Alexandria Chanel Peckumn

9/19/2016
Sociology 102

Poverty Discussion Questions

1.

The readings culled from many sources both news media and

scholarly/research journals. The main news source used is The New York
Times, as well as The Huffington Post as well as the academic journal Public
Opinion Quarterly. I enjoyed gleaning information on poverty from a variety
of assorted sources as well as differing voices on the matter.

2.

As stated in the academic article Race and Poverty in America both

mass-media as well as the judgements and biased opinions the public holds
is that African-Americans are living impoverished lives. Ones opinions are
both wrought to life and fed by the images and voices we listen to and read,
both biased and fair and truthful media exists, and either form shapes public
conceptions leading to this false sense of experience or perceptions. The
Mass Media feeds a myriad of misconceptions of African-American
stereotypes eg; Black Welfare Queen , Drug dealer in the Projects etc.
The idea that African-Americans siphon off the welfare system is a

prevalent though highly ignorant common bias. The ingrained association in

many people's psyches with below poverty level lives and the lives of Black
Americans is highly thought of as fact.
Americans exponentially overextend the degree of poverty among
African-Americans. Poverty in America is erroneously thought of as a Black
Problem due to overwhelmingly racist stigmas about people of color,
particularly in the United States. These ideas have been culled from
centuries of ignorance and the prevailing attitude that African-American
people are lazy, looking for a handout from the government, or live
impoverished lives of criminality . The archetypal idea of the Black family in
the inner city ghetto living amongst squalor and hunger is also a common
misperception.

3. According to the 1990 US Census Report, the nationwide percentile of

African-Americans livin
g in poverty is somewhere around 29% a fairly moderate number. Data from
Survey Research Center in 1991 shows us that when asked what percentage
of all the poor in the US are black; the overall median response was 50%.
This prevailing view is highly differing from the reality of poverty among
African-American communities.
African-Americans are wrongly assumed to represent poverty at a higher
rate most certainly when contrasted with other racial groups, yet AfricanAmericans are the least shown in the news media of the US, This has much

to do with the skewing of the culture of African-Americans and the

sensationalized slant that media portrays.
I feel this is a near perfect example of the Structural-Functional Approach
theory. The Structural-Functional approach theorizes that problems steam
from deficient people's, leading to dysfunctional outcomes, this theory is
illustrated here. The stigmatized attitude shown by white Americans on
welfare the oft thought-of notion is that African-Americans should be held to
blame for their usage of the welfare system as well as the biased notion that
Black Peoples caused their own situation/s, so why should they be helped? A
large part of this is white Americans attitudes towards welfare and the
negative racial bias many white Americans posses.
Another large facet is the antiquated idea that if you excise enough
resolve and try hard enough America will give you a bounty of opportunity.
This fantasy conception of the US as a veritable land of opportunity, a
cornucopia of easily acquired abundance is simply a pipe-dream, even more
so in the turbulent economic times of the 2010s.
This idea is simply not true and many social, class racial and socioeconomic factors determine financial success and stability in America, many
white people view African-Americans as lazy and all to eager to take an
easier way, in the 1990 General Point Survey 47% of whites categorized
Black people as lazy. These shameful stereotypes are not only hurtful but
inherently harmful to African-American people, reinforcing the
misunderstandings and rampant misconceptions about poverty in the lives of

Black citizens in America.

4.

Age related poverty also holds its own stigmatization and stereotypes.

For example The prevalent bias that if one is of working age (18-55) one is
perfectly able to work hard and support oneself.
Society largely looks much less sympathetically upon working age people,
than it does for the elderly and children. The upheld notion is that children
and the elderly are not blamed for their poverty as they have age-related
reasons and are thus held unaccountable, while the working age person is
simply making the personal choice to not work hard enough to raise
themselves up out of poverty.
An example is an elderly woman receiving welfare and section 8, who has
hardly worked all her life she is looked upon as blameless for her poverty.
She looked at with much sympathy and the resounding opinion is that she
deserves to be alleviated of poverty.Whilst compared with a 20-year-old
African-American man working 2 jobs and trying to raise his child yet living
below poverty level and receiving welfare and food-stamps, He
highly scrutinized , viewed with discrimination and overall oft regarded with
little to no sympathy let alone much empathy.
These age-related stigmas on poverty are inherently harmful, poverty knows
no age, and harboring such ageist stigmas only leads to certain age groups
of the impoverished given higher priority and indeed privilege over others.
Poverty knows no mortal age, and such besmirching only culls further

poverty and misconceptions.

5. Garnering from the variety of informational sources read, There are a

myriad of factors at work connected with certain populations experience
with poverty.
Poverty can stem from a lack of opportunity to get access to education,
in many countries and communities impoverished families must choose
betwixt having their children work and bring money to the home or stay in
school. A large percentage have little choice but to have their children work,
in situations such as this generational poverty flourishes as generations of
family members are left with little to no education perpetuating both the
cycle of poverty and being held down to entry-level and/or low wage jobs.
Poverty is also brought about by class driven factors, being born into a poor
family, having a lack of access to tools and resources along with the inherent
privilege that middle-class living or dealt can bring often traps individuals as
well as families in the mire and miasma of poverty.
Poverty has a truly titanic array for the populations experiencing poverty.
A great many factors are due to acts of fate or acts of God, situations beyond
ones control or power, no human would voluntarily live an impoverished life
if elected the choice, the most common reasons are by and largely due to
lack of opportunity the widening inequality in the United States, as well as
raging classism,racism and negative stigmas associated with the
impoverished. In the United States the current as well as past Socio-

Economic climate is relevant as well, many people living in poverty are

active members of the workforce, yet work minimum-wage jobs barely
making enough to survive let alone thrive and affront the strength to rise up
out of destitution and distress.

6. While there is no current legal nor absolute moral obligation for the
wealthy to give, regardless of obligation giving to those in need is a tenets
of basic human morality.
If one possesses an abundance of worldly resources both financial and/or
physical the only truly humane option is to give to others. In a fair and
virtuous society the amount given would be determined upon the capital of
the person or organization.
It of course would not make much sense for someone making 100,000 a
year to give 700,00 to a charity, yet individuals or corporations with assets in
the millions or hundreds of millions surely could and indeed should give a
larger and generous amount to those in need. Every human being regardless
of birth which one has no say over, the basic right of being provided an equal
chance at a positive healthy life. If one is privileged financially, Graced with
prosperity and abundance than unquestionably giving to those whom are in
destitution and need is an act of empathy and giving for a person with so
much worldly capital to bestow resources, money and life-saving and
enriching projects as well as opportunities to those in need.To greatly
heighten the lives and wellbeing of their fellow-man whom is

lacking food,clean water, shelter healthcare and the tenants one needs to
live a functional life. Giving to those who have little is one of the most
compassionate acts man can execute and the wealthy absolutely be held
accountable to give to those in need.