Introduction
Poverty is a situation when people do not have enough means of subsistence. They have not chosen such a scanty lifestyle for themselves like, for example, ascetics or philosophers. Poverty is a crucial social issue in the modern world as it concerns not only a particular social class within a country, but sometimes a whole state may suffer from this problem. This paper will cover such questions as the influence of social inequality on poorness, the reasons why this issue still exists, and the possible solutions for this problem.
Main body
Perhaps, one of the most significant factors influencing the poverty rate in a country is social inequality. It means that residents of the country have unequal access to education or other services, different income level, and job opportunities (Warwick-Booth, 2018). It is evident that if a person does not have a chance to enter a university, he or she will have fewer career opportunities than people with higher education, and this, consequently, will lead him or her to poverty. Social inequality also refers to such a phenomenon as in-work poverty. It takes place when people are employed, but their wages are so low that they live below the poverty line. As Halleröd, Ekbrand, and Bengtsson (2015) have investigated, in-work poverty relates to freelance workers or yesterday’s students searching for their place in the labor market. Thus, social inequality has a considerable impact on human welfare.
Poverty is such a crucial and long-living issue that it has certainly captured the attention of social scientists who try to explain why this problem exists and how to cope with it. From one theoretical perspective, poverty is the result of people’s unwillingness to improve their quality of life (McCandless, 2016). This point of view may be supported by the examples of people who were born in low-income families but managed to rise through the ranks. According to another perspective, “poverty is an expected part of capitalism” (McCandless, 2016, p. 2). The researcher explains that in a capitalist society, there are people in power who want to keep as much money as possible and ordinary people who have to be content with their salary (McCandless, 2016). Thus, there are different views on the reasons why poverty is a part of social life.
Governments take various measures to reduce poverty among their residents. For example, developed countries provide financial aid to developing countries. However, according to Alvarez, Barney, and Newman (2015), it helps to solve some current problems of developing countries while not actually decreasing their poverty rate. Governments also grant their citizens benefits and financial assistance, but it is only a temporary solution to the situation, as it does not influence the core of the problem. Apparently, the right way to alleviate the poverty issue is industrialization (Alvarez, Barney, & Newman, 2015). It will allow developing countries to form their resources for the struggle against poverty.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be said that poverty is unlikely to be eliminated as there will always be people who do not want to do anything to change their lives for the better. Even if the government provides them with jobs with higher wages, financial support, or other benefits, they will still be in the same position. However, all countries should strive to make their poverty rates as low as possible.
References
- Alvarez, S. A., Barney, J. B., & Newman, A. M. B. (2015). The poverty problem and the industrialization solution. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 32(1), 23–37.
- Halleröd, B., Ekbrand, H., & Bengtsson, M. (2015). In-work poverty and labour market trajectories: Poverty risks among the working population in 22 European countries. Journal of European Social Policy, 25(5), 473–488.
- McCandless, N. J. (2016). Poverty in the United States. Encyclopedia of Family Studies, 1–6.
- Warwick-Booth, L. (2018). Social Inequality (2nd ed.). London, UK: Sage.