Poverty - A Social Problem In Today's Society

Student`s Name Course Instructor Date Analytic Memos Describing the Problem Poverty is among the social problems present in society today. The fact that most people live below the poverty line and in most cases have to beg from the few who are rich, means that this is a real societal problem. A good number of people cannot afford the basic needs and live in ill health due to this. A number of factors have contributed to the poverty problem in society. Laziness is one reason for this whereby people are not ready to venture out, and create job opportunities for themselves, but instead choose to sit and wait for help. Poverty is also the effect of bad decisions. For example, there is a common trend of poor people giving birth to many children who have to share few resources. Lack of jobs in society also results to poverty. Theoretical Perspectives The symbolic interactionism perspective focuses on the use of symbols that have a unique meaning for those who create them. In this perspective, the communication process provides the means for people to construct meaning and behavior is motivated by self-concept. According to this perspective there is stratification implying that the poor have different symbols with their own meanings and interpretations while the wealthy also have their own. Based on the concept of symbols, the poor tend to choose those that depict the culture of poverty, and this can include friends. Therefore, this means that by associating with other poor people individuals end up being in the same state too (Decker N.p). There is a slight difference between this explanation and the first one. This is where the first case focused on poverty as being an effect of both individual and societal problems in creating jobs and opportunities. However, the theoretical perspective blames individuals for creating that culture of poverty through associating with other equally poor people. Article on Contemporary Social Problem An Aljazeera artic...