Though the immediate consequences of poverty in America may not be as severe as in other parts of the world, poverty in America still has a negative effect on millions and poses an extremely serious issue for legislators, administrators and other concerned Americans. There’s little in the way of unanimity when it comes to figuring out the causes of poverty. Some believe that poverty is caused by poor individual choices and governmental stifling of creativity and innovation. This view is demonstrated in Robert Rector’s testimony to the U.S. Senate in 2008. According to this perspective, unemployment is keyed to government intervention in the private market; poverty is caused by substandard public educational programs and welfare programs that provide the impoverished an incentive not to seek employment (Rector).
This could partially explain the low performance of African American students when compared to Caucasians. It is difficult to decipher whether this is a social economic issue or a race issue. Based on the data, it is my opinion that it is a social economic issue and not one of race. I have drawn this conclusion because people living in poverty often achieve lower test scores regardless of the color of their
Examine the view that poverty is beneficial to society Poverty is the social and economic state of either living below a particular standard or average. It can be defined in two ways, the first being absolute poverty which is the inability to afford the five basic essentials that are warmth, clothing, food, shelter and water. A positive for this definition of poverty is that it allows us to make comparisons with other cultures. On the other a hand a negative for this definition of poverty is that many people would feel that a lack of any of these essentials is destitution not poverty. The second way poverty can be defined is as relative poverty which is the inability to afford the average standard of living for a particular society.
General Strain Theory is considered to be a social structure theory which looks at the formal and informal economic and social arrangements (or structure) of society as the root causes of crime and deviance (Schmalleger, 2012, p.151). So a person who has a poor family structure or live in a low class neighborhood are more likely to create strain that leads to frustration and disorganization that can lead to crime. When society places emphasis on wealth and status and everyone cannot attain the same type of achievement then the social structure places limits on the individuals who do not have the resources to achieve this goals so the individual thinks of new ways to obtaining wealth. This paper will give a brief history of Strain Theory and General Strain; also I will discuss why some people commit crimes and the types of crimes that are committed by children, males and females and how it correlates to the General Strain Theory. History of the Strain Theory Strain Theory was first introduced by Robert Merton and Emile Durkheim.
| Poverty | Economic Factor | Poverty is an Economic Factor because without the money to pay for good education or extra support the child may not do very well academically it has been proven that children who live in poverty do not perform as well as more affluent children. | Housing and Community | Economic Factor | Housing is an Economic Factor and can have an impact on the safety of the children brought up in the area. If they live in a poor area and live in bad conditions this will have a detrimental effect on the child. | Educational Environment | Economic Factor | The Educational environment is an Economic Factor. Affluent children may go to private school and perform really well.
Using material from item A and elsewhere, assess different Marxist views of the relationship between crime and social class. (21) The traditional Marxists believe that the main cause of crime is the capitalist society. They believe that crime is inevitable because capitalism is criminogenic, by it’s very nature it causes crime. David Gordon argues that crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and hence it is found in all social classes, even thought the statistics make it seem to be a largely working class phenomenon,. Poverty may mean that crime is the only way that the working class can survive, as crime may e the only way that they can obtain the consumer goods encouraged by the capitalist advertising, resulting in utilitarian crimes such as theft.
• The overall number of children in families has decreased from 1996 to 2011. • There are a higher percentage of children living in ‘couple families’, approximately two-thirds of the total number of children. This is true for both 1996 and 2011. • The percentage of families with no adults in work has decreased between 1996 and 2011. • In 2011, the percentage of lone parent family children is higher than in 1996, and the percentage of ‘couple families’ children is lower than in 1996.
Crime provides jobs, acts as a deterrent for conforming citizens and puts behavior into perspective. He believes that without crime somewhat trivial offense could be blown out of proportion. Durkheim also states that too much or too little crime is dysfunctional for society. Too much and society breaks down into a state of anomie, whereby society is in a state of normlessness and an absence of norms and values occurs; too little crime and society stagnates and cannot evolve. Functionalists also believes that crime can create unity for those within society, a crime is committed and people unite and feel protected because they share the same view on it's awfulness; however one could criticsise this and say although it may create 'unity' the
The recent economic slump in the United States could also be a reason for lower arrest numbers. During these rough economic times where jobs are scarce, not only for illegals but for legal citizens as well, it is possible that fewer illegal immigrants are trying to cross the border. In these trying times, the grass isn’t always greener on the other
Set A: What is the significance of the series title Unnatural Causes? People don’t often see the correlation between racism, poverty, and inequality when these types of things greatly impact the income of many lives. It has been researched that poverty is one of the most consistent predictors of depression because it creates stress while attack other sources of social support. Many ethnic minority groups are trapped in poverty due to racism. It exists in ways such as employment and education.