Poverty in the US
What is poverty?

US gov’t defines it as the lack of minimum
food and shelter necessary for
maintaining life- absolute poverty
◦ Then decides what income is needed to
sustain that minimum standard of living
 Multiplies the cost of food by 3 (average American
spends 1/3 of it’s income on food)
 $23,492 for a family of 4
 $11,720
 16.1% of the population
How else can we determine
poverty?

Define it in terms of how people live
relative to the majority of the population
◦ Relative definition
◦ According to this those who earn less than
1/2 of the nation’s median income are poor bc
they lack what is considered to be needed by
most people to live a decent life
Feminization of poverty

Poverty affects women more than men
◦ Most are single mothers or head of the families


The US has the largest gender gap in poverty
US women are more likely that their foreign
counterparts to be both unemployed and head of
families with children
◦ Single mothers make up the largest proportion of the poor
adult population

Why??
◦
◦
◦
◦
Increased divorce rate
Decrease in fathers paying child support
Reduction in govt support for welfare
Women live longer than men
Blame the Poor Theory

Assume that there are plenty of opportunities
for making it in the US
◦ The poor failed to grab the opportunities by not
working hard
The poor have accepted being poor and see no
way out
 Developed a culture of poverty-debilitating
values and attitudes

◦ Passed from one generation to another
◦ Discourages the poor from working hard, which in
turn keeps them poor
Holes in this theory

Poor people are not necessarily averse to
working hard
◦ If given the opportunity they would work hard
Problem is: even if given the opportunity and
work, they are still likely to be poor bc of
changes in the economy and welfare policy
 The working poor account for 1/2 of the those
who fall below the poverty line

Sociological Theory
According to functionalist theory, society create
and maintains poverty bc benefits can be
derived from it
 Poverty performs some positive functions for
society

◦ Make it possible for society’s dirty work to be done
◦ Poor people make it easier for the affluent to pursue
their business and professional careers
◦ Poverty creates jobs for social workers and other
professionals who serve the poor
Holes in this theory

Cant explain how society creates poverty
in the first place
◦ Conflict theory explains that the unequal
distribution of opportunities is the reason
Who are the Homeless?
Among the extremely poor
 Sleep in streets, parks, shelters and places not
intended for dwelling
 According to Peter Rossi’s study of the Chicago
homeless, most are:

◦
◦
◦
◦

African-American men in their thirties
Average education level
Never been married
Held their last steady job 4 years earlier
Other studies show that many are families with
children, alcohol and drug abusers, and the mentally ill
The “new” homeless
More than 40 years ago, most of the
homeless were old men
 Today the homeless are younger and
include more women and families with
young children
 Today’s homeless are more visible to the
public

Causes of homelessness
Increased shortage of inexpensive housing
for poor families bc of diminishing gov’t
subsidy
 Decreasing demand for unskilled labor

◦ Extremely high unemployment rate

Erosion of public welfare benefits
Welfare

Most of the poor are NOT on welfare
◦ Only about 1/3 of the poor
Majority of recipients are single mothers
and their children
 Major push for welfare reform in the 90s

Beliefs about welfare

Most people think the gov’t should reduce
spending on welfare
◦ Attacking the single mothers not the children on
welfare

People believe that welfare encourages
dependency and wont ever leave
◦ Most people believe welfare recipients should be
required to work

Most recipients (about 70%) stay on welfare for
less than 2 years
Welfare reform

1996 a law was passed to end welfare
dependency in the US
◦ Head of every family on welfare must work
and benefits are limited to a total of 5 years
throughout a person’s lifetime