Poverty Essay, Research Paper
Poverty
Many citizens have become ruthless victims from poverty. Perhaps
some of these people could have prevented their socioeconomic downfall by
planning decisions and setting goals. There are many things that they must
decide to do in order to eliminate themselves from being a victim of
downward mobility. For each of their important decisions they have to set
goals to reach. However, should they start falling from their
socioeconomic status, they must be prepared to cope with the situations.
Most theorists would agree that there are two factors that
influence downward mobility. The rich and the poor. As one moves from one
class to another there are a number of changes that take place. Some can
be large and some can be small. People would think that small changes
would not be as significant as large changes. The real truth is that
people do not realize that the little small changes add up to equal a large
change. Changes lay the foundation for which type of person will belong to
a certain social stratification. Anytime a change occurs one must beware
that they might be entering into a crisis.
In the Chinese culture, if one would break up the word crisis, they
would find that the word means opportunity and danger-threat. One might
gather that the word crisis is bad, but it could also relate to a good
situation. What the word crisis is trying to say is that it is a dangerous
situation where there is opportunity at the same time. People who are in a
crisis must evaluate their situational priorities and the available
opportunities.
Karl Marx might argue “capitalism would inevitably cause the
expansion of the lumpenproletariat”(Kornblum 235). Luck plays a major part
in capitalism. The more often one examines their situation, they are more
likely to improve their personal gain. I believe that luck is where
opportunity meets preparedness. When opportunity arises, one must be
prepared to adjusting their behavior accordingly. With preparedness, one
needs to invest time. Those who take the time to be prepared will be
empowered to advance in society instead of stagnate and also increase their
social stratification.
There is much opportunity in our society. Most of the opportunity
is hidden, or one might be informally excluded from it. According to
William Kornblum, “wages of the lowest paid government employee’s rise very
slowly of at all” (Kornblum 237). Poor people are always discriminate
against, thus making it extremely difficult to obtain opportunity to pull
themselves out of the slum of poverty. However, opportunity can be
minimized or enhanced. The more opportunity one can distinguish will only
improve the amount of influence of what is done in the future.
People who have become victims of poverty also suffer from learned
helplessness. For instance, if an individual’s employment is terminated,
one would take the first job opportunity that came their way and make less
money. However, if they would have chosen to reexamine their priorities,
they could have exercised delayed gratification by going to school and
finding a more satisfying career that has better pay.
Wealth, power, and prestige are three factors that can be termed a
hierarchy that has a drastic effect on mobility. Myron Gutmann of the
University of Texas, Austin writes, “… one’s place in the hierarchy is
intimately related to power and wealth. I think that for the most part
social place is independently determined, and gives you access to power and
wealth … it also determines your ability to reproduce your social status
through marriage; and it gives you visible prestige (Gutmann).” The term
hierarchy sounds great in which one automatically gains wealth, power, and
prestige. Consequently, majorities of people are not born into this
hierarchy.
Assuming that a person is not born into this hierarchy, how can one
acquire the wealth, power, and prestige necessary to stay clear of poverty?
They must examine all of their opportunities. Also, one must learn how to
deal with anxiety that accompanies important decisions. Repression is the
most common way of dealing with anxiety, but it only puts the anxiety into
one’s unconscious. Thus, it will be with the person until they are ready
to deal with it or conform to the rest of the population and develop a
scapegoat.
Realistically it is somewhat not important to fall into downward
mobility. Society shapes the poverty class into the slum of the earth by
applying labels to disadvantaged people. Wealth, power, and prestige are
desires of most everyone. If people want to void this trend, they should
work on their social character. Likewise, it will include them into the
world of the informally excluded. With this in mind, one should remember
these words from Irv Risch, “Men of genius are admired; men of wealth are
envied; men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted”
(Risch).