Structural Functionalism Poverty

a. Social problems result from the ways in which society operates: connect this to the 3 sociological theories on how society is viewed to “operate”.

There are many different opinions on what causes poverty. For instance, according to the structural functionalist perspective, poverty is caused by institutional breakdown. Examples of this are economic institutions that don’t provide enough jobs or pay, education institutions that don’t provide the members of society with enough education and skills to find good employment, family institutions, and government institution that fail to offer enough support. According to the conflict perspective, poverty results from the power of the Bourgeoisie (the employer) over the proletariat (the worker).
The more wealth and power the bourgeoisie has, the more control they have. Another perspective is the symbolic interactionist perspective, which views poverty as resulting from the way that “the poor” are labeled. According to this view, a big part of the reason that “the poor” are “the poor” is because of the stigma attached to the title because of how society thinks of them, causing a decrease in their ability to ever rise above that status.

b. Social problems are not caused by bad people. So, who does cause your social problem? Back this up with stats/studies not your opinion.

People who live in poverty are not bad people.
They are not irresponsible, lazy, or personally lacking as other people like to label “the poor” (as previously stated in the Symbolic Interactionist approach). Many people believe because of these labels “the poor” are undeserving of help, which has made welfare into a bad thing, aid that the beneficiary should be ashamed of recieving. One of the most common views of “the poor” is that they are jobless, unwilling, or unable to work. Contrary to that belief, the poor people in the United States are mainly teenagers and adults considered to be working poor, which are individuals who work or are looking for work at least 27 weeks per year. Other causes of poverty are the lack of jobs, lack of higher education, female-dominated occupations, discrimination, and the region in which someone
lives.

c. Social problems are socially constructed as people define a condition as harmful and in need of change. How is your problem “socially constructed”?
Some people see poverty as a result of society’s different abilities and levels of work ethic, which separates people in to class or groups, inevitably creating poverty.
Another source of poverty are the individuals stuck in a low income job. This is because of the lack of available jobs out there, in the end leading to those individuals being forced to rely on benefits in order to scrape by. However one looks at it, poverty is a major problem. In 2012 15 percent of the U.S. population, or 46.5 million Americans, lived below the poverty line. More than half of Americans between the ages of 20 and 75 will spend at least on year in poverty.

d. People see problems differently. Survey on your own or find stats on it. Who sees the problem differently? Men, women, older people, teens, politics?

e. Definitions of problems change over time. Find research on your problem of comparison of it in the past and now. For example how was the family depicted on TV 50 years ago compared to today?

For centuries, poverty was seen as inevitable. 84% of the earth’s population was estimated to live in complete poverty in the 1820s. One of the main reasons poverty was thought to be necessary was the abundance of cheap labor it created (back to the bourgeoisie and the proletariat). It was thought to keep the economic system balanced. These view started to change in the late 18th
century

f. Problems involve subjective values, as well as objective facts. Find what people “think” about your topic not just measured facts. You could again survey local people here on this. Get a good sample/mixed sample.

g. Many but not all social problems can be solved. Can yours be solved? How? Back it up with research not just your opinion. What is being done about the problem now?
Everyone who works hard deserves a chance at opportunity, right? 50 years ago, President Johnson declared the War on Poverty, which was meant to help every American fulfil their hopes and dreams of financial stability. America has done many things to help get our citizens out of poverty. Some of these efforts include Social Security, Medicare, and the earned income tax credit. There are still many things that we could do to reduce poverty. More jobs need to be created, along with higher wages and benefits for workers. More people need help achieving a higher education and better health care. Some people need help to better themselves. They need affordable tools to help them increase the productivity, improve their health, and expand their knowledge and skills.
h. Various social problems are related. Show a connection of your problem to at least two others and explain how they are related. Back it up with research.
Poverty connects to many other problems. Some of the main ones are violence, crime, family problems, health problems, education