Poverty: Causes and Effects - Essay Example

Poverty: Causes and Effects Generally, an individual is considered living under poverty if the monetary income and the social, cultural, and material resources of the person are not enough to provide the individual with a standard of living that is considered the norm within the society. This also means that the individual will be unable to participate and join in the usual activities of the general population of the society(Wall, Wall, and Wall 629). According to Merriam-Webster, poverty is “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions” (qtd. in Wall, Wall, and Wall 629). According to Oxford Dictionaries, poverty is “the state of being extremely poor” and “the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount” (qtd. in Wall, Wall, and Wall 629). Upon learning the various definition of poverty, one can immediately confirm that poverty is about lacking in something. While it is true that poverty could also refer to intangible things like education, imagination, and abilities among others, poverty is more associated with the physiological aspects of the individuals. Suffering from poverty on the physiological needs could easily mean sickness or death(Wall, Wall, and Wall 632).According to statistics, 20% of the population lives on less than $1 a day, 30% lives on less than $2 USD a day, and 30% lives on less than $10 USD a day. Also, the poverty ratio is continuing to rise, 3:1 in 1820s, 11:1 in early 20th century, to 35:1 by the mid part of the 20th century, rising to 72:1 towards the latter part of the 20th century(Wall, Wall, and Wall 634-5).This continuous rise is poverty is caused by several global issues --- such as globalization, illiteracy, and overpopulation --- that keep limiting the opportunities and supplies for the majority of the population. In this period of global crisis, poverty can be seen even in the richest countries of the world. Globalization is not there to help underdeveloped and underprivileged nations. First, behind growing interconnections guaranteed by globalization are international practices and policies created, defined, and influenced by the powerful and the rich. These are the leaders of rich and powerful countries and other movers and shakers of the global economy, such as international corporations, rich people, and influential organizations. In such situations where global powers are at stake, considerable peripheral manipulations occur that put underdeveloped and underprivileged countries under the dictates of the more influential ones. It is a continual system of the global setting that makes the rich just get richer, while the poor masses continue to struggle, if not get poorer(Robbins and Ferris 76-7). Second, globalization may have also negatively impacted labor, particularly when looking at the angle that jobs are made available, with lesser pays, to workers in poorer nations. This means that the poor are being exploited so that shareholders get more profit(Robbins and Ferris 74). Third, poor countries get into debts with the IMF/WB and apply the structural adjustment programs developed by these financiers. However, these programs given to different countries are so similar that they are made to compete with each other. They cause overproduction, oversupply, and fall in world market prices of the nations’ goods. Usually, to offset the low prices, farmers will try to produce more, but such efforts usually just lead to more debt and dependence to financiers, and eventually increased poverty(Robbins and Ferris 75). Illiteracy is also one of the major causes of poverty. It could also be argued that poverty causes illiteracy. However, to go into that detail would be like doing the chicken and egg debate. First, people who do not have proper education cannot get proper jobs. At the rate the world is going nowadays, it is easy to see that even those who acquired education are having a hard time finding and keeping jobs. This hardship is made even worse if the individual does not have education at all. Without adequate education, an individual is unable to get high-paying, or at least decent, jobs. Without proper or decent jobs, it will be hard for the individual to afford the basic necessities in life that would allow him or her to live a better life(Gärtner and Gärtner 27-8). Second, illiterate people who find it hard to look for jobs will continue to live under the same poverty level. It is possible that the poverty will be passed onto the next generations.This is best exemplified by a poor man who is unable to find a decent or high-paying job due to illiteracy. He does not have the means to send his children to school. Most probably, the children will be sent to work, preventing them from receiving any education at all. The younger generation, without proper guidance, would most probably just keep on doing what their parents did, thus passing on the poverty streak for generations to come, making illiteracy and poverty a vicious cycle(Gärtner and Gärtner 44). Third, illiteracy also grants lesser to no opportunities to improve life conditions. Illiteracy causes people to lack necessary ammunitions such as knowledge, information, and skills to improve life. Illiterate people most probably do not have many ideas on how to get out of poverty(Gärtner and Gärtner 51-2). Overpopulation is also considered one of the major causes of poverty. However, just like illiteracy, there are existing arguments that state poverty causes overpopulation. Instead of trying to go into the chicken and egg debate, one just has to agree first that poverty and overpopulation are linked, and that there are several reasons why one should consider overpopulation as a cause of poverty. First, overpopulation can be either high population or low amounts of resources. A given land or area can only support a certain number of inhabitants. For example, Africa is considered overpopulated because despite the abundance in natural resources, the region lacks in resources such as knowledge and infrastructure to make use of the natural resources around(Munive 323-4). Second, developed countries do not really have issues regarding overpopulation because, unlike Africa, they are able to produce enough resources to supply the entire populace. They produce large quantities of commodities through machineries, infrastructure, and other technological advancements(Munive 327). Third, those who live in poor societies tend to have more children, thus adding to the overpopulation and poverty issues. Children are considered assets to poor families because they provide labor. However, this kind of labor, usually farming, is not able to provide enough supply for the needs of the family due to issues made complex by poverty(Munive 332). It can therefore be concluded that poverty and some of its major causes run in a vicious cycle. If poverty is resolved, then the world will have finally attained some form of equality among every individual. If this problem is not addressed, then the vicious cycle along with its domino effects will continue to worsen until perhaps the division of the world’s wealth becomes more and more unequal and contained within a very small percentage of the population. There are many possible solution to this problem, such as the end of private monopoly ownership over vast resources, redistribution of lands, equal footing of underprivileged nations in voting in international organizations, or even the cancellation of third world debt. However, the most realistic, personally speaking, is education --- education that is not geared only towards shaping the human capacities to fit the developed countries’ needs, but also towards developing their own resources. For example, one does not have to be a doctor to earn decently. Farmers, when armed with proper education on agriculture, can develop his farming into something lucrative that will pull the family out of poverty. Works Cited Gärtner, Dennis L, and Manfred Gärtner.Wage Traps As a Cause of Illiteracy, Child Labor, and Extreme Poverty.St. Gallen: Departement of Economics, University of St. Gallen, 2008. Print. Munive, Jairo. "The Army of `unemployed' Young People."Young.18.3 (2010): 321-338. Print. Robbins, P, and R S. B. Ferris.The Impact of Globalization on the Agricultural Sectors of East and Central African Countries. Ibadan, Nigeria: Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa, 2003. Print. Wall, Diana Z, Diana Z. Wall, and Diana Z. Wall. "Poverty in Depth: a New Dialogue." International Journal of Historical Archaeology.15.4 (2011): 629-636. Print. Read More