What causes poverty? Most people assume people
are in poverty because they are too lazy to work or don’t put forth effort to
advance at their current low paying position. Despite popular stereotypes,
there are a few other contributing factors that can introduce poverty into a
household. The cultural and behavioral explanations on why people are in
poverty are explained by individuals making bad decisions that result in
poverty. These decisions can sometimes be because of family expectations (need
to work young to help support the household), no interest in working, a culture
of welfare dependence, lack of future orientation or planning ahead, etc. There
are also structural explanations that enable poverty among families. People can
inherit wealth from family members, but one might also obtain a lump sum of
debt on the contrary. An example of this would be an immediate family member
catching a disease like cancer which requires extensive and very expensive
procedures. The result of this treatment can become quite an expensive hospital
bill over the duration of the recovery. Depending on how you identify yourself
or characteristics you have (such as race, gender, and sex) may also affect
your income. According to an article written by Inequality.org, “Black household income stood at only 55 percent of white
household income in 2011.”
This data can be a result of statistical discrimination where employers will
choose employees based on group characteristics rather than individual
accomplishments or achievements. An example would be an employer picking a
resume with the name “Joe” over another that says “Jose” even though there is
just one letter difference.
Poverty can also present itself given the
structural differences in a household. Single female households lead the path
in poverty. Being a full time single parent limits the free time you have to
find a job or to work when a job is acquired. If you can find work at all, it
is most-likely going to be part time due to the needs of being a parent which
also affects the amount of income being brought in. Women in the workforce have
been known to make significantly less compared to their male counterparts. This
ultimately differs the rate of poverty within the single parent category
causing single female households to be more prone to endure severe poverty.
With this “hook-up” culture we live in, women
are having babies at a younger age forcing them to make big decisions. So why
aren’t these young adults that are having kids getting married to bring
together income? Why do some women choose to live as a single parent when so
many live in poverty? The change in social norms regarding marriage and the
increasing divorce rates have to play a role in this statistic, but there is
one that seems to stand out. The standards that women seek in a man is someone
who is financially stable and can bring a good environment to their future
children. If a young man is working a minimum wage job, he is not bringing in
enough income which might make him unmarriageable in a woman’s eyes. The idea
that women are possibly holding out for a “better” man, supports this argument.
In today’s society we are more accepting of peoples choices compared to the
past, which might influence a mother to become independent and care for a child
on their own.
http://www.sociology.org.uk/AS_poverty_welfare.pdf
http://inequality.org/poverty-matter-black-white/
I think you wrote this blog really well and that you made some very valid arguments. It cannot possibly be fair to treat all people in poverty the same just as it would not be fair to treat every person in a single race the same. I do think that people stereotype the poor as being lazy and even more black females in poverty as being lazy. I also think agree that some are, but not all. Even in the one video we watched in class during Tiara's presentation the disabled black man talked about how his homelessness was justified but not the other people on the streets. If people within the culture are stereotyping then of course it is understandable how we would be doing the same.
ReplyDeleteI would say it is not just making these men non-marriage material, but that women know if they have a man in the household they cannot collect welfare. If welfare earns them even $5,000 dollars more a year than the man they are seeing does then maybe it is not worth it to them. I do not see children out of wedlock as the biggest problem, but the right of women to make these decisions on their own and the men out there that do not want to be part of their children's lives as the problem. If all parents wanted to be equal parts of their children"s lives I believe the problem would drop significantly.
I love this! There are so many reasons why incomes and advantages are different for different races. I like that you explained how there are different reasons a person can be suffering from poverty. One thing that shocked me is the huge income difference between a African American family versus a white family. Once you got to the end and began explaining how women were having children much earlier, and were not getting married and asked the question as to why is that so. I believe women are not getting married now because the requirements have changed. Back before the 80s and 90s, if a woman was to get pregnant, there was a good chance that the family was talking to the young man about some sort of way he would take care and be there for the child, and the future of the relationship with the mother of the child. Now, it does not seem as if thats the case. Its a great charactertistic to show yourself as independent. People flaunt that everyday, that they have responsibilities and how they do it, and they do it on their own. Overall, I do love this article, I just wish that toward the end it could have been some sort of solution to this or some type of explanation explaining where do we go from here. But overall, I absolutely loved it.
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