Homelessness as It Relates to World Poverty, Essay Example

Introduction

Shelter is a basic human need and without it one cannot take care of his or her basic needs and to protect themself from the elements.  Most developed or developing countries have a strong work ethic.  Along with this, is a strong belief in home and family, and a higher standard of living, however, phenomena such as urbanization, family disruptions, discriminations, and mental illness often lead to an opposite polarization such as those not able to maintain the standards of the masses and, therefore, have an increased risk for  poverty and homelessness.  On the other hand, many countries do not have a high standard of living, almost half the world, over 3 billion people, live on less than $3.00 a day.  For these people, engagement within their culture provides them a home.  However, the continuity of ancestral milieu (e.g. village life) can be disrupted by phenomena such as disasters, wars, disease and death of kin (e.g. AIDS), and as this is often the case leads to displacement, which lends itself to the same problem we see in developed countries, people left in the streets and in need of shelter. In both scenarios, vulnerable groups such as those facing displacement, social instability, inequality, and disempowered, are at highest risk.

This discussion addresses how homelessness is connected to poverty internationallyand its similarities among nations in the global society.Also, some dissimilarities will be reviewed. In addition profound discussions regarding causal elements relating historical and cultural factors will be fully explored. Further, explanationsof urbanization and how it influences global poverty will be projected. Ways in which this occurs and who are affected will be highlighted. Inferencesrelating issues using the three global society classifications, developed nations, developing nations and underdeveloped nations will be drawn.

Developed nations are countries with advanced economic structures and technology. Examples of developed nations are United States; Canada; United Kingdom and China. Developing nations are countries experiencing transitions towards development. The economies are less advanced and technological progress is evolving. Some developing countries are Caribbean islands and nations in the Middle East. Undeveloped nations are those countries, which experience extreme dimensions of poverty due to poor resource manipulation. Countries earning this classification are Botswana; Sub-Sahara Africa and LatinAmerica.

The  word homelessness is used in modern world culture to describe people who have noregular dwelling place called home. Globally, it affects people of all ages and social status.  Homelessness is related to degrees of poverty existing in the both modern and ancient societies. Precisely, current analyses of homelessness and global poverty reveal that this phenomenon has reached global epidemic proportions. Historically, homelessnessas a word was not used during prehistoric and early world history to describe people who did not have a regular dwelling.They were described as nomads.  Ancient history reveals that the culture of creating personal dwellings by erecting huts housing family members was dominant among native people because they were not exposed to civilizations enjoyed by nations classified developed.

True!  From the cultural and historical perspective these were not sophisticated edifices as seen in contemporary societies. They were constructed using primitive materials such a dirt and branches from trees. Insidiously, this architecturecan be associated with poverty from the perspective that people in these societies functioned at the level of their intelligence at the time.

Global poverty describes situations across the world where there is scarcity of resources. As it pertains to this discussion it is scarcity of the means to provide adequate shelter. However, when the concept is linked to undeveloped primitive communities global poverty impacts homelessness from the perspective of imperialist mechanisms, which force underdeveloped nations into a structure of poverty through trade relationships and protocols. The sameprinciples are utilized to keep underdeveloped countries at the financial mercy of developed nations. This is the major similarity related to causal factors linking global poverty to homelessness among underdeveloped and developing countries.

Essentially, history reveals that a uniquely constructed mud hut was a sign of wealth, especially, if the building contained facilitiesand was designed with built in furniture. In modern societies these arenow preserved as antiques/ artifacts. Consequently, in linking global poverty, history and culture of homelessness to the evolution of society it is clear that modern civilization had its influence. For example, societies became organized into rural and urban communities. From urban communities emerged the concept of urbanization.

Sociologically, the concept is associated with modernization; rationalization and industrialization. Modernization is the process of historically moving from primitive into civilization, which produces densely populated environments. Rationalization embraces replacing traditional motivated behavior for more scientifically sound ones.  Social and economic change describes industrialization.

With these features impacting primitive societies,it must be understood that  while developed nations have  an advantage over developing and underdeveloped countries still  they are plagued with homelessness. However, the dissimilarity lies in people becoming homeless due to their inability to pay rent, property taxes and mortgages. This is directly related to relocation to urban communities. As was explained previously, the cultural historical evolution of homelessnessemerged from global poverty imposed by imperialist practices. These strategies include countries with powerful economies dominating ones that have unexplored resources. These measures are manipulated through subtle trade embargoes and financial relationships.

For example, an IMF agreement was made between poor underdeveloped countries, which used their forest for lumber exportation. The agreement encompassed swapping their forest resources to pay off huge debts owed to IMF and the World Bank. Interestingly, when lumber industries developed exportation of escalated. Thecost of building a house was not tremendously increased in these societies because peasantscut their own lumber. However, morematerials were used in the housing construction industry as surpluses were exportedfor financial benefitsto provide better social services. This IMF agreement directly impacted homelessness from a global poverty perspective for the countries affected by this agreement. They no longer were able to earn an income from their forest nether construct the edifices in the architecture they valued most.

When examining this scenario from a developed country perspective dissimilarities continue to surface. For example, homelessness escalated during the great depression. The culture wasthat people either rented dwellings or owned their homes. To satisfy this need, especially, in urban communities citizens were required to have a job earning money. This was expected to pay expenses.Persons living in developed nations who owned houses were required to pay taxes as well as conduct regular repairs.

Code enforcement laws pushed many homeowners out of their houses if they did not have the financial means to conduct repairs. As such, many houses became dilapidated. They were eventually demolished by code enforcement authorities. Ultimately, these poor homeowners were forced to sleep on the streets; live in shelters or with family members.

In comparing this scenario among developed; developing and underdeveloped nations dissimilarities were experienced between developed and  the two other categories of  globalsociety,developed and developing countries. During the depression citizens living in these countries did not have to pay taxes neither rent. Every effort was made by local village authorities to help them keep their regular dwellings. Precisely,global poverty produced by this change in the world’s financial conditions did not have the same effect on these countries as it did on developed nations.

In concluding this discussion it is obvious that homelessness is connected to poverty internationally through elements of imperialist activity whereby developed nations dominate the cultures of developing and underdeveloped countries keeping them impoverished. Hence, a similarity of the homelessness manifestation among these two global society classifications is produced.Dissimilarities existing within the developed nation typology relates to discrimination; inability to pay rent, taxes,unemployment and marginalization.

Importantly, casual factors such as the great depression, urbanization and IMF/World Bank swap for debt agreement impacted the extent of homelessness experienced globally among developed, developing and underdeveloped nations. Definitely,homelessness as it relates to world poverty has its historical and cultural roots embedded in the way society is structured.