Chapter 4 poverty and Public Welfare

Instant gratification

A result of being poor. People want to be have things so the spend their money on something they want rather than save the money to buy something better later on.

Delayed gratification

A result of not being poor. This is a rational response only when one is optimistic that's postponing pleasures today by saving money will reap greater benefits in the future. This is also a middle-class attitude that the poor do not have.

TANF program

Federal requirements- Recipients of financial benefits cannot receive more than 2 years of financial assistance without working, and there is a 5 year limit on benefits for adults.

Who are the poor?

Poverty is concentrated among one parent families, children, older adults, large size families, people of color, and the homeless.

Native Americans

Poverty is extensive among this group of individuals. This group lives on reservations.

Culture of poverty

Poverty rises after extended periods of economic deprivation in highly stratified capitalistic societies. It is brought about by high rates of unemployment for unskilled labor and by low wages for those who are employed. It leads to the development of attitudes and values of despair and hopelessness.

1965

President Johnson launched his great war on poverty. Various programs were established: Head Start, Volunteers in Service to America, Job Corps, Youth Corps, and neighborhood legal services.

1960

President Kennedy so large numbers of people in poverty he made this central issue of his presidential campaign.

General assistance

Programs are supposed to serve those needing temporary, rather than long-term financial support.

Marginalized group

Refers to a group of people who have been relegated to lower echelon's, outer edges, or "margins" of society based on such characteristics as gender, economic status, education, culture, race, religion, ethnicity, or political affiliation.

Wealth

Refers to a persons total assets including real estate holdings, cash, stocks, bonds and so forth.

Supplemental

Refers to the fact that, in most cases, payments supplement whatever income may be available to the claimant.

TANF

Replaced Aid to Families of Dependent Children AFDC

Poverty

This is relative to time and place.

Poverty line

This is the level of income that the federal government considers sufficient to meet the basic requirements of food, shelter, and clothing.

Cycle of poverty

see page 116

$25,750

The poverty line for a family of four in 2019.

Absolute approach

A certain amount of goods and services is essential to individual's or family's welfare. Those who do not have this minimum amount are viewed as poor. The fundamental problem with this approach is that there is no agreement as to what constitutes minimum needs.

Distinguishing features of public assistance programs

1. A means test 2. Eligibility and benefit levels are determined on a case-by-case basis. 3. Benefits are viewed as charity. 4. Program benefits are paid from general government revenues.

Poverty statistics

49 million people, about 15% of our population earth we're living below the poverty line in the year 2014.

Institutional view

Adequate income should be provided for all citizens as an instrument of social policy. Relief should be extended to applicants who can qualify. It is assumed that workers prefer income from employment over public welfare. Psychological and social barriers sometimes stand in the way of rehabilitation and employment. Preservation of the independence and self respect of the applicant for assistance is a prank consideration in the administration of programs of relief. A punitive approach defeats the purpose for which assistance is used. There are many pools in society that make work more appealing in public welfare.

Mid 1900s

After World War II poverty was no longer recognized or addressed as a major problem.

Income

Amount of money a person makes in a given year.

Residual of view

Assistance should be made as unpleasant as possible. Recipients should be required to work no matter how depressed the wage or if the requirement was a way of obtaining cheep labor. Payment should be made so low that no one would really want it. Outsider should be prevented from seeking help. People should be forced to remain at their jobs or return to employment.

SSI or supplemental security income

Became affective January 1, 1974 replace the following programs that were created by the 1935 Social Security act old age assistance, eight to the blind, and a to the permanently and totally disabled.

Unemployment insurance

Benefits to workers who have been laid off or in certain cases fired.

1992

Bill Clinton promise to "end welfare as we know it." He ended the Aid to Families of Dependent Children or AFDC. AFDC program was replaced with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families or TANF.

Blaming the victim

Blaming for the poor for their circumstances is a convenient excuse for refusing to endorse the programs and policies thought necessary to eradicate poverty. The poor are not poor because of their culture but because they do not have enough money.

Workers compensation Insurance

Both income and assistance in meeting medical expenses for injuries sustained on a job.

Reschedule view

Conservative or Republican view, Donald Trump

SNAP

Design to combat hunger and to improve the dates of low income households by supplementing their food purchasing ability. Snap was formally known as the food stamp program.

Culture-of-poverty theory

Elenor Leacock argues distinctive culture of the poor is not the cause but the result of continuing poverty.

Public assistance

Has primary residual aspects and applicants must undergo a "means test" that reviews their assets and liabilities to determine their eligibility for benefits.

Medicare

Has two parts hospital insurance and medical insurance.

Rural areas

People that live in these areas have a higher incidence of poverty than people who live in urban areas. There is high unemployment, work tends to be seasonal, and wages are low.

Problem with the absolute definition

It does not take into account the fact that people are poor not only in terms of their own needs but also in relation to others who are not poor.

Relative approach

It in essence, a person is poor when his or her income is substantially less than the average income of the population. By defining poverty in these terms we avoid having to define absolute needs, and we also put more emphasis on the quality of incomes. Poverty exists as long as income inequality exists.

Middle class attitudes

Poor are forced to abandon middle-class attitudes and values which are irrelevant to their circumstances such as saving money putting money away for retirement or delaying gratification for pleasure.

Absolute approach

The federal government has generally chosen this approach in defining poverty.

Health care for the poor

Less access to medical services and lower quality healthcare from professionals.

Means test

Looks at assets, income and liabilities, which are your bills.

Conditions of the poor

No running water, substandard housing, eating whatever they can, hungry and malnourished, no heat in the winter, minimal clothing, more susceptible to alcohol and substance abuse, infant mortality is doubled, less access to medical services often lowering the quality of healthcare, schools import areas have less resources and students struggle academically.

1935

Social Security Act becomes law and the social insurance programs are created.

TANF

States receive a grant to run this program. The head of every family has to work within two years where the family loses its benefits. After receiving benefits for two months adults have to perform community service unless they have found regular jobs. There is a lifetime public welfare assistance Of five years. Communities must provide childcare to recipients. The states are in right charge of running their own programs.

Problem with the relative approach

Tells us nothing about how badly, or how well, the people at the bottom of the income distribution actually live.

Infant mortality rate

The rate for the poor is more than double that of the affluent.

United States

The top one percent of all households have over 1/3 of all the personal wealth. The distribution of income is even more unequal: the wealthiest 20% of households in the United States receive over 50% of all income, where as the poorest 20% receive less than 5% of all income.

Functions of poverty

There are 11 functions of poverty they can be read on page 117. Because poverty is functional, our society makes only a halfhearted effort to eliminate-or even reduce end it.

Deteriorated urban areas

These areas constitute the largest geographical group in terms of numbers of poor people.