Poverty in Society, Essay Example

Poverty is a complex and multifaceted incident that is as a result of many causes. Social inequality is one of the factors that have had direct influence on the varying levels of poverty in different regions hence making poverty a social issue. Social inequality has made the minor society groups to have limited accessibility to educations, skills and even be faced with social discrimination. These challenges are mostly experienced by people from the developing countries hence the reason why they experience higher levels of poverty. Since developed countries do not face most of the challenges associated with social inequality such as discrimination, their poverty levels are lower compared to that of developing countries (Clark,2007). Some of the factors that contributed to high poverty levels in developing countries include lack of employment and low national income. In United States, there is still a gap between the whites and the blacks mainly due to social inequality; the poverty level of the blacks is relatively higher compared to that of the whites. However this being developed country, levels the poverty levels are lower compared to those of developing countries such as South Africa. South Africa poverty levels are affected by both social inequality and the fact that this is a developing country. The apartheid laws were a key contributor to the higher poverty levels among the blacks in this country.

The notion of American dream is expressed as a hallucination for a land where the people there experience a better life, are richer and a land where the man power is able to meet all their desired abilities and achievements. The American dream notion is one of the contributing factors to the economic divide witnessed in United States. The growth of economic divide and the notion of American dream have influenced my social mobility positively.

Some of the factors that have contributed to the severity of poverty include globalization, population growth, technology, social stratification and gender inequality (Wilson, 2009). Technology has played key roles in reducing the severity of poverty. Some of the positive roles technology has played include the introduction of low cost phone and internet access that have played important role in lifting people especially from developing countries from poverty. Technology in this case can be viewed as the bridge for the two social classes that were developed due to poverty. Technology has been able to improve the mode of communication and other factors that have been attributed to the development of the economy divide.

Globalization has affected two poverty stricken countries negatively. Global economic integration has been one of the misleading globalization strategies that have affected poor countries negatively (Clark, 2007). In addition contemporary policies on investment are only promoting economic stability for the rich countries while causing instability to the developing countries due to the increased competition created by the developed countries in the market hence increasing the severity of poverty in developing countries.

Developing countries have been experiencing stretched population growth hence making country’s economic planning hard. The fast population growth experienced in developing countries especially in 20^th and 21^st century has resulted to increased unemployment hence increasing poverty levels. Social stratification has also resulted to increased level poverty since it has resulted to social inequality hence affecting the minor societies negatively. Most developing countries are still struggling with gender inequality a factor that continues to increase the severity of poverty in these countries. Developed countries have due to gender equality created equal opportunities to both female and male hence making both gender economically productive a factor that have reduced poverty levels in developed countries.

References

Clark, X. (2007). Globalization, growth and poverty. World bank group press.

Wilson, J. (2009). Gender inequality and poverty update. Harvard: Harvard model congress group press.