P & S 4, 5, 6

What are the 3 major explanations that focus on the inadequacies of the culture in which individuals are raised as being dominant factors in maintaining poverty

1. Culture of poverty 2. Isolation factor (isolated from successful society) 3. Group membership theory

Big Brother Theory

A conservative thinking approach. The emphasis here is on the role of misguided social policies in exacerbating poverty. The argument is that human nature is shaped by incentives and disincentives and that individuals generally desire the easiest way out of difficult situations. In the case of poverty, welfare and public assistance can create work and marriage disincentives. Individuals may exert themselves less when in dire straits because they know they can fall back on the safety net of public assistance.

Like human capital theory, the dual labor market perspective posits the existence of two quite distinct labor markets (the primary labor market and secondary labor market) that operate according to different rules (5)

False - Human capital theory argues 1 labor market. Dual Labor Market has 2 primary and secondary markets with different rules

The impact in differences in income and social class from one generation to the next is NOT a critical factor in understanding the human capital and skill differences that exist in today's society as those with working - or lower-class parents are not likely to remain working or lower class themselves (6)

False - IT IS critical. If parents, low-class - children are usually low class, if parents are upper class - children are usually upper class.

Marxist critique of capitalism suggest worker are paid at fair rates that reflect the true value of what they produce (5)

False - employees receive as low wage as possible so they owners make a larger profit

Substantial research in society, anthropology, social phsychology, and economics demonstrates group membership DOES NOT affect behavior. (4)

False - it does affect behavior.

Functionalism does not have an explanation for the existence of poverty or undesirable low-wage work in society (5)

False - it explains why undesirable jobs (ex cleaning public toilets) get done - people in poverty will do these jobs to survive

During times of economic downturn, those with MORE human capital are MORE LIKELY to experience job INSTABILITY, longer periods of unemployment, lower wages, and part-time work which in turn, is associated with an elevated risk of poverty (6)

False - less human capital will experience instability

Theories of distribution of welfare state resources arguments are SIMILAR to "Big Brother Argument" in that poverty rates increase when social welfare state programs are more generous (5)

False - opposite

According to the controversial book by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, The Bell Curve (1994), those experiencing poverty are more likely to be of high intelligence. (4)

False - poor people tend to have lower intelligence

Structural failings at the economic and political levels do not produce a lack of opportunities and support, resulting in high rates of American poverty. (6)

False - structural failing (jobs, good wages, health care) result in higher rates of poverty

Research has shown that those with greater human capital will generally not do better economically than those with less human capital

False - the greater human capital - the better economically the person is in society

Children from lower-class background families are often able to attend elite private universities, children from middle-class backgrounds may enroll at state public universities, while children from wealthier families will probably not continue on to college, and if they do, they will likely attend a community or two-year college (6)

False - the trend is wealthier attend elite, private universities, middle-class - state universities, and lower class attend community colleges (2 year schools)

If the father is of lower class or lower income, the son has a greater chance to be of the lower class with a lower income as well. (6)

TRUE!!!

A result of less marketable skills and education is that households experience a heightened vulnerability to economic deprivation and poverty when the economy falters (6)

True

According to Marx, poverty is simply inherent in economic structure of capitalism - it is an inevitable by-product of the exploitation of capitalist. (5)

True

Due to the instability of low wages in the secondary labor market, workers experience higher levels of unemployment and turn to the social safety nets in order to survive lean times, routinely face economic insecurity and hardship, with poverty being a frequent companion (5)

True

Empirical research to support the idea that those in poverty have a different set of attitudes and belief is weak

True

From the structural perspective, causes of poverty move from the individual's lack of skills or education to the fact that the economy produces unemployment creates low-paging jobs, bypasses low-income communities, offers little social support and protection, lacks affordable childcare, or does not provide for those who can no longer participate economically due to an illness.(6)

True

In the primary labor market, jobs are characterized as stable and high paying while in the secondary labor market, jobs are menial, low paying, and have poor working conditions.(5)

True

Individual and cultural level explanations of poverty are not as popular with the general public as structural-level theories.

True

Individual failings in the example of the musical chair would be the individual being too slow, not smart enough or not having the skills to get a chair. (6)

True

Individual failings include a lack of human capital such as a lack of education, skills, and work ethic. (6)

True

Race and gender exert a powerful effect on the acquisition of human capital. This is demonstrated as patterns of racial residential segregation further ensure that black children with similar social class backgrounds to white children find themselves in more heavily segregated schools with inferior resources and throughout their schooling, girls are more likely to be steered into less lucrative paths. (ch6)

True

Rank suggest that one reason behind the popularity of individual and cultural explanation of poverty may be that they let the wider community off the hook with respect of any shared responsibility for addressing poverty.

True

Structural failings at the economic and political levels have therefore produced a lack of opportunities and support, resulting in higher rates of American poverty. (6)

True

Structural failings include unemployment, creates low-paging jobs, bypasses low-income communities, offers little social supports and protection, lacks affordable childcare, or does not provide for those who can no longer participate economically due to an illness.(6)

True

Structural failure in the example of musical chair example would be that there are not enough chairs (or jobs with good wages). (6)

True

Structural level explanations of poverty argue that poverty is largely the result of a shortage op opportunities and this lack of opportunities is generated by economic and political forces found within society (5)

True

The "Big Brother Argument" emphasizes that human nature is shaped by incentives and disincentives and that individuals generally desire the easiest way out of difficult situations. In the case of poverty, welfare and public assistance can create work and marriage disincentives (5)

True

The most common set of arguments surrounding why poverty exists pertain to the individual's deficient attitudes, motivation and/or behavior; that people who are poor simply do not have the "right" attitudes (such as fortitude, self-responsibility, knowing right from wrong) and that the poor are not working hard enough to get ahead in life and lift themselves out of poverty.

True

Three major explanations that focus on the inadequacies of the culture in which individuals are raised as being dominant factors in maintaining poverty are: 1. culture of poverty, 2. isolation factor 3. group membership theory

True

To understand why poverty occurs, one must consider the role that the lack of human capital plays in accentuating economic vulnerability (6)

True

William Julius Wilson (1987) offered a different explanation for poverty. He hypothesized that isolation from mainstream social behavior and having few positive role models upholds culture of poverty (4)

True

Marxist Capitalism has 2 classes: 1, the owner and 2 rest of society

True - Owners - those who owned factories, real estate and rest of society (workers who were not paid fair wages). Capitalist like to keep costs low they increase profits

The "Culture of Poverty" explanation of why people are poor views individuals' need to cope on present day problems as a rationale response to being poor, but notes this perspective also hinders their ability for the type of long-range planning needed to get out of poverty.

True - sometimes coping is accepting and then they lose their desire/need to get out of the situation

Parental differences in income and resources exert a major influence over their children's ability to acquire valuable skills and education. These differences in human capital will, in turn, strongly influence how well such children are able to compete in the labor market and therefore determine the extent of their economic vulnerability during the course of their lives (6)

True - wealthier people have more money to spend on their children so they have more opportunities to build skills, talents and better education which makes a better human capital - which gives them a greater opportunity to be more successful in life.

The dual labor market theory arose as a reaction against the perceived failings of human capital (ch5)

true