What is poverty? How is it defined? Who decides on the definition?
Those are among the most basic questions in social work. We'll start with a discussion about these questions. Then we'll move on to a discussion about social welfare.
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Information, discussion and commentary on social work and social welfare policy. Presented as part of assignments for social work courses.
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- Life on $6.75 an hour: When ends don't meet
- Stay in touch with poverty
- Farmworker families remain in poverty
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- Powerful primer on poverty
- What is poverty?
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June
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3 comments:
What is poverty? This is a loaded question and has been and will be debated for sometime. There is the definition that poverty is a family that is living below the federal set income guidelines, and that is based a formula that was set up by the government. Personal I believe that poverty goes farther than that. I believe that the millions of people who are considered to the “working poor” is poverty. I believe the people who are unable to afford healthcare is poverty. I believe that there are certain rights that as a citizen of country a person should have and when a person does not have those things they are living in poverty.
Dawn Soulek
I would say that poverty is when you cannot afford the necessities of everyday living. This would be food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, etc. So basically not having enough money to live and not have to worry if you are going to be able to have food for dinner and a place over your head. As for who defines it, I am not quite sure. I think that everyone has their own definition, but in the end it is probably the government.
The two books we talked about last week, "Working Poor" and Nickel and Dimed," offer a host of insights on the question: "What is poverty?" Both books focus on adults who are working but do not make enough money to make ends meet. Many of the people profiled do not have any health insurance --that's seen as a luxury. So how could this be changed? What policies, starting at the local level, could help?
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