Poverty

Poverty is a structural failing

Through an empirical research regarding America’s poverty, there has been a focus on individual characteristics that tends to explain the different patterns and the occurrence of poverty. By focusing mainly on the individual attributes which cause poverty, community scientists have missed the fundamental dynamic of American poverty. The research has shown who lose at the economy game rather than how the game produces losers (Haveman et al, 2015). The American poverty is structural failing at political, economic and social levels. It has been contributed by lack of enough jobs in the economy that can deal with the growing population that can drive the families out of poverty. The high rates of poverty in the United States have been greatly contributed by social safety ineffectiveness and a very consistency and systematic nature of poverty that has been indicated by the risk of impoverishment by a large number of Americans in their life course (Haveman et al, 2015).

On one side poverty has been seen as a result of individual failings. This perspective outlines specific attributes of the individuals to have contributed to their poverty. The attributes include lack of virtuous morality, industrious job ethic, little education, and very competitive labor markets that require skilled workforce. On the other hand, poverty has been seen to be periodically interpreted due to the failings of the structural levels which are as a result of the economy inability to create sufficient respectable paying jobs (Best, 2013). There has been a dominant perspective of individual falling into poverty has been conceptualized through the consequences of the individual deficiencies and failings. Through social survey poverty has been consistently ranking by laziness, low ability and lack of efforts by individuals as they are the main important factors that connect to poverty. Structural reasons in America that cause poverty are discrimination and unemployment that are considerably less important (Rosenblum & Travis , 2016).

The analysis emphasizes that basic and the primary cause f poverty is the individual attributes. The increase in dependency has increased poverty levels among individuals within the community. There has been virtual absence among individuals compared to individualized strategies and measures in human capital and family backgrounds. There has also been a reduction of gender and race which a little more than demographic compared to structurally comprised categories. Characteristics if individuals can explain the approach the individuals have to fight the poverty vice (Haveman et al, 2015).

Poverty has been greatly shaped by varying factors such as age, gender, race, residence and family factors. Other demographic factors such as the giving birth outside marriage, having a large number of children and having them at an earlier age have been closely linked to poverty. Individuals who lack human capital are at a risk of poverty compared to individuals who have an access to human capital. Physical disabilities that have a way of interfering with the individual’s ability to engage in the labor market have been seen to elevate poverty (Best, 2013). Motivation and attitude are casual factors that may lead to poverty. Divorce and separation have also been some of the factors that contribute to poverty. Family structures such as having housewives than working women have also been seen to cause poverty due to the numerous needs a family man has to meet. This is because all the income has been exhausted leaving less or nothing for development. Illness and incapacitation are contributing factors to poverty as many funds are used to treat the illness rather than focus on another thing that may help in eradicating poverty (Haveman et al, 2015).

Being one of the wealthiest countries in the world there rises the need to rethink on how to kick out poverty or at least minimize it. To begin with, the traditional manner of thinking regarding poverty should change. This is because poverty has been viewed as a result of the individual failings and inadequacies. They include failing to work hard, lack of sufficient skills that are required and poor or bad decision making (Rosenblum & Travis , 2016). It has been perceived that they bring the poverty to themselves which is not entirely true. Poverty should be understood from the basic levels in order to implement strategies that will be productive. There should be economic opportunities for all in order to get rid of over-reliance, increase individualism and reward hard work “Because poverty is seen as more fluid and contingent, the techniques used to manage it must also be more flexible and proactive” p. 110 (Best, 2013). The mindset that has influenced the common public attitudes regarding the poor should change. This will help in fostering the poor, encouraging them which will help them realize the great potential they have and what they can do in order to improve their livelihood.

There should be a fundamental shift in thinking of how poverty only affects the poor when in reality it affects everyone. It should be a problem that everyone addresses as it concerns everyone by trying not to avoid the issue. There should be a considerable amount of money spent on the social problems that are directly connected to poverty such as medical, family and workforce problems. “Who is at risk of poverty and its consequences?”p. 444 (Rosenblum & Travis , 2016). It is true to say that everyone will be affected which means there is the need of shifting the focus to poverty reduction as it is a result of individual failing, economic and political factors.

Reference

Best, J. (2013). Redefining Poverty as Risk and Vulnerability: shifting strategies of liberal economic governance. Third World Quarterly, 34(1), 109-129. doi:10.1080/01436597.2013.755356

Haveman, R., Blank, R., Moffitt, R., Smeeding, T., & Wallace, G. (2015). THE WAR ON POVERTY: MEASUREMENT, TRENDS, AND POLICY. Journal Of Policy Analysis & Management, 34(3), 593-638. doi:10.1002/pam.21846

Rosenblum .K. E  & Travis TM. C(2016). The meaning of the difference American Constructions of Race and Ethnicity, Sex andGender, Social Class, Sexuality, and Disability. McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121

CAUSES OF PREJUDICE

Question 1

It is factual that an individual cannot hold prejudiced beliefs that do not affect her feelings and actions because; prejudice is basically affected by the culture of an individual especially in the emotional level. Additionally, prejudice as the attitudinal system of beliefs is affected by believes which are passed from generation to generation (Parrillo, 578). Therefore, what can only happen is to keep the prejudice away by raising the knowledge regarding the subject of prejudice to change the feelings and actions.

Question 2

According to Parrillo, self justification can be delineated as disparaging a group by justifying their inferiority and flaws (Parrillo, 580). For example when people need to assure a certain group of individuals that their actions are right and justify it, they tend to source for flaws from the group. This makes this group look inferior which initiates negative stereotyping thus creating prejudice.

Question 3   

According to Parrillo, authoritarian attitudes, low self-esteem, and frustration make people deprecate other people in order to improve their feelings about themselves (Parrillo, 583). As a result, this initiates a negative view for other people making one to be more aggressive towards other people.

Question 4

According to Parrillo, socialization process can be delineated as the transiting prejudice beliefs from one generation to the other (Parrillo, 586). Precisely, the parents pass prejudice ideas to their children which is promoted by the fact that children succumb to the parents’ ideas with questioning. Additionally, a child can learn and agree with the prejudice ideas of the parents while growing up even though the parents are not instilling it directly. However, the child can disagree with the prejudice after being exposed to multicultural society.

Question 5      

The relationship between economic competition and prejudice is based on the fact that people tend to be unfriendly towards others who appear to threaten their livelihood (Parrillo, 587). Therefore, this initiates a conflict that later results to prejudice. It is worthwhile that increase in economic competition results to increase in prejudice and negative stereotyping (Parrillo, 587).

I think prejudice will continue if everyone had a comfortable income because the economy is the major factor for prejudice – the person is the major factor of prejudice.  This means that negative stereotyping will still continue towards the person who was the subject of prejudice earlier.

Parrillo, Vincent N. Encyclopedia of Social Problems. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, 2008. Print.

BARRACK OBAMA: MILES TRAVELLED, MILES TO GO

Question 1

The reason why Kaplan divides her essay in two sections is because she wants to convey two different perceptions of President Obama both before and after inauguration. In 2009 section Kaplan uses the theme of Obama, the first black to become the president, and explains the effect it posses to the African-American community. In 2010 section, Kaplan depicts Obama in office after inauguration together with the conflicting issues in front of him. The perception of Barack Obama in the first section is extraordinary seen as the representative of the black people. Kaplan observes that though Obama represents the blacks, he cannot be considered the victory of his community. He is the shinning victory of the majority but not all. On the other hand, 2010 section views Obama as inexperienced president who is about to face different crises of the country. This is the reason why Kaplan asserts that Obama was a paradox and he being the president would either be a resolution or a resurrection of a new century especially for racial justice (Kaplan, 60).

Question 2      

By asserting that the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board Of Education Case represented “a comma, not a period” Kaplan meant that racism did not cease as people expected (Kaplan, 61). After the ruling by the Supreme Court, segregation never ceased especially in public schools, as a matter of fact, white people left public schools to avoid being victims of the law. Even after Obama becoming the president racism existed as it was exhibited by the declining poll numbers.

Question 3  

George W. Bush’s advantage over Obama is based on the fact that people regarded him as the recognizable entity as Kaplan asserts (Kaplan, 61). Everybody new George Bush from his young age in school as an “idiot” and they accepted him for that. On the other hand, people did not acknowledge Obama’s life philosophy and seemed not to be interested (Kaplan, 61). I agree with the assessment that people recognized the autocracy of President Bush and talked much about his childhood. However, no one seems to describe President Obama as either good or bad president. No one seems to be interested with his life or personal idiosyncrasy.   

Question 4 

According to Kaplan, the ordinary political extremism is exhibited when some critics assert that they are unhappy with the federal government headed by President Obama. However, racially-tingled extremism is exhibited by the view that a black man heading the federal government which is the helpmeet of the blacks’ society is a conservative action. As a result, every single move that President Obama makes to help the needy is opposed openly by the liberals purposely as a black liberal action (Kaplan, 64). I agree with this assessment because some of the policies that were raised by President Obama such as Gun Show Background Check Act of 2013 and Obamacare were opposed for no apparent good reason. This means that they view President Obama’s policy as a conservative action to the black society.

Question 5       

When Obama visited places like Los Angeles back in 2006, he exhibited to be more of a manager than a leader especially to black people. However, after becoming the president, he failed to tackle small issues such as racial profiling and Muslim prejudice. He seems not able to take a position that can benefit his people (Kaplan, 64).  However, according to Kaplan, President Obama signifies his blackness with a stern point that he makes during his public speeches (Kaplan, 65). It is factual that though Obama might disagree that black people live with the stigma of empathy, he understands and abides with it as it is exhibited through some policies that he implements.

Work Cited

 Kaplan, Erin A. Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, and Walking the Color Line: Dispatches from a Black Journalista. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2011. Print.    

MODELS OF AMERICAN ETHNIC RELATIONS: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Question 1

According to Fredrickson there is not distinction between race and ethnicity and it can be misleading to draw a sharp distinction between the two (Fredrickson, 450). This means that there is no clear distinction between the two terms and if any difference is drawn from the two, it will be misleading. Ethnicity becomes radicalized when unique characteristics of a certain group are used to determine the center of status hierarchy of that group (Fredrickson, 450).   

Question 2

Fredrickson tries to assert that along the course of the American history, being identified as “other” has transformed (Fredrickson, 450). It is factual that by the turn of 20^th century, immigration resulted to accumulation of different races in United States. As a result, characterization of white people has changed radically. Precisely, 20^th century marked the accumulation of different ideas of whites’ characterizations such as social Darwinism, scientific racism, and eugenics. In 20^th century, most people believed that white people were Northern European immigrants.

Question 3  

According to Fredrickson, ethnic hierarchy was eliminated after World War II amongst the white people and Jews (Fredrickson, 451). In this era, ethnic background changed to color. However, it is factual that ethnic hierarchy was wholly eliminated back in 1960s after the civil rights movement. 

Fredrickson asserts that ethnic hierarchy still persists in barrios, ghettos and Indian reservations. It is true that ethnic hierarchy still persists in United States citing from the current criminal justice system that promote mass incarceration especially for the African-American community.

Question 4    

Fredrickson depicts that assimilationism focused on superiority and domination of one ethnicity group. This cannot be defined as racism since it is based on one race (Fredrickson, 452). With regard to assimilationism, Fredrickson cites from the ‘Native American cultural genocide’. I agree with Fredrickson’s contention because racism is oppressing and prejudicing a person because of his or her cultural background. Therefore, regardless of where it is done for expressing superiority of one race, assimilationism is racist in some other sense.

Question 5

The difference between cultural pluralism and assimilation is based on the fact that cultural pluralists tend to celebrate distinctive characteristics of groups whereas assimilation focuses on obliterating distinctive groups (Fredrickson, 455).

Fredrickson says that multiculturalism differed from pluralism on the fact that it operated cultural pluralist assumptions but it focused on people of color instead of the diversity of European races.

Question 6  

Fredrickson disagrees with that claim because the contemporary American society is composed of very divergent ethnicity groups. It is factual that backlash against racial diversity is more threatening because it promotes racial discrimination and segregation (Fredrickson, 458).  

Work Cited

Fredrickson, George M. Models of American Ethnic Relations: a Historical Perspective. , n.d.. Print.

SLAVERY IN THE LAND OF THE FREE

Question 1 

It is factual that when slavery is viewed in terms of a large group subjected to hard work as in the case in the Old South. This challenges my view of slavery as subjecting a large group of people to hard work with low or no wages. Therefore, places that one can find slaves working in the contemporary world include industries, plantation schemes in rural areas.

Question 2   

If the issue of slavery happened to persist, in the contemporary world, human beings would be cheaper than in the past as the number of human beings continue to increase. This means that labor will be readily available which can be compared to employment which does not satisfy the demands of the existing manpower.

Question 3

The reason why authorities and the media in United States do not treat slavery as an urgent issue is based on the fact that it is the basic necessity of every citizen to recognize his or her basic rights. This means that individuals subjected to slavery ought to report to the authorities but not the authorities looking for the enslaved individuals. Thus, if an individual does not report on slavery, the authorities cannot regard it as an urgent safety issue.

Question 4

In a free trade market, capitalism is an economic system where trade is controlled by single individuals by determining the price of the products and other marketing strategies. Therefore, in the modern slavery, individual people determine the price of slaves but what makes it to be worse is lowering the price unbelievably. As a result this makes slavery cheaper and affordable exposing slaves for the benefit of the slave owner. This makes the similarity between capitalism and slavery. The difference between capitalism and slavery is based on the fact that in capitalism individuals who control the price of the trade products uses marketing strategies to increase their competitive advantage whereas in slavery individuals lowers the general price of slaves for the benefit of all slave traders.

Question 5  

Regardless of the fact that U.S Guest Worker Program was introduced when the country was in high need of workforce especially during the two world wars (Bales & Soodalter, 69). However according to Bales and Soodalter, the program was characterized by brutality and inequality where the workers were put in poor living working conditions. This is the reason why the authors view the program as no better than slavery. As a result I believe that the government should continue to sponsor the program but improve the working conditions and compensation policies for the guest workers.

Question 6

It is factual that in the current world, no one would take a fieldworker job that paid $10.49 per day. The minimum pay for picking crops for a living under the same conditions would be approximately $7.25 per hour as the Fair Labor Standards Act require. Therefore, working for approximately 8 hours a day can be paid up to $58 per day at minimum.

Work Cited   

Bales, Kevin, and Ron Soodalter. The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009. Print.

Anti-Feminist Theory of Feminism

Feminism does not symbolize the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. This is a reaction which has the aim of protecting the female reproductive and the sexual interests of the middle class, middle aged women who are in the market place. Women are only looking for ways of making sure that they are considered in different posts as compared to men. Women have therefore come up with ways of making sure that they are considered to be equal as men when they are really not.

Young girls do not know their sexual worth and thus they end up indulging in sexual intercourse with most people. Moreover, women have dominated in the business of prostitution because they do not know what their sexual worth is. This consequently shows how little they are and can only be paid by men who want to satisfy their sexual needs. Young girls in their early twenties, get into relationships with older guys simple because they know they are feminine.

Women are always in the front line to expose parts of their bodies in order to appear attractive simply because they have a feeling that they cannot be loved without exposing parts of their body. Men, unlike women, are always confident and do not need to expose parts of their bodies in order to be attractive since they know they are masculine. This consequently explains why feminism is not and can never be real. Women need only to submit to men and understand that they are not equal simply because they are feminine and men are masculine. Feminism is therefore used to protect middle aged women who do not want to be associated with submission and they therefore consider themselves equal to men.

Application of Correlation

“The longer a person spends in direct sunlight, the severer the sunburn.” This is a correlation made by health experts which tries to explain that too much exposure to direct sunlight is harmful to the human body. There is a limit to which sunlight is useful to the body after which the harm it causes from this limit is directly proportional to the hours of exposure.  The effects of hours spent under direct sunlight are not there in the initial hours and therefore the gradient of a curve at this point is negative. Once the limit is reached, the immediate effects on sunburn are very small because the skin damages are temporal and easy to recover from.

More exposure in terms o the number of hours advances the effect whereby wrinkles and ageing of the skin is seen. The skin becomes darker and some colored pigments tend to appear on the skin. Extensive exposure now may lead to development of skin cancer because the ultra violet rays are able to penetrate deeper into the epidermis and absorbed. Skin cancer and other long-term effects of overexposure are the optimum results which are very hard to recover from.

From this correlation example, it is clear that the number of hours that one is exposed to direct sunlight after the useful limit is proportional to the sunburn effects. A graph of the sunburn effects against the hours of exposure would be a straight line that does not pass through the origin. This correlation could be applied to inform the people who work outdoors about the various risks that result from long hours of exposure to the direct sunlight.  

Reference