Critical Summary of Gans' 'The Uses of Poverty' Social Policy Article

This essay summarizes Herbert J. Gans's "The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All," highlighting the exploitation of the poor within society. Gans argues that poverty serves several functions for the affluent, including providing a low-wage labor pool and reinforcing social hierarchies. The article points ...Read More

Running head: ARTICLE SUMMARY
ARTICLE SUMMARY
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1ARTICLE SUMMARY
The following paper attempts a summarization of the article by Herbert J. Gans entitled
“The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All”. The following paper aims to highlight the major
points that have been discussed within the article from the social viewpoint. The article that was
penned down by Gans deals with the issues that have been arising from the urban political
machine that have been demonstrated to be improper in its functioning. The author points out the
fact that the poor people who have been involved in the society tend to provide sources of a
greater number of functions for the members of the affluent classes of the society. The essay
would attempt to shed light on the exploitation of the poor by the other affluent members of the
society.
In his article entitled “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All”, Gans (1971) argues that
the deprivation of a certain section of the society provides for the implementation of the issues
that are presented within the social conditions of the United States of America. The author argues
that the poorer sections of the society tend to remain oppressed in a majority of the ways
including the political, the social and the economic factors that are present within the society
(Gans, 1971). The existence of the poverty within the given society tends to have been one of the
major factors that help in providing a labor pool that accepts a lower amount of wage thereby
leading to the conditions wherein the people belonging to the affluent sections of the society tend
to grow more affluent (Gans, 1971). The increase of the poverty within the given society tends to
push the poorer sections of the society into deeper chasms of the poverty. The major economic
activities that lead to the deterioration of the poorer sections of the society refer to the activities
that are undertaken by the various restaurants, the various hospitals, the various departments that
are present within the garment industry as well.

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The article further states that the poorer members of the society tend to look out for the
economic benefits that they might avail at the subsidized rates. This poses a situation wherein the
affluent members of the society tend to have an increment in their affluency. The poverty within
the society is majorly a result of the members of the society that belong to the poorer sections
tend to remain within the bounds of their stereotypes thereby leading to the conditions wherein
the concerned members of the society keep revolving within the same orbit of poverty. The
maintenance of the moral nature of the poorer sections of the society lead to the conditions
wherein they are compelled to remain in the same poor belt and be punished by those in the
comparatively affluent classes of the society (Gans, 1971). The other major factor that leads to
the increase in the number of the members in the poorer section of the society refers to the
addiction of the poorer members of the society to the uninhibited behavior towards the
achievement of the baser pleasures of the person. The poor section of any society helps in the
enrichment of the culture that is maintained by the richer sections of the society (Gans, 1971).
The author of the article state that the majority of the music and the literature that is popular in
the United States of America is known to have been created as well as performed by the people
who have been belonging to the extremely poor sections of the society.
The author of the article concludes the fact that the various functionalities that is served
by the poor members of the society might be replaced by the affluent members of the concerned
society at the costs that would be higher than the present cost of the services. The author further
states the fact that the analysis of the social activities from the functional point of view yields the
results that are similar to the analysis that is completed by the activities of the radical sociology.
The author states the fact that on eliminating the poverty within the given society, the cost of the
life would increase for the affluent members of the society (Gans, 1971). This situation, as

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described by the author, would be achievable only when the poorer sections of the society lose
their functionality for the affluent sections within the given society. The other situation that
might change the equation for the poor refers to the situations wherein the poorer section of the
society would gain a better position in the society to counter the misbehaviors that they endure at
the hands of the affluent sections of the society.
Thus, from the above discussion, it might be stated that the author is to some extent
correct in his analysis of the extortion of the poorer sections of the society by their affluent
counterparts. The increase of the poverty within the given society tends to push the poorer
sections of the society into deeper chasms of the poverty. The poor section of any society helps
in the enrichment of the culture that is maintained by the richer sections of the society.

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References
Gans, H. J. (1971). The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All. Social Policy, 2(2), 20-24.