Sociological Study of Poverty

Running head: SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF POVERTY
Sociological Study of Poverty
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SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF POVERTY
Task 1 – Identifying a Cause/Issue
In this paper, I am going to discuss the issues related to poverty and its multifaceted
effects on the lives of the American citizen. The common perception regarding poverty has
made it synonymous to destitution but in this paper, I will refer poverty to the inferior quality
of living. The United States of America is one of the developed countries but there is a high
rate of poverty in the native population of the country especially in the suburb area. The
incidence of poverty is not only high in the native population of the country but they also
have is a high level of homeless population (McCarthy, 2018). However it must be noted that
poverty is just the result of having low income. It might also result due to inferior health
standards or when a person lacks the ability to understand their capability. Thus, I think being
in a state of poverty can cripple the human resource of a state which also mean that people in
state of poverty are deprived of their basic rights. This is not only important at the state level
but on the individual level it becomes equally an important aspect to maintain a proper social
and cultural standard of living. Poverty or an inferior quality of life can bring multifarious
effect on the lives like remaining under-nutritious, having health-related diseases, illiteracy,
violence or engaging in ethical social issues. Thus, I feel the need of proper education is very
important because here education can act as a catalyst to enlighten people of their social
reality.
According to me, the main reason for poverty to exist in society is the lack of initiates
taken by the people themselves. Generally, people have the tendency to play the blame-game
politics and avoid the burgeoning crisis of the time. Therefore, the fight against poverty
remains unending one. Another problem in dealing with the issue of poverty is cultural or
social stereotypes, which generalizes on the level of race and sometimes the ethnic origins.
As the notion of poverty is mostly presented with the racial undertone, the actual reality

SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF POVERTY
remains hidden because the racial identity of a person is made the reason for their condition
of poverty. The portrayal of Africans in negative stereotypes and the misperception of blacks
as poor, results in making the black responsible for their poverty. Thus, poverty gets
generalized and is reduced to the level of the social group that can be very misleading.
Therefore, I think we should take some initiatives on the individual level to see what
exactly the condition of their living is. The problem of poverty has reduced itself from12.3
percent in 2017 to 15.1 percent. However, it still means that poverty still exceeds the 1.3
percent rate of 2000, which implies that there are still many people who poor in the country.
Not only is there the problem of poverty the incidence of homelessness has also risen to a
high level where half of the American population is homeless. The rising incidence of the
homeless population makes the institution of family dysfunctional. This is where the social
fabric of the community is disrupted. There has been also rise in the violence and studies
show that those who are involved in these sort of activities belong from the lower-income
group. The rise in the crime rate of the adults and the delinquency rate of the minor also
represent the ineffective implementation at the level of the state. Therefore, I think a study of
poverty can help me to discover the actual status of poverty-stricken people.
Task 2 - Plan of Action: Process and Experience
What did you observe?
To understand how poverty causes deep-seated effects of the lives of the American
people I decided to visit a slum and visited the nearby shelter home. I tried to speak to people
and also observed their condition. The shelter home mostly includes the Hispanic and the
African population. Their condition of living is minimal and they are provided with a low
quality of the food. These people are so accustomed to the unhygienic condition of their
living that it has become the new normal for them.