Uncovering Poverty in America: A Comprehensive Analysis

Introduction 

In work 'Poverty in America Essay' we will research the problem of poverty from the economical, political and social sides.

Poverty in the World’s Wealthiest Country

America’s stratification system is based on social classes. Everyone is born into a social class whether it is denied or not. The cultural setting from which an individual comes from will also have an impact on how their life will be led. These social and cultural values include family, community, religion, attitudes, and many other factors. How individuals in society interact to certain cultural values can vary and is incalculable. Being raised in the same cultural surroundings usually brings about similar response patterns between other individuals also raised similarly, which can become so set in the individual's perspective, and collectively amongst many that one can go about their practices and beliefs unconsciously regardless of whether they mean it to be intentional or not. A single culture can have values that dominate an entire region and can be so influential that those values are correct compared to other cultural values that they will be promoted by the community and government. Subcultures that are formed and have created their own influences, can still cause movement between social classes to be stagnate by circumstances. Most people will live and die in the social class one was born into. If they were born poor chances are, they will die poor. A way society can help people climb the social ladder is to begin new enterprises and improve educational opportunities or technological advancements that are accessible to all. When this happens, the need for workers in higher-class jobs motivates and enables people from lower classes to move up in a social ladder and obtain those jobs, which can higher their chances to escape poverty. This is much easier said, the belief that we are all created equal and given the same opportunity is incorrect. When the United States Constitution was created, by our ‘founding fathers’, Black people weren’t even considered to be fully human. The link between poverty and race is prevalent. Understanding how to reduce the wealth gap in America starts with minorities and what society can do to uplift these communities, offering more educational opportunities and raising their life chances. What can society do to combat poverty and help lift those without the means as those who are more privileged and why are the absolute poverty levels in the United States worse when compared to other countries?

What Constitutes Poverty?

Poverty broken down to simple terms is not having the income to provide the resources or access needed for a decent standard of living. Now breaking down poverty into two categories would be Relative poverty and Absolute poverty. Relative poverty measures, poverty to contemporary mainstream living standards. Half of the median family income. Relative poverty is everywhere across the globe and depends on the country’s economic growth. People living in relative poverty are not in absolute poverty, they have some money but still can’t enjoy the standard of living, items such as television, internet access, clean clothes, and education. Relative poverty is measured to each household, which is bound to change. Absolute poverty makes it impossible for a family or person to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, clean water, healthcare, education, etc. The absolute state of poverty compares households on a set income level. Whether the country is in good economic standing or not, it is not changeable. The Federal Poverty Level (FPL) states that poverty for a family of four is $25,100. The FDL is used to determine an individual’s eligibility for certain programs or benefits, such as: health insurance, Medicaid, food stamps, or any public assistance. Government aid has its stigmas that poor people are lazy and don’t want to work, it’s the individual’s fault that they are poor, they are stealing from taxpayers, etc. But the real case is that only a few percent of people cheat the system. Those who are on welfare do work, and if they start earning too much income, they will receive a reduced government aid check, leaving them back where they started, struggling to put food on the table. Those who become welfare dependent and unemployed for long periods of time are defined as the underclass.

Racial Inequality and Its Link to Poverty

A staggering number of Americans currently live below the poverty level today. So as to solve the problem of the nation’s poor, we must first understand who and where the poor are. The total number of poor people in America today is 46.5 million. Some minorities would argue that there is an undeniable racial caste system in America today. People of color, African Americans specifically, have faced discrimination and the full force of racial inequality since the day they were brought over to America on ships in shackles. W.E.B Dubois predicted in 1903 that the 20th century’s biggest issue would be the “problem of the color line,” which we are now in the 21st century and race is our biggest dilemma. Black people having this second-class status to whites in America is still very alive as it was when segregation ended in the 1960s. That’s roughly 58 years ago. There are many people alive today who firsthand experienced segregation on both ends of the spectrum, this second-class view of Black people is still embedded in those who were raised during that period. Passing their prejudice and racist views to their children and grandchildren. There’s no coincidence that racially discriminated against people are still dealing with the repercussions of slavery and the Jim Crow era. One of the popular stereotypes is labeling minorities as the poor, there are much more white poor than black or Hispanic poor, due to whites being the majority in the U.S. Although black being the minority, compared to whites, blacks are twice as likely to be poor than whites are to be poor.

Life Chances

The American Dream is built upon the idea that upward mobility is based solely on hard work, regardless of the intersectionality of an individual’s circumstances. But, embedded in the American Dream are assumptions about how society is structured to offer everyone a fair and equal chance. If black and white children start with the same circumstances, the American Dream leads us to expect they will have the same chances of success or failure - if both of those children grow up wealthy, they have the same chances of being wealthy as adults, if they grow up poor, they still have the same chances of becoming rich. What are the chances for the black son, and the white son to lead equally prosperous lives? Slim to none. Downward intergenerational mobility, is more common than upward mobility amongst black Americans. The life chances of a black boy compared to his white counterpart are astounding, and the life chances of a black girl compared to a black boy are more shocking. One could run the numbers all day long, but if you don’t account on the intersectionality of situations, those numbers lie to not be accurate. Black children are much more likely to be raised in a single-parent household, which affects the family structure, then affects that child’s chances of success throughout their life. Economic disadvantages amongst black Americans, are the cause of the stagnation and lack thereof their social mobility and life chances. Due to the wealth being unequally distributed and the wealth gap continuously growing between blacks and whites, their financial insecurities will continuously grow as well.

Class and Income Segregation

There is no doubt of the connection between income inequality and income segregation. Income segregation consists of the poor and rich in separate neighborhoods. Those with higher incomes seek to find communities that offer better schools and safer surroundings, those of lower incomes are less likely to be provided with the same resources thus lacking access to equal opportunities. Those who grow up in poverty are likely to attend low-quality schools that don’t offer the same economic resources as higher quality, well-resourced schools, which have a technological advantage and aren’t exposed to violence as the lower income areas. It is no coincidence that certain neighborhoods are structured how they are. For example, comparing inner city schools to suburban neighborhoods: suburban neighborhoods have their schools, elementary, middle, and high schools, surrounded by the house of those who attend those schools, blocking out any “outsiders” that want to attend those schools for a better opportunity but can’t due to districting laws. One’s life chances begin from the day he or she is born and where they receive an education and what opportunities are there for them starting with their neighborhood schools. “While not every American will go to college, all American children should be given fair opportunities to be prepared for college”. This quote is something that everyone should believe in wholeheartedly, but are they willing to look deeper into what is causing and affecting these unequal opportunities.

Gentrification

Gentrification is a term used when a lower-income neighborhood is becoming renovated or improved to conform to the middle class's taste. Only when a wave of rich white people move to the inner cities, will a low-income neighborhood receives the resources and help it has needed. Although the word gentrification has a negative connotation attached to it, it isn’t as bad for the community as one might think and doesn’t occur as often either. Displacement amongst those living in the area that is being gentrified is exceedingly rare. Residents of low incomes that were being gentrified were less likely to move than low-income residents of neighborhoods that weren’t being gentrified. Gentrification in low-income neighborhoods brought an influx of new jobs, due to new bars, restaurants, and other businesses being built. People moving into the lower income area also brought up more diversity among the community.

Conclusion

The contributions and theory to reduce poverty in the United States would be to increase employment, by convincing developers to invest their money in these low-income areas. Having the government step in to open jobs in infrastructure such as fixing old roads and bridges, investing in schools, childcare, and elder care generating more jobs. Making community colleges free, to give more people the opportunity to education to have training requirements to obtain a better job. The second solution would be to raise the federal minimum wage. The cost of living continually raises while minimum wage does not, $7.25/ hour calculates to $15,080 a year which constitutes as one living well below the poverty line while to support a family of four requires $25,100. Third, sustaining government aid programs instead of cutting them and introducing a guaranteed income to protect families from falling under the poverty line. Ending mass incarceration, such as releasing nonviolent offenders on petty charges, who are only serving time because they cannot afford to make bail. Many employers will not hire people with criminal records, despite how minor. Leaving parolees to fend on their own to find housing, earn credit, and to get an education. Investing in child care and head-start learning programs, childcare is expensive, and many parents can’t work because they can’t afford it or work only for most of their paycheck to go to childcare because they can’t find care that is affordable. The next bullet point on the list would be to focus on segregation and concentrated poverty neighborhoods. Structural racism placed a blockade on black and Hispanic children, isolating them from resources in order to be successful in life. Redistributing wealth in these neighborhoods could help end gang violence and give children of color a chance to get ahead. Immigration reform, to give undocumented workers better employment options and minimize the chance of them being exploited by their employers. Immigrants living in fear of being deported when they came to America for a better life aren’t American at all. Lastly ending the poverty tax. People of low income should not be paying extra due to high-interest rates. This gives no one the opportunity to save money and invest in new job training or education. Fundamentally, change lies with those who have the political power and decision-making tools to do so. This is why the topic 'causes of poverty in America essay' is very important and relevant. 

Citations

1. Alston, Jon P. and Melvin J. Knapp. 1974. “Intergenerational Mobility Among Black Americans.” Journal of Black Studies 4(3):285–302.
2. Anon. n.d. “Federal Poverty Level (FPL) - HealthCare.gov Glossary.” HealthCare.gov. Retrieved April 11, 2019 (https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/).
3. Carter, Prudence L. and Kevin Grant Welner. 2013. Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance. New York: Oxford University Press.
4. Ellwood, David T. and Lawrence H. Summers. 1985. Poverty in America: Is Welfare the Answer or the Problem? Cambridge : NBER.
5. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. 2012. “Geographic Segregation: The Role of Income Inequality.” Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Retrieved April 12, 2019
6. Gilbert, Dennis L. 2015. The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
7. Lees, Loretta, Tom Slater, and Elvin Wyly. 2013. Gentrification. Florence: Taylor and Francis.
8. Watson, Tara. 2009. “Inequality and the Measurement of Residential Segregation by Income In American Neighborhoods.”