Sociology of Poverty
poverty line
"People who have income below a certain level can be considered poor
Poverty Decline in Developing Nations (Pros)
-Globalization ´Reduced global poverty overall ´Global Industrialization ´Economic Growth -Large industrializing nations (i.e., China and India) are surpassing economic growth rates in Europe, the United States, Japan, and most other rich
What were the outcomes of the Great Recession?
-Government Response protected these big companies (PIA) -Public Opinion (Sherman) -Consequences of the Great Recession: Macroeconomic Effects -Work & Identity -Gendered Expectations (Sherman) -Symbolic Boundaries (Sherman) -Political/Social Consequences of the Great Recession
Repertoires
-People have a list or repertoire of strategies and actions in their minds -People are unlikely to act unless a strategy to perpetrate the action is part of their repertoire •The poor do not have different repertoires, but different elements (skills) to construct their strategies of action -Same end game -different playing methods
Narratives
-People interpret their lives a set of narratives that are casually linked •They have a beginning, a middle, and an end -No categories (poor vs not poor; graduate vs not graduate; healthy vs unhealthy) •This is how people make sense of their experiences, constraints and opportunities
The Ineffectiveness of the Social Safety Net to Prevent Poverty
-The U.S. welfare state is striking precisely because it is so limited in scope and ambition." (Charles Noble) -European Countries and Canada provide a wide range of social and insurance programs -These programs are designed to prevent families from falling into poverty -Substantial family and children's allowances ¡Well designed transfer cash assistance to families with children -More unemployment assistance relative to the United States -Reduced amount of government aid leads to an increased amount of poverty
Life course risk - Universal Care
-The United States doesn't offer universal cover like most other developed countries -Universal childcare, medical insurance, and child allowances -Government transfer and assistance policies help lift economically vulnerable populations in Canada and in Europe. -The U.S. doesn't have these policies and has one of the highest poverty rates in the industrialized world.
T/F A person's values cannot explain whether they experience poverty
-Values differ from perceptions -Attitudes differ from behavior
Institutions
1.Formal rules of behavior that are codified as laws or regulations •Culture creates laws (i.e., decriminalization of marijuana) 2.Norms of appropriate behavior that are enforced through informal sanctions •Dominant culture can enforce norms without laws (i.e., kneeling for the national anthem) 3.Taken-for-granted understandings that simply structure or frame (as in the conception above) how actors perceive their circumstances •Understandings vary (i.e., classroom etiquette, relationship etiquette -polygamy, monogamy--, friendship etiquette)
Economic Collapse (6 reasons)
1.More people (often with subprime loans) began to default on their mortgage payments 2.Investors began realizing that housing prices were inflated, as were the value of many of the mortgage securities 3.Companies that held these over-valued securities were now in big trouble 4.In September 2008 Lehman Brothers (a prominent financial services firm) went bankrupt; panic spread throughout the financial industry 5.A number of companies "too large to fail" were on the precipice of bankruptcy 6.Credit markets "seized up"- no one could borrow money to cover losses; trading ground to a halt, the stock market plunged, and the economy fell into a deep recession
Poverty in Developing Countries- Causes and Political Responses
1.Poverty and fiscal trap ´(it is hard to invest in the future if you have no money in the first place) ´Poor loan lending practices 2.Physical geography ´Being landlocked 3.Governance failures 4.Cultural barrier- people from outside can help those in the inside because of culutral barriers and not fully understanding their culutral values and norms. 5.Geopolitics and conflict ´War / Civil War Leadership 6.Demography ´High fertility rates -limits a parent's ability to invest in their childrren Greater financial assistance from rich countries in return basically... Better governance in poor countries
Three elements of social exclusion
1.Relativity: excluded relative to a reference group 2.Agency: excluded not by choice 3.Dynamics: not just about a person's current situation but also future prospects
Causes of the Great Recession
1.Rising inequality 2.Loosening of bank lending rules and the corresponding rise in consumer debt 3.Rise of mortgage securitization with too little regulatory oversight
Policy Motivations for Studying the Culture of Poverty
1.To avoid bad policy -Marriage, child rearing, D.A.R.E (etc) 2.Policy elites (and culture) make policy laws -Scholars, journalists, and pundits speak for the poor and often rely on stories, prejudices, beliefs and sometimes myths 3.Culture is already part of policy formation related to poverty -Policy makers are unsure of how culture affects poverty •Obama's fatherhood example
Scholarly motivation for studying the culture of poverty
1.To gain a better understanding of why people respond to poverty the way they do •How do they cope with poverty? •How do they escape from poverty? 2.To debunk myths about cultural orientations of the poor 3.To develop and clarify the study of culture
Culture includes
1.Values 2.Frames 3.Repertoires 4.Narratives 5.Symbolic Boundaries 6.Cultural Capital 7.Institutions
How is U.S. poverty ultimately the result of structural failings?
3 lines of evidence showing why poverty is structural in nature: 1.The inability of the U.S. labor market to provide enough decent paying jobs for all families to avoid poverty or near poverty 2.The ineffectiveness of American social policy to reduce levels of poverty through governmental social safety net programs 3.The fact that the majority of the population will experience poverty during their adult lifetimes
Myths about Poverty in the US #4- Poverty is inevitable.
A widely held myth regarding why poverty exists, dates back centuries. Poverty can indeed be alleviated, often dramatically so. It is simply incorrect to argue that poverty cannot be substantially reduced. The War on Poverty put in place a wide array of government programs intended to reduce poverty. °The Food Stamp Act, Medicare and Medicaid, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, the School Lunch Program, Job Corps, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Head Start, Legal Services, along with several others. -"A hand-up, not a hand-out."
Absolute poverty has been declining in many developing countries in recent decades
Absolute poverty has been declining in many developing countries in recent decades ´Of the world's population living in developing and transition economies, about 1.4 billion, or 25 percent, lived on less than $1.25 a day in 2005, down from 52 percent in 1981
Life Course Risk of Poverty (2)
By looking at one's experiences with poverty over their life cycle, it becomes clearer how poverty is a structural issue. -Life Span analysis indicates that poverty is more appropriately viewed as a structural failing of American society. -Most Americans will experience poverty at some point in their lifetimes -When we decide to address poverty on a larger scale (i.e. the War on Poverty or the New Deal), we acknowledge economic vulnerability. -Medicare -"Social Security is responsible for getting 80% of the elderly above the poverty line who would otherwise be poor in its absence"
Basic Needs
Can't afford: Rent/Mortgage, utilities, phone, etc
Long Running Debate about the "Deserving" vs "Undeserving" Poverty
Circumstances were attributed to the individual vs. broader social and economic causes of poverty °People who believed that poverty was caused by social and economic forces are more likely to believe that most of the poor are deserving of public support
absolute measures of poverty
Define a basic needs standard, those living below which are defined as poor Poverty defined as using a universal baseline with no reference to other people's income or access to goods, is: - a subsistence level of income or consumption below which people should be deemed economically disadvantaged or deprived. -remains constant over time
Four types of Hardships
Food Insecurity Health care Housing and Neigborhood Basic Needs
What explains the decline in the poverty rate in developing nations?
Globalization
Hardship brought Change
Hardship flourished, and poverty could no longer be blamed solely on individual morality and behavior. Federal policies aimed at reducing poverty were enacted during this time
Housing and Neighborhood conditions
Leaking roof, pests (mice & cockroaches), trash or litter on the streets
1. The Inability of the Labor Market to Support All Families
Most full-time jobs in the labor market can lift most one or two person families out of poverty, but it becomes much less effective in raising moderate sized families out of poverty •Unemployment (without a job, but seeking work) is necessary in a capitalist society •There simply aren't enough decent paying jobs for all who need them
Health care
Not having any form of medical insurance
Disadvantages of Consumption poverty
Not many surveys collect data on expenditures ◦Some people may consume little by choice (rather than necessity) ◦Consumption may be funded by debt; not clear if people who go into debt to temporarily boost consumption are not poor
2.Debunking myths about cultural orientation
Oppositional culture used to explain racial disparities in educational achievement (students live on the margins of what is mainstream) John ogbu- oor black students devalued the dominant school culture because it would make them appear to "act white" •Empirical findings did not stand
unsheltered
People who dont live in their house, living with people to people, and etc Live outside, cars, tents, etc
Observing Official, Relative and SPM Measures
Poverty rates are higher when using the SPM and the Relative measure than when using the official poverty measure. ◦Higher poverty thresholds ◦Relative poverty thresholds are the highest ◦Example: Elderly have a stable yet modest income which places them above the official poverty line, but below a relative one
What is Poverty?
Poverty should be defined as the lack of sufficient income for people to 'play the roles, participate in the relationships, and follow the customary behavior which is expected of them by virtue of their membership of society' (Townsend 1993, 10) Not able to perform certain actions Not having access to money could affect a lot of things. Ex: such as being in a relationship, being a scholar student, and etc.
Material Hardship Measures
Rationale: these are more "direct" measures of well being Hardship indicators can include: ◦Food security, housing problems, neighborhood conditions, difficulty meeting basic needs, ownership of consumer items, fear of crime ◦Growing interest in and use of these measures
Myths about Poverty in the US 1: -Few Americans will experience poverty
Realty #1 Majority of Americans will experience poverty firsthand. Even more surprising, a majority of Americans will turn to public assistance at least once during their adulthood.
Myth about Poverty in the US 2: The poor often live- in inner-city neighborhoods.
Realty #2 When poverty is discussed, the mental image that often comes to mind is the inner-city, and particularly high-poverty ghettos and barrios in the largest cities. Many people implicitly assume, incorrectly, that most of the nation's poor can be found in these often troubled neighborhoods."
Myth about Poverty in the US #3- America's poor are worse off than elsewhere.
Realty 3: It is true that the US does not have the widespread feminine and severe stunting of children that is sometimes found in extremely poor countries. Most analysts would argue that the more relevant comparison would be the group of other high economy countries such as those found in the European Union, Canada, Japan, Australia, and so on. In comparing poverty in the U.S. to these OECD countries, we find that American poverty is both more prevalent and more extreme
Globalizations Role in Global Inequality
Rich countries maintain dominance with division of labor -Headquarters and multinational corporations are located in rich (core) countries. -World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) protect the interests of rich countries and its investors by imposing tough loan conditions on poor countries
Some disadvantages of relative poverty measures that Detractors find
Some find these measures conceptually unappealing, believing that poverty should reflect a very low, subsistence level of well-being. -believe that only people who are deeply deprived of very basic goods—like food and shelter—should be considered poor.
social exclusion
The outcome of multiple deprivations that prevent individuals or groups from participating fully in the economic, social, and political life of the society in which they live. Ex: people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low income, poor housing, high crime environment, bad health and family breakdown.
Deprivation & Influence
There is a great deal of inequality in who is benefiting from industrialization on a global scale Example: Malaria Nets ( Supposed to use it to prevent infant mortality and death, but they may use it in different way such for fishing, soccer balls, and etc. They dont really understand the importance of them due their norms, culture, and values)
Government Response protected these big companies (PIA)
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP): authorized the use of $700 billion to support many companies considered too large to fail (banks, the auto industry) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: injected an estimated $787 billion into the economy in the form of spending in various areas- infrastructure, education, health care, and tax credits }These helped, but many Americans remained angry about bailouts for irresponsible financial institutions and the pain brought upon the average person by the recession- Pursuit of happiness go back to this
T/F Many Americans will move in and out of poverty several times in their lifetime.
True
T/F U.S. poverty is ultimately the result of structural failings at the economic, political, and social levels.
True
Though most people are poor, the length of time in poverty is relatively short The image of being impoverished for years is incorrect (for most) T/F
True 1.Though most people are poor, the length of time in poverty is relatively short The image of being impoverished for years is incorrect (for most)
◦Rural homelessness is hard to measure and address T/F
True ◦They are scattered and hidden in rural wilderness ◦Few rural shelters (make it hard to count) ◦"They are invisible"
T/F There is no clear distinction between what is cultural and what is structural
True They influence one another
What is culture?
Understanding cultural conditions (instead of trying to define culture) can enrich one's understanding of poverty
Responding to Poverty
Ways of coping. One's ability to escape
Consumption poverty
What a family spends rather than recieve
undeserving poor
able-bodied men, unwed mothers- can't work because they need to pay for childcare (funded by state)- VERY EXPENSIVE , drug addicts Stigmatized Aid, Aid is often uncertain depending on the views of policy makers
The main disadvantage of absolute poverty measures
as standards of living change, generally so do people's perceptions of what poverty means
Hardship measures
based on respondents reporting a lack of food, heat, access to health care, or adequate housing, to name a few possible dimensions.
Relative measures of poverty
based on standards of living and comparative disadvantage, change over time -more responsive to income inequality, which reflects the distribution of resources in society.
Poverty in the Developing World is about....
basic subsistence and survival ( Food, water, shelter, clothes,etc) ´Extreme vulnerability to adverse events (e.g., draught and disease) ´Little control over one's circumstances
Supplementary Poverty Measure (SPM) by the U.S. Census Bureau
calculated based on how much people report spending on food, clothing, shelter, and utilities, plus a small additional amount to allow for other needs (such as household supplies, personal care, and non-work-related transportation) SPM measures reduce childhood poverty
Consumption Measures
compare not a family's income but rather its consumption of goods to a poverty threshold, but it can be a problem if someone that's wealthy is classify poor, because they choose to spend little, so its not clear
Core countries
focus on high-skill production Ex: Purchase things from the peripheral countries since they have the money. -Benefitted from having wealthy people, wealthy productions, wealthy nations, and etc.
Peripheral countries
focus on lower-skill, labor-intensive production and the extraction of raw profits (minerals, sand, fruits) They benefit from the economy you can say as they get things from the core countries?
pre transfer rates poverty
indicate what the level of poverty would be in each country in the absence of any governmental income transfers such as welfare payments, unemployment compensation, or social security payments.
Food Insecurity
is defined as a household having difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources
Homeless
often considered an urban phenomenon ◦1 and 3 rural Americans say homelessness is a problem in their communities
Post- transfer rates poverty
represent the level of poverty after governmental transfers are included (which is how poverty is officially measured in the United States and many other coun- tries)
Globalization
the growing interdependence of the world's economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information. -Peterson Institute for International Economics
The advantage of absolute poverty measures
they are conceptually easy to understand and intuitively appealing
frictional unemployment
unemployment that occurs when people take time to find a job individuals have voluntarily left their jobs in order to locate another job (known as frictional un- employment)
Quasi-Relative Poverty Measure
which combines elements of absolute and relative measures. -addresses the unrealistic assumption behind purely absolute measures—that there can be a single, unchanging absolute standard.
deserving poor
°Deserving (in the eyes of the public): children & elderly Treatment: Recieves aid with little stigma
1.People tend to:
°experience poverty for a year or two °get above the poverty line for an extended period of time °and then perhaps encounter another spell at some later point. ±Causes: losing a job, having work hours cut back, families splitting up, or developing a serious medical problem
Poverty in Developing Countries- Causes and Policy Considerations
´"neoliberal" economic policies put profit over people leaving many nations behind ´Few investments due to a lack of access to financial institutions and credit ´What is one solution for having limited access to financial institutions and credit for investing? ´Example: Paul Sachs advocates for greater financial assistance from rich countries (coordinated effort between rich and poor)
Globalizations Role in Global Inequality (2)
´Globalization has increased communication (e.g., Internet and social media); this has made people more aware of inequalities (e.g., relative poverty) Negative- Realize how inequality exist in America. Your situation is not good as you think it was
Poverty in Rich Countries--Social Welfare
´Government expenditures on social welfare programs matter ´Western European countries vs spending in the United States ´E.g., higher universal child allowances, food assistance, and more generous guaranteed child support for single parents
Microfinance (cons)
´Microfinancing programs are only successful when they are: 1.Carefully implemented ´Borrowing can lead to over-indebtedness 2.Regulated to prevent abuse by lenders ´Predatory lenders and vulnerable borrowers
Poverty Decline in Developing Nations (Cons)
´Tough working conditions in developing nations ´Example: ´iPhone assembly in China ´Foxconn City (230,000 employees) ´About 6 days a week/ About12 hours a day ´Earn less than 17$ a day ´Relatively - lower than U.S. standards; higher than the $1.25 a day World Bank poverty threshold ´pgs. 62-64
Microfinance (pros)
´the provision of financial services to low-income individuals or groups that lack access to formal financial services ´Increase development ´Reduce poverty ´Promote gender equality ´Women's empowerment ´Reducing child mortality Improve maternal health
Symbolic Boundaries (Sherman)
•".... Tendency for individuals to judge others in their same situation as immoral, often forming and making use of different types of symbolic boundaries" -Bourdieu 1984 •Mechanisms used to separate themselves from the chronically poor •Deserving vs Undeserving poor •Appropriate vs Inappropriate sources of employment •Appropriate vs Inappropriate sources of aid
Political/Social Consequences of the Great Recession (SOCIAL
•(Sherman) ...as the use of government aid rose (unemployment insurance and food stamps), so did attacks by politicians and popular press on these programs and its participants Sherman) You create bad/ineffective policy when you ignore the culture around it
Work & Identity
•Because work is often tied with one's identity, the recession also led to new stresses •Strain on lifestyle •Exacerbated depression, substance abuse, domestic violence & relational instability (disconnect from family and peers) •(Katherine Edin & Laura Lein 1997) found that mothers preferred work over welfare •Though, often, welfare reliant women were closer to meeting their basic needs than low wage workers. •Stigma about receiving government aid
3.To develop and clarify the study of culture
•Bring together both literatures on culture and poverty -Culture is typically studied qualitatively -Poverty is typically studied quantitatively •However, these terms are not in exclusive fields
Gendered Expectations (Sherman)
•Culture is slow to change •Work remains a primary gender identity for men •Types of work is changing •Threats to gender and personal identity can impact behaviors and choices on many levels •Interpersonal relationships •Survival strategies (types of work to pursue & whether or not one accepts government aid) •Even if a family HAD to receive aid as a last resort, they let very few people know about their "slide from independence" •Symbolic Boundaries
Ways of Coping
•Different ways to cope with 'deprivation' •These decisions are usually influenced by cultural factors -What you know -The skills that you have -What is appreciated in your network and what is stigmatized
Consequences of the Great Recession: Macroeconomic Effects
•GDP declined by 8 percent from the end of 2007 to mid-2009 • •Households lost one-quarter of their wealth over the 2-year period •Those who lacked savings were particularly vulnerable (Sherman 2013) • •Nation's economy lost 8.5 million jobs • •Unemployment rate peaked at 10.0 •Unemployment rate remained over 8% until 2012 (Sherman 2013)
One's ability to escape
•Heterogeneity in decision making, actions and thus outcomes 1.What values are 'good' values? -"Some values may undermine one's mobility when exercised in a difficult context" 2.One's ability to act
Loosening of Bank Lending Rules and the Rise of Consumer Debt
•Historically, it had been fairly difficult to buy a house in the U.S. •High down payments •Short time horizon for repayment of loans (e.g., 5 years) •Variable interest rates •Over time lending rules have changed to make it easier to buy a house, reflecting a policy goal to increase home ownership
Cultural Capital
•Knowledge and information acquired through social experiences, styles and tastes •Education! •You can pass on cultural capital from generation to generation •Dominant vs Nondominant cultural capital
Consequences of the Great Recession: Macroeconomic Effects
•Men were hit harder in the initial years of the recession because they were concentrated in declining industries such as construction, transportation, and manufacturing. •Also known as the Man-Cession (Sherman 2013) Men did better during recovery than jobs that had predominately women from the great recession
Growth of Mortgage Securitization with Little Regulatory Oversight
•Mortgage securitization began in the early 1970s • •This involves assembling a group of mortgages and issuing "securities" to be sold to investors • •These securities were thought to be safe because they were backed by two government sponsored (but privately managed) organizations: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Political/Social Consequences of the Great Recession (POLITICAL)
•Rise of two noteworthy political movements on opposite sides of the political spectrum 1.Tea Party movement (beginning of 2009) •Advocates against "big government" • •Resentment against taxes and regulation •Viewed the price tag of the Wall Street bailouts and the economic stimulus with alarm 2)Occupy Wall Street movement (fall of 2011) •Advocates against social and economic inequality, corruption, and the undue influence of corporations on government •Also resented bailout of banks •Politics has become corrupted by moneyed interests
•Symbolic Boundaries
•Schemes of social categorization are culturally constructed •There are a system of rules that affect who interacts, what's qualified as hard work and etc •Used often for Boundary Work --"othering" or different those not in power
Why refuse aid?
•Self-Respect and sense of pride •Avoiding shame and stigma •Good mothers work "family values" •Children actually served as a deterrent to receiving aid ...those without families had fewer emotional barriers about accepting aid.
Growth of Mortgage Securitization with Little Regulatory Oversight (2)
•The 1980s and 1990s saw considerable deregulation of banks, allowing them to get increasingly involved in risky investments traditionally reserved for brokerage firms •Rise of subprime lending (mortgage securities) •Investors were not fully aware of risks • •Housing prices rose dramatically as demand for housing grew... this created a "housing bubble"- price housing has increased
Loosening of Bank Lending Rules and the Rise of Consumer Debt (2)
•The 1990s and early 2000s saw the increase of "subprime" loans •These are made to people who may have difficulty maintaining a repayment schedule (i.e., less qualified home buyers) •These loans have higher and often more variable interest rates; they can be harder to repay •More subprime loans led to higher levels of housing debt
•Frames
•The ways people act depends on how they cognitively perceive themselves, the world, or their surroundings •Frames shape the way individuals interpret information, set expectations and create meanings •Frames are heterogenous even in similar neighborhoods and households
Values
•Values specify the ends toward which behavior is directed •Values do not predict behaviors •Greater heterogeneity of values among the poor, based on different conceptions of culture
Public Opinion (Sherman)
•While only a few favored government intervention, there was no indication of growing support for polices that enhance opportunity, support for the poor, or support for redistribution. •Despite evidence of structural conditions instead of individual attributes increasing poverty, media sources and politicians still blamed the poor and unemployed for their own misfortune and dependency •Great Recession vs Great Depression - Public opinion varied greatly!
How is SPM absolute?
◦Aims to more accurately measure a family's disposable (net) income by including noncash benefits and nondiscretionary expenses ◦Includes noncash benefits: food stamps ◦Subtracts nondiscretionary expenses: work-related expenses and out-of-pocket medical costs
Advantages over income-based measures ( Consumption)
◦Annual income is not always accurately reported ◦Income may also misrepresent resources families have available to meet basic expenses, such as assets ◦This directly measures expenditures on basic needs
Disadvantages of Material Hardship Measures
◦Lack of consensus regarding definition and items to include ◦Lack of annual data ◦Tastes or preferences affect such measures (e.g., some people do not mind not having basic consumer items)
How is SPM relative?
◦The poverty thresholds are updated based on changes in real expenditures for basic consumption categories ◦Basic consumption categories include: ◦Food, clothing, housing and utilities
