Running head POVERTY AS A SOCIO-POLICY ISSUE
Povertyas a Socio-Policy Issue
Povertyas a socio-policy issue
Socialpolicy involves practices and study of state, societies, socialwelfare, healthcare, and welfare systems. Social policies include thefactors that affect entire or some members of the society. Thewelfare of members of a society refers their wellbeing i.e. security,happiness, comfort health, etc. and the desire to improve wellbeing(Walsh, M., Stephens, P., & Moore, S. 2000). Social policiesfocus on the provision of national services to safeguard and ensurethe wellbeing of the society, especially those who lack well-being.This paper focuses on poverty as a social issue. Poverty is more thanlack or inadequate income and productive resources that sustain alivelihood. However, factors that are used to describe povertyinclude hunger, malnutrition, limited access to social amenities,social discrimination, marginalization, and lack of involvementduring decision making.
Povertyand inequality are real in every country in the world no matter howwealthy the country is compared to other nations. In most cases thedeeper and real issues that facilitate poverty are not discussed.Most of the people afford to live on several dollars in a day. Thepoor people in the society have always had limited access toeducation, health, and other fundamental services. Problems such asdisease, hunger and malnutrition will always afflict those who arepoor in our societies. The poor have always been subject tomarginalization since they have little voice and representation inthe political and social arenas, making it very hard for them toescape poverty (Nayak, Oliveira & Berkes 2014).
Povertyon a world scale has some historical causes that make somecommunities to suffer for a long duration. Slavery, colonialism, war,and conquest are some of the major contributing factors to poverty inmany parts of the world. There are other conditions that havesignificantly facilitated poverty such as apathy, ignorance,dishonesty, disease, and dependency. Ignorance which is the lack ofinformation has been a key contributor to the modern-day poverty.People lack information that can improve their status and benefitthem. As a result, they remain in the state of poverty for lack ofinformation to enlighten them.
Socialpolicies should ensure that the entire society engages in activitiesthat eradicate poverty. Poverty eradication at an individual levelwould be an effective strategy, and it can be achieved throughempowerment. Information can be helpful to ensure that people are nolonger ignorant anymore. People require education on the possibleways to eradicate poverty in the society information is the besttool to use to empower individuals and realize their potential toachieve greatness (DiNitto & Johnson 2015). This policy alsomakes us know on the perils of dishonesty and its aftermath to thesociety.
Actsof corruption, mismanagement, and embezzlement of public funds meantto eradicate poverty in the society have some adverse effects on thesociety. Dishonest individuals should not be allowed to manage publicfunds if they are not faithful enough in serving the society. Thesociety should receive training on ways to depend on themselvesrather than having to borrow money from foreign nations every now andthen since it makes a country dependent on other nations. Issues suchas diseases can substantially contribute to a country being poor. Forthe economy of a country to thrive it requires healthy active peopleto take part in all sectors of production. However, there are somefactors that social policies on poverty cannot eliminate somephysical and historical factors associated with poverty cannot bereversed, but their impact can be reduced.
Acountry should have efficient means of controlling disease outbreaksso as to protect the all the members of the society who are essentialin eradicating poverty. A state of apathy should be highlydiscouraged people should not allow themselves to be in such a statethat they feel so powerless to come up with ideas for making thingsright. The New York Times (June 2015) addressed the issue on the rateof graduation and enrollment of the poor students in the learninginstitutions in America. The graduation gap has been very widebetween the rich and the poor, with the rich outnumbering the poor.
Accordingto New York Times, researchers in 2002, collaborated with theNational Center for Education Statistics, made an attempt to track15000 sophomores in high school. The project was named EducationalLongitudinal Study. The study divided the students into quartilesdepending on the various bases such as the education of theirparents, occupation and income. The lowest quartile had studentswhose parents had the lowest education and income compared to theothers, and in most cases they had unskilled jobs. The highestquartile contained students whose parents had the highest income andalso a high level of education, who were mostly managers andprofessionals in their occupations. Thirteen years later the studentsfrom the poor background, only 24% had been able to earn a bachelor’sdegree while 60% of those from the rich families had managed to earna bachelor’s degree (The New York Times).
Theresults of the study showed that poverty plays a significant role inthe underperformance of the poor students. Some had to drop out ofschool due to lack of fees and others just lacked the importance ofeducation and gave up along the way. The students from the wealthyfamilies had everything that they needed to do well in school, theachievements of their parents was a significant contribution to theirsuccess in school. Lack of quality education is a hindrance toquality jobs and high income. Top positions in any company orinstitution demand highly trained people, the poor students withouthigh qualifications will always shun away from such opportunitieseven when they are available. Lack of high academic achievementsdenies them an opportunity to earn big and change their status. Theresearch on poverty policy has given me a great opportunity to learna lot about the factors that facilitate poverty in our society. Icame to learn that poverty can also be a state of mind as in the caseof apathy.
Motivationis crucial it ignites the desire in people to achieve greatly.Motivation helps to change the mindset of people and make thempositive. People should realize that poverty can be eradicated byjoint efforts, just like the people of South Korea did, and theircountry was able to move from a third world to a middle-incomecountry. Education can be a lasting solution to poverty since peoplewill no longer be ignorant and will quickly identify opportunitiesthat can change their state (Ladd, 2012). When people acquire theright information on how to eradicate poverty chances are very highthat their state will also improve.
References
DiNitto,D. M., & Johnson, D. H. (2015). Socialwelfare: Politics and public policy.Pearson.
Ladd,H. F. (2012). Educationand poverty: Confronting the evidence.Journal of Policy Analysis
andManagement, 31(2), 203-227.
Nayak,P. K., Oliveira, L. E., & Berkes, F. (2014). Resourcedegradation, marginalization, and
povertyin small-scale fisheries:threats to social-ecological resilience in India and Brazil. Ecologyand Society, 19(2), 73.
NewYork Times (June 015), retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/upshot/for-the-poor-the-graduation-gap-is-even-wider-than-the-enrollment-gap.html?_r=2&abt=0002&abg=1
Walsh,M., Stephens, P., & Moore, S. (2000). Socialpolicy & welfare.Cheltenham, Glos., U.K: Stanley Thornes.