Reflection on Poverty

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Reflection on Poverty Poverty Poverty, in my view, is not a one-dimensional lack, but a systematic form of deprivation: a stranglehold of low earnings, high pressure, low profit margins, and limited options, which accumulates over a period of time. I do not view poverty simply as a lack of money, but as a persistent diminution of time, attention, dignity, and leverage. It destroys the margin on which most of us cushion against minor shocks or a late train, or an ill child, and makes all the little frictions we daily experience a crisis. Poverty constricts futures the most; I find its social texture impressive as well. Anyone can see poverty in the line, in one group and out of the other, in clubs people avoid visiting, in the group not going to the club; it is an invisible sorting, and the sorting appears in the choice of clubs, the people we interact with, and the way people view others. I have a feeling that the right anti-poverty policy has less to do with charity and more to do with infrastructure: make it less volatile, more predictable cash-flow, less administration overhead, less case-making, more agent-making. When I think of a society managing poverty effectively, I envision a society where the institutions see low income as an environment to be accommodated rather than a defect of character to be punished in an environment where help is automatic, respectful, and quick. Using Sociological Theory Structural Functionalist. A structural functionalist would enquire what role poverty and the welfare system play in social order. Some may believe that part of the stratification puts roles in order and encourages work, and part of it is the stabilizing effect of social policy in shock-proofing families. A mixed economy of welfare (state, market, and informal care) is seen to maintain equilibrium, whereby all elements undergo a reduction in stigma and transaction costs; where welfare is indicative of belonging, social integration, and where stigmatizing systems are dysfunctional (withdrawal...