Briana Simms

SOC-220

July 5, 2020

Anthony Brown

Social Problem

Poverty is a social problem that is happening around the world and has been going on for

centuries. Poverty is not having enough money to provide food for their families, and not being

able to afford clothing, and shelter. According to the World Bank in 2013 an estimated 769

million people were living on $1.90 per day or less (Finley, L. 2018). Personally, I believe that

poverty is still existing due to the inequality of market income. If income was equally distributed

everyone’s income would have grown while the poverty rates decreased. For us to decrease

poverty globally we would need to reevaluate the market income. We would need to increase

wages for those who are in the middle class and at the bottom.

Poverty is a silent killer, those who are living in poverty lack resources and the access to

clean drinking water and sanitation leading to diseases and malnutrition. Although poverty

means not having access to basic needs it also means that those who are living in poverty

experience the lack of opportunity. Opportunities that would help them escape poverty and to

increase their standard of living and acquire resources. Poverty can be seen in two different

sociological approaches which are structural-functionalist and conflict-theory approach.

Structural-functionalist approach is a sociological approach stating that poverty contributes to

society by ensuring those who are the best are at the top of the food chain and those who are not

are at the bottom. The conflict theory approach states that stratification is harmful to society but

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benefits the rich and powerful. This theory is created by people who are trying to gain access to

resources that are limited, and it is a competition between the rich and the poor.

In our society today there is a constant battel between the rich and the poor with the rich

being at the top of the food chain. However, we have witnessed a pandemic in todays society

from COVID-19 that has caused a massive economic shock due to business being shut down.

Unfortunately, this pandemic has caused many small families owned business to shut down

indefinitely and has cause that family to fall into poverty because their business was their source

of income. Although the president of the United States issued a stimulus check for everyone who

filed taxes in 2019 it was still not enough money to keep these business and families afloat.

Weather they were laid off or contracted the corona virus that resulted in that person being

quarantined for two weeks or more until they have fully recovered most of the time without

being paid. According to a study conducted by Martin, A., Markhvida, M., Jallegatte, S., &

Walsh, B. (2020), they assumed that if a shelter was in place for three months the poverty rate

would temporarily increase for 17 to 25%. This would have a great affect on those who are

receiving the lowest of income but if we were to implement unemployment and CARES act then

the poverty rate would be close to zero.

Another way we could decrease poverty in the united states would be a change to the

school system and the resources available for those in need. For example, children who are living

in poverty are more likely to follow in their parents’ footsteps and fail in school. If we are able to

change the education system by making all resources and after school programs, sports and

access to the cafeteria available to all students, no matter their social status. This would give the

children a better chance of having a successful future instead of following in their parents’

footsteps and this would also give then children something to look forward to, so they do not

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drop out of school. While also changing the education system we should also have more shelters

available and programs to help teach the adults how to survive in society and steps they can take

to obtain a job and how to keep one.

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 References

Martin, A., Markhvida, M., Hallegatte, S., & Walsh, B. (2020). Socio-Economic Impacts of

COVID-19 on Household Consumption and Poverty.

Finley, L. (2018). Poverty. Salem Press Encyclopedia.

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