or household’s net worth
Investments, property, savings
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Other Dimensions of Inequality
Race/Ethnicity
Gender
Access to health-care and health insurance
Likelihood of being imprisoned
Education
Access to housing
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Functionalism and Poverty
Davis and Moore “Some Principles of Stratification” (1945)
Some positions in a society are more specialized and valuable
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Functionalism and Poverty
Only a few have the talent for more important positions
Learning those skills require sacrifices
Must compensate with resources and rewards
Social inequality inevitable and functional
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Functionalism and Poverty
Herbert Gans saw positive functions
Get “dirty work” done cheaply
Encourage purchase of lower quality products
Give higher status to others
But functions of poverty can be both economically and morally costly
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Symbolic Interactionism and Poverty
Oscar Lewis’s Culture of Poverty Thesis
The poor hold a unique set of values/beliefs that makes it hard for them to escape poverty
Sense of powerlessness, feelings of inferiority, lack of work ethic
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Conflict Theory and Poverty
Groups have different interests that come into conflict with one another
Poverty is systematic
Karl Marx: workers alienated
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Workers alienated from their labor because they have little say in what they do in the production process
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Other Theoretical Frameworks
Social empathy
Ability to identify with the experiences of others
Lack of empathy at the top makes it hard to behave humanely toward those at the bottom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuqGrz-Y_Lc
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Other Theoretical Frameworks
Social inclusion
Sense of interconnection with others
Marginalization/stigma affects connections
Social policies favoring those with assets exclude the poor
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Treviño, Investigating Social Problems, 2e. © SAGE Publications, 2019.
Other Theoretical Frameworks
Distributive justice
Seeks relative equality in the distribution of society’s social and economic resources
Relationship between perceptions of inequality and the principle of fairness
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