Main Concern of the Greek Philosopher Plato - Essay Example

Plato's philosophical concern dealt with how people can gain knowledge through classification. To classify objects and terms, we need to be able to recognize both what an object or term is and what it is not.

One term that we can put through the process of classification is family. We know that families are groups of individuals and that the individuals in the family are related through blood or marriage. Not all families are the same, obviously; some of the more common ways to classify families are through socioeconomic levels, religion, and race. To further define socio-economic categories, we can say that there is an upper class, middle class, and lower class. Of course, within these classifications, we can define further, such as upper-middle-class and lower-middle-class families. A more common vernacular for lower-class families is to call them poor families.

The most obvious reason that families are called poor is the amount of money that a given family makes. There is a great deal more to being poor than not having as much money as rich people. To further define poor families, we must talk about what poor families experience. Perhaps the best phrase to describe the situation of a poor family is to say they live “paycheck to paycheck.” This means that these families are unable to cover any additional expenses that come up outside of their regular income. We should keep in mind paychecks aren’t always paychecks; many poor families live off of government assistance. This includes, though is not limited to, unemployment, welfare, food stamps, HUD, and medical assistance. Often, poor families will live in government housing. So we see that being a poor family is not limited to how much money a family has, but where a family lives is also included in the classification. Trailer courts are an example of residential areas that cater to poor families.

Education is an area that tends to be a determining factor in poor families. To be more specific, let’s say that a lack of education plays an important role in poor families' lives. Poor families tend to have parents that graduated high school but didn’t attend college. Sometimes high school was never finished by the parents. Without an education, it is more difficult to find a well-paying job in today’s world, and without such a job, it is difficult to break out of a socio-economic class. This is not to say that being poor will make a family uneducated; this isn’t a matter of being two sides to one coin.

So we have established that being uneducated tends to make a family poor, and another aspect of having a low level of education is reflected in a poor family’s diet. These families tend to buy highly-processed, unhealthy foods, and diets high in these kinds of foods tend to lead to obesity, which leads to all other kinds of health problems.
Through this paper, we have seen that we can not simply classify a poor family as a family without a lot of money. We have seen that classifying a family as poor has effects on their health, educational levels, whether or not a family lives on government assistance, and even where a family lives. Read More