SOCA 207: Chapter 2

Many public assistance programs are means-tested, households are not eligible unless

income and/or assets fall within guidelines

Efforts to alleviate poverty are often motivated by a sense of

moral responsibility.

The stresses associated with low income contribute to

substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, divorce, and questionable parenting practices.

Max Weber saw social class as multidimensional and composed of

~Economic factors: income and wealth. ~Prestige: the amount of social respect given to an individual based on occupation. ~Power: the ability to achieve one's goals despite the opposition of others.

Wealth is measured as

~Gross assets (the total value of the assets someone owns) ~Net worth (the value of assets owned minus the amount of debt owed)

Social Constructionism

~How class differences are communicated through symbols ~How the meaning of these symbols is constructed or constrained by social forces ~How these symbols reproduce social inequality

Karl Marx

~Marx saw one's social class as solely determined by one's position in the economic system. ~You are either a worker or an owner of the means of production

Income

Money that comes into a family on a weekly/biweekly or monthly basis

Culture of Poverty

A set of norms, values, and beliefs that encourage and perpetuate poverty

Social Security Act of 1935

A system of assistance programs designed to provide for those who could not care for themselves - widows, the elderly, the unemployed and the poor. *Assistance was provided in four categories - general relief, work relief, social insurance and categorical assistance.*

Social Safety Net

Public Programs intended to help those who are most vulnerable in society.

Functionalism often criticized for its "value" argument

This is not supported when comparing teachers/police officers/firefighter on average with really any "profession"

Social institutions, especially __________________, sort everyone into their proper place

education

Most families who leave welfare for work do not earn enough to afford decent quality housing, and because of their employment status, they are not

eligible for housing assistance

Single female headed households with children, black households, and Hispanic households experience higher rates of

food insecurity.

Inequality is necessary for the social order. Some people are more important because of their function

function

Wealth is more unequally distributed and more concentrated than

income

Wealth is more stable within families and across generations than are....

income, occupation, or education

Stock market is at all-time high and 401K is up but people can not afford...

insulin, school supplies, or groceries and had food stamps cut

Consequences of Poverty

limited access to healthcare

Most of the working poor are not eligible for government health care programs. While the poor are eligible for medical care under Medicaid....

limited coverage forces most to seek treatment only in medical emergencies.

Poor households experience higher food prices than the national average because of their

location

In most states roughly half of parents in families that left welfare and more than one third of children in those families...

lose Medicaid coverage

Based on the value of one's work or talent, society rewards individuals at the top of the social structure with

more wealth, income, or power than those on the bottom.

Many Americans see our nation as egalitarian and open, a place where, through hard work and self-reliance, social mobility is

not only possible but common.

Wealth can be used to secure or produce wealth, enhancing...

one's life chances

Poor parents are more likely to use harsh..

physical disciplinary techniques

Child neglect is more likely to be found with

poor parents

Poor adolescent teenagers are at higher risk of

pregnancy

The public housing program, initiated in 1937, provides federally subsidized housing that is owned and operated by local

public housing authorities (PHAs)

Ending or reducing poverty begins with the recognition that doing so is a

worthy ideal and an attainable goal.

Poverty guidelines

~A simplified version of the U.S. Census Bureau thresholds, which take into account only family size. ~Used for determining eligibility for federal programs such as Head Start, National School Lunch Program, or the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program.

C. Wright Mills argued that the United States is ruled by a "power elite"

~An elite group composed of business, political, and military leaders has absolute power because of their control of resources ~Distributive power: the power individuals or groups have over other individuals or groups.

The cost of administering healthcare in the United States is $2,497 per person versus $551 in Canada.

~Average prices of bypass surgery, MRI, Appendectomy ~Insulin (2009): $93; Insulin (2019): $275;

Social Conflict

~Believe inequality is inevitable ~Inequality is systematically created and maintained by those trying to maintain their advantage over the system. ~Advantage based on many characteristics: class, ethnicity/race, or age.

Poverty threshold

~Measures of poverty used by the U.S. Census Bureau that take into account family size, number of children, and their ages. ~Defined as 3 times the cost of foods in the economy food plan, the least costly of four nutritionally adequate food plans designed by the Department of Agriculture. ~The original federal poverty measure.

Davis and Moore "Some Principles of Stratification" (1945)

~Some positions in a society are more specialized and valuable ~Only a few have the talent for more important positions ~Learning those skills require sacrifices, must receive more resources and rewards to compensate ~Different positions in the social hierarchy have different levels of prestige and esteem ~Social inequality inevitable and functional

The 1% has 35.6% of all private wealth and $42.4% of financial wealth, more than 95% and 97% of population combined, respectively

~The 1% earned 21% of all income. ~The 5% own 66.3% of all wealth

The 400 wealthiest individuals have more wealth than 150 million Americans (will likely be more significant as a result of Covid-19.)

~Three men own as much as bottom 50% of Americans (Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett) ~The Walton family earn $70,000 per minute, $4 million per hour, and $100 million per day

Couples with incomes less than $25,000 are more likely to

divorce

The 26 richest people on earth have as much as....

3.8 billion of the population combined

Extreme Poverty Neighborhoods

Areas (usually based on census) that have poverty rates of 40% or more. Rather than spread evenly, the poor tend to cluster and concentrate in certain neighborhoods or groups of neighborhoods within a community.

Poverty is functional for society

Functionalists assume that not everyone in society can and should be equal

President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" implemented programs to create a

Great Society.

Rehabilitation of the poor through social programs:

Head Start, Upward Bound, Neighborhood Youth Corp, Job Corps, public housing, and affirmative action

_________________ is the lack of resources necessary for material well-being: food, water, housing, land, and health care

Poverty *Deficiencies in economic, social, political and cultural areas*

Consequences of Poverty

Lack of Affordable Housing Main cause of homelessness

TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)

Many states the same today as when enacted as welfare in 1996. *you make a certain amount of money and you don't get welfare even if you might need it.*

Social Stratification =

Social Inequality

Society "stratifies" or ranks individuals or groups.

Stratification results in Inequality

The largest food assistance program in the United States is the

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program), followed by school meals and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Government assistance programs for the poor include

Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), food programs, housing assistance, medical care, educational assistance, child care, child s

Poverty Threshold

Takes age, family size, and number of dependent children into account when determining amount of people living below the poverty line

A majority of people claim middle-class status.

The median net worth of an American under age 35 is $11,100

Value Argument in society

The most important jobs in society are paid accordingly based upon their importance.

43 million people in the United States live below the official poverty line, and millions more live barely above it.

The top 1% possess 33% of the wealth in the country.

In 40 states, workers needed to earn more than two times the minimum wage in order to afford

basic housing.

Food insecure

When families don't have access to enough food for active and healthy lives for all members of the household.

Absolute Poverty

a lack of basic necessities, such as food, shelter and income

Relative Poverty

a situation where people are falling behind the average income or life style enjoyed by the rest of society. *College homelessness and food insecurity *Student Debt Crisis--$1,696,047,311,620

If we hold individuals accountable for their poverty, we fail to make society accountable for making investments in human development that are necessary to ____________________________.

alleviate poverty

Welfare reform successes are greater among families with ______________________ than among other low income families

assisted housing

Suburban supermarkets have the lower food prices and wider selection but the poor are likely to reside in

central cities and rural areas.