Destitution in America - Essay Example

Poverty in America al Affiliation Introduction The social problem chosen for research is poverty in America. Poverty is mainly associated with underdeveloped or developing economies. Poverty level in the United States lacks serious attention since most of the people are above poverty line and can access the three basic needs. Poverty is not a common problem in the United States due to the perspective that America is a developed country and such cases are minor. This social problem has proper indicators so that its research can enlighten the public on high levels of poverty in America. This research serves in helping various individuals in interacting with victims of poverty cases. Poverty has a description as the failure of an individual to save more than $2 on a daily basis. This contributes to the failure by a person to access basic three basic needs (Shaefer, 2012). This essay will discuss poverty as a social problem in the United States of America by analyzing the causes as well poverty prevalence across America. The essay introduces poverty as a social problem affecting the American society. The Main part of the essay comprises the factors that cause poverty in America and a deep study of poverty. The paper analysis how the conflict and functionalism social theories can be of application to describe poverty issues in America. This research paper further provides solutions to the poverty problem in America. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of the preferred solution to the prevalence of poverty in America in this paper are points to note. The paper has a brief summary conclusion of the study of poverty in America and the sources used in the research follows at the end (Shaefer, 2012). The major research questions arising from this social problem are; what are the causes of poverty in United States and what are the possible solutions to poverty cases in America? What are the characteristics of poverty and does it affect the American people? Social Problem There are several challenges facing the United States currently and one of main social problem is poverty. The United States’ government describes poverty as the failure of the family to save $2 per head daily. America is currently in recovery from a recession that affected the country’s economy between 2009 and 2012. Recession led to massive unemployment among the American people, therefore, increasing the levels of poverty in the United States. Regardless of the fact that the recession has led to growing in a number of poor in the United States, poverty cases in the country can have a follow up to the time before the occurrence of recession (Appelbaum, 2012). To be poor in a developed country like the United States suggests that one keep depending on the state help that is limited and cannot provide for the needs. The state is currently facing unending debt cases and increase in poverty levels suggests that the state aid soon be out of the system. This makes poverty the most challenging social problem facing the United States’ government. High levels of suggests a rise in crime levels and drug addiction in the society (Weiner, 2012). Analysis of Poverty in America United States population is approximately two hundred million people with the exemption of temporary residents. The government announced that 20% of the American people are at poverty levels. The state argued that the high poverty level in the country is a reflection by an increase in citizens applying for state help. This percentage represents almost forty million Americans affected by poverty. Poverty has distribution among children below eighteen years and adults above sixty years. In 2002, thirty-six million Americans face the adverse poverty effects (Gould-Werth, 2012).It was, however, evident that thirteen million of the affected were children below eighteen years and four million were adults above sixty years. The remaining percentage was comprised of adults between 18 and 60 years old. The affected people mainly comprise of windows, widowers, school going children and the unemployed. There is, however, a small percentage of part-time employed individuals affected by poverty menace. Majority of the affected claim that their wages are not enough to provide for most of the basic family needs. They mainly blame recession that resulted in their current partial employment or unemployed status. This clearly eliminates laziness as the major cause of poverty in America (Gould-Werth, 2012). There are several reasons why forty million people in America, which includes changes in technology, globalization, wealth inequality and education. Technological advancement led to the development of automated machines that rendered majority of the unspecialized people jobless. The machines developed performed most of the tasks done by the employees and only needed few specialized individuals. Advancement of mass communication technology has exposed the poverty among American. The current advancement in technology requires specialized labor, which contradicts the main education offered in the United States (Appelbaum, 2012). There is a scarcity of specialized labor to run the large number of automated industries. This is because most Americans prefer business management courses whose market is highly crowded when compared to the technical fields. There is a high level of wealth inequality in the United States. The America wealthy population makes only 2% of the people. This corresponds to a minimal number in comparison to the 40% people affected by poverty. The inequality in wealth distribution tends to increase living standards that result to the failure by majority of Americans to provide decent lifestyles (Weiner, 2012). Conflict theory Poverty as a social problem in the United States has analysis by using the conflict social perspective theorem. Conflict in wealth distribution, in the United States, has the reflection in the situation where the rich Americans remain rich and the poor remain poor. Poor wealth distribution in the United States is the main cause of the poverty level increased. The view of conflicting theory has perception where the rich contributes in raising the living standards making it hard middle level and poor Americans to provide decent lives. The wealthy individuals earn more and keep it in their pockets and savings, therefore, it is not used for economic purposes that would eventually increase the lifestyles of the poor though indirectly (Appelbaum, 2012). Functionalism theory Functionalism social theory is commonly the lack of adequate training and unemployment as the major causes of poverty in America. Inadequacy training leads to lack of different skills that are highly needed in the modern American society. Lack of individual skills eliminates the individuals from the job market, which is currently focusing on specialist. Lack of special skills renders one to jobs that requires the unspecialized labor and accompanies poor wages. The poor wages are not enough to take care of most of needs that contribute to decent lifestyles. Undervaluing of the people with unspecialized skills makes them access fewer resources while the specialized individuals like lawyers, engineers and doctors access more resources in the society (Blank, 2007). Solutions Poverty in America can face eradication through various means, which include equitable distribution of resources, proper training, and Immigration regulations. Advancement in technology is one of the factors causing poverty in America. This factor can, however, be eliminated by ensuring there is availability of specialized labor among majority of the Americans. Adequate training ensures that loss of jobs because of lack of specialization that suits the job market is highly reduced. Educating the society in accordance with technological advancement ensures the individuals are able to access more resources in the government by acquiring well paying jobs. This will also ensure equitability in wealth distribution among majority of the Americans (Gould-Werth, 2012). The demerits of the above solution are that education is very expensive and majority of the poor families and individuals cannot access specialized skills, as they cannot afford. The advantage of educating the society is that the individuals can access specialized jobs, which are hand in hand with sufficient wages (Shaefer, 2012). Conclusion Poverty in America is the most challenging social problem facing the Americans presently. The rise in poverty levels is because of unemployment brought about by recession and technological advancement. Poverty levels can, however, reduction through educating the society and ensuring equitable distribution of wealth is mandatory. References Appelbaum, B. G. (2012). Even Critics of safety Net Increasing Depend on it. The New York Times , 2-3. Blank, R. (2007). Improving the Safety net for single motehrs who face serious barriers to work. The Future Children , 183-197. Gould-Werth, A. S. (2012). Unemployment Insurance participation by education and race by ethnicity. Mothly labor Review , 367-400. Shaefer, H. (2012). Identifying key barriers to Unemployment Insurance for Disadvantaged workers nin United States . Journal of social policy , 439-460. wEINER, r. (2012). Romney, citing safety net, says hes not concerned about the very poor . Washionton Post , 2. Read More