Poverty and Income Inequality (Essay Sample)

Poverty and Income Inequality Name of The Student Name of The Instructor University Affiliation Course Name Course Code Date I decided to focus my capstone project on the topic of income disparity and poverty. To make matters worse, poverty is a major issue in the United States, and there may be a correlation between it and the widening gap in incomes. Every advanced civilization has to deal with this issue, and it goes without saying that society consistently ignores it. In no way is it accurate. The wealthy's callous disregard for poverty and inequality is a factor we must contend with. "Means of aiding the disadvantaged typically undergo changes that are culturally synchronous. Social welfare policy often reflects public opinion on how to deal with poverty. The ways in which negative attitudes about the poor are reflected in social policy and U.S. culture might be illuminated by doing a brief analysis of the nation's discourse on poverty. "(Frank, J., & Rice, K., 2017) This raises the question, why is this occurring? This is happening because of the hereditary nature of wealth and privilege. All of us don't have the same starting material when we arrive on Earth. If we achieved this, everyone would have a level playing field in terms of their potential for success. For selfish reasons, the well-off would rather this not occur. For this reason, inequality and poverty will always be a part of our society so long as wealth is passed down from generation to generation and greed remains a social norm. Then, I'd want to think about what we can do as a society to ensure that these strategies really work to reduce poverty in the United States. What I'd want to do next is investigate the relationship between low incomes and homelessness. Both sociological and anthropological perspectives contribute to the field's understanding of homelessness. In the first, those who are homeless are blamed for things like changes in welfare and taxes, shifts in urban planning and housing policy, joblessness, and social movements like gentrification (De Venanzi, 2008).  Thesis Statement: Better understanding of poverty and income inequality is essential if we are to make progress in reducing these problems in the United States. To ensure that everyone has a fair shot at success, we need to strengthen government policies that might have a major impact on low-income communities. We must not let the wealthy's avarice have any more negative effects on our culture. Finally, we must work to increase the availability of solid employment opportunities for those in need and for the economy as a whole. When I initially began thinking about this issue, I wanted to know how and why it had come to be. The American social order immediately sprung to mind. The African-American population would function as a part of that social order. Poverty results from a society that fails to provide all of its members with the same opportunities and treats them equally regardless of their individual qualities. And research shows that African-Americans have a more difficult time finding employment than whites do. People often avoid going to the "Ghetto" because of its association with African Americans living in poverty and a high crime rate. Would you believe me if I said this was planned in the early 1900s to prevent African Americans from having access to safe and affordable housing? From 1910 to 1960, "whites battled violently and consistently to keep African Americans from residing in adequate houses in racially integrated areas," as stated by Louis Woods. African Americans were banned from white areas in Baltimore for the first time in 1910. (Woods, 2018). Simply put, they unwittingly established a cultural norm that is still a problem today. Black people make up the vast majority of the population in these areas of the United States. Because resources aren't distributed uniformly, schools in affluent areas benefit from superior personnel and facilities while those in disadvantaged communities are left to make do with less resources. The black community is falling apart solely because of this. A rise in violence in areas where residents face discrimination in housing and employment has been linked to a "survival of the fittest" mentality. This explains why black people make up a disproportionate share of the jail population and why the crime rate in these areas consistently rises. We all know that poverty in the United States stems from a lack of access to basic necessities like clean drinking water, adequate housing, and nutritious food. Indeed, it can be found in almost every nation and shows no signs of going away. The United States is the wealthiest country in the world relative to others, making it all the more perplexing that millions of its citizens are impoverished. The poverty rate increased from 12.5% in 2003 to 12.7% in 2013, making it almost twice as high as the national average. As of 2004, about one-quarter of the nation's 9.4 million African-Americans were living in poverty. More than 1.5 million Black individuals (the entire population of Phoenix, Arizona) have fallen into poverty since 2000, contributing to that overall number. "(Spriggs, 2006) It's shocking that most Americans don't understand how serious poverty really is. Consider the value of learning. Naturally, the youngster who attends a more prestigious school will have a better economic future. African-American and Hispanic students have graduation rates almost 20% lower than the national average, and their poverty rates are higher than those of all other ethnic groups combined. Now consider the links between poverty and criminality. There are numerous moving parts to consider in this scenario. Such is the number of people living in an area, the unemployment rate, the drug problem, and the number of high school students who choose not to graduate. Though it's hard to put a number on it, it's a well-known fact that crime rates rise in tandem with poverty levels in a given community. While I agree that poverty and inequality may never be eliminated entirely, I do believe that progress can be made in this area. As one such method, raising the minimum wage might help. "The typical salary for a U.S. job is currently roughly $35,000 per year (assuming you hold it full time and all year), which is only slightly higher than what it was in 1973. One-fourth of all employment in the United States pay less than $23,000 per year, which is below the federal poverty threshold for a family of four. Many millions of people can't seem to get out of this rut. Opportunities for advancement are quite limited. Eldeman, J. One of the primary reasons for the growing gap between minimum wage earners and those in the middle class is that the minimum pay has been steadily losing purchasing power. But I think a higher minimum wage and greater annual income for families would be good for the economy and the employment market. One alternative is to boost hiring. Typically, policymakers in the United States will emphasize the need of expanding the country's employment opportunities. Every president seems to get credit for creating an astronomical amount of new employment while in office. On the other hand, it never felt like a top focus throughout your tenure. In the USA, there is a great deal of work that needs to be done. Many of these endeavors, however, are doomed to fail at ever turning a profit. Now, if the government really intervened and spent money on, say, infrastructure, switching to sustainable energy sources, constructing public transportation, or investing in child care, elder care, and schools, this might greatly aid our effort to reduce poverty. Investing in the construction of affordable housing has the potential to not only provide revenue and employment opportunities but also reduce housing expenses for residents. Keeping the social safety net in place is still another option. We can better safeguard kids and increase family income by bolstering programs like SNAP (food stamps), EITC (earned income tax credit), UI (unemployment insurance), and cash assistance, as well as introducing new ones like GI and child allowances. Millions of kids, especially girls, and seniors might be kept out of poverty by these government programs. At long last, the age of mass imprisonment is over. One-fourth of the world's convicts are housed in the United States. The disproportionate policing of young black and brown males has caused devastation on Latinx and African-American households by eliminating breadwinners. There's also the problem that many businesses are unwilling or frightened to recruit people who have convictions on their records. A parolee's access to resources including housing, education, and credit is severely limited. Going to jail is a certain way to wind yourself on the dole. The issue of mass imprisonment in the United States is significant, yet it is mostly hidden from public view. The impacts of mass imprisonment, including prisons built in rural locations to save money and give employment opportunities, are seldom discussed in political or social discourse. Between 1925 to around 1980, the imprisonment rate in the United States remained at or near 100 per 100,000. Around 1980, the imprisonment rate skyrocketed for the following 30 years, until leveling out after the year 2000. (Tamin, 2018) The same may be said regarding the issue of homelessness in the United States: "In the past decade, localities have increasingly moved toward establishing and executing laws that expressly criminalize homelessness in response to their concern about the use of public space. Instead of addressing the root causes of homelessness, cities implement and strictly enforce these criminal laws so that homeless individuals are hidden from view. Since 1991, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty has been publishing studies documenting this trend toward prosecution. (Brown, 1999) T...