It seems that while for some, urban life provides more opportunities, many people end up in the slums because they lack the skills or experience necessary to compete. The city does not offer enough jobs for everyone, nor does it have adequate social compensation or training programs that might help people enter the workforce. Poverty becomes a perpetual cycle. Newcomers arrive with hopes and dreams, then find themselves in a family and in a favela at the same time.
Discontent and hunger drive the people to the lowest standards possible. "Only those who have gone hungry know the value of food," says Carolina (page 53). It is not their fault that they live in filth, deprivation, and violence; these things come with extreme poverty. They become trapped in this mindset, and raise their children to survive in the same way. Children who grow up in poverty find it harder to succeed in mainstream society later on. They have the barest survival skills -- they know how to sort through garbage, beg, and steal -- but they lack the refinement characteristic of the higher classes. They also face discrimination from employers and others, so that it is difficult to rise above where they came from. Thus the cycle continues, and only a few escape the trap.
It seems that urbanization is harder on women than men. The primary reason for this is that women are liable to get saddled with children, often without fathers to help raise them. Women who are separated from their matrilineal clans - such as the Guajiros - no longer have access to birth control. Also, they are encountering a new phenomenon: men have the ability to leave them pregnant and alone. In their own clan, their kin would have helped raise the children; this is no longer the case once the woman is alone in the city. Overall, men have it easier because they are not required to help raise any children that they have produced. Nor do they have to carry the infant, a state that is an impediment to work or any kind of physical labor. Thus they are more likely to be hired, hold a job, and remain independent.
Were Carolina independent, she might have been able to save money and get herself out of the favela. However, she fell into the same trap that captured many women: single motherhood.
Inner City Communities are often areas which are both densely populated and deteriorating(quote). The areas and its residents have strongly been correlated with social and economical disparity. Residents of inner city communities have been plagued with problems including: “high unemployment, poor health care, inadequate educational opportunities, dilapidated housing, high infant mortality, and extreme poverty” (Attitudes and Perceptions, n.d). Though the inner city communities have been stricken with
In the favela of São Paulo, Brazil, 1958, Carolina Maria de Jesus rewrote the words of a famous poet, “In this era it is necessary to say: ‘Cry, child. Life is bitter,’” (de Jesus 27). Her sentiments reflected the cruel truth of the favelas, the location where the city’s impoverished inhabited small shacks. Because of housing developments, poor families were pushed to the outskirts of the city into shanty towns. Within the favelas, the infant mortality rate was high, there was no indoor plumbing or electricity, drug lords were governing forces, drug addiction was rampant, and people were starving to death. Child of the Dark, a diary written by Carolina Maria de Jesus from 1955 to 1960, provides a unique view from inside Brazil’s favelas, discussing the perceptions of good
Some people believe that poverty is beneficial. For example, Herbert J. Gans. is a big fan of poverty. In his essay, “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All,” he explains the benefits of having poor people in society. “The existence of poverty ensures that society’s “dirty work” will be done.” -Herbert J. Gans (Gans, 1971.) He believes that the poverty level needs to be relatively high to support the comfortable lives of middle and upper class people. The working poor support the other classes. However, it is very difficult for people in the lower class to make a move upwards. Generally in the “dirty jobs” pay very little and there is little to no opportunity for advancement. Often times, there is an ascribed status for those in the lower class. Since their parents were poor, they have little to no opportunities to have a life any different. It is very difficult for these individuals to attend college, due to rising tuition prices. In today’s society it is nearly impossible to attain a high paying job without a college degree. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs have been moved overseas to save money, but that means finding work in America is very difficult (Frontline Charts, 2013.) Even if they can find work, wages for such jobs have been dropping and are often not enough to support a family or even
Economic inequality is ingrained in our society. Because of this fact, many would argue that “that’s just how it is,” but in reality this is not how a community is suppose to function. As Michael Sandel writes in his book Justice, “As inequality deepens, rich and poor live increasingly separate lives.” Sandel makes an excellent point. As economic divisions, such as the ones present in the United States, worsen, the classes diverge on every level. Wealthy people attend different schools, purchase luxury cars, and live in gated communities. Meanwhile, the poor live in squalor, use public transportation, and attend failing schools. Aside from the lack of a quality education making it harder to escape poverty, the poor are from birth at a disadvantage to those on the other side of the economic scale. The United States is not a land of guaranteed equality of result, that is...
One of the main causes of poverty is a lack of money. There are some families that do have at least one person employed in the household but the money earned is not enough to provide for the family. Tough decisions such as paying rent buying groceries become a daily challenge for struggling households. Those living in households headed by people with no high school degree are the most likely to enter poverty. Limited options in the job market make it hard for those without degrees the ability to find jobs that will pay above minimum wage. Many Americans earn less than the nation’s median income which hinders most Americans from living a life free of hunger. Children who grow up in poverty suffer more persistent, frequent, and severe health problems than do children who grow up under better financial circumstances. Children of poverty are at an extreme disadvantage and cycle ends up repeating itself until the pattern is somehow
Both qualitative and quantitative studies on migration and poverty suggest that migration is selective with respect to income and earning capacity. Fitchen (1995) and Lichter et al. (2010) examined the role that migration plays in the relationship between poor people and poor places. Fitchen’s (1995) study described an eastern New York town experiencing increasing welfare caseloads and urban exodus. Vacated buildings and storefronts in the downtown were bought up by out-of-town investors, subdivided into multi-dwelling apartment buildings, and leased to low-income residents. Fitchen further described a trend of progressive movement, where people were displaced to less urban areas, resulting in a process of migration to rural areas that
People always say how they are so poor, but do they really know the meaning of being poor. People who live under the poverty line are the ones considered poor by the government. There are many people who suffer being in poverty. The Census Bureau’s articles says, “In 2014, the official poverty rate was 14.8 percent. There were 46.7 million in poverty,” (“2014 Highlights”). The percentage might not seem like a lot, but those are just the ones below the poverty line. There are many people who suffer who are just above the line or going back and forth. Another 1.9 billion people live just above it and struggle to make ends meet. (Lusted) Some even live in extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is those who can’t even have water, food, housing, and clothing. (Lusted) As for anyone in poverty though, it decreases their lifespan as these people don’t have the money for proper healthcare and nutrition. For one person in the 48 states excluding Hawaii and Alaska, the poverty line is set at $11,770. As you add more people to the family, t...
According to Schwartz-Nobel, America will lose as much as 130 billion in future productive capacity for every year that 14.5 American children continue to live in poverty (Koppelman and Goodhart, 2007). Sadly the seriousness of poverty is still often clouded by myths and misunderstandings by society at large. This essay studies the issue of poverty and classism in today's society.
While many people continue to live their lives in cities, some may come to the impression that they are “wasteful.” The individual who strives to do their best to eventually reach their dreams, and gain the material things they desire might not seem very effective, compared to the one who is content with their simple, more “pure” life in some vast land away from the city. However, there is a better chance of seeing more people like the former rather than the latter. Certainly, most people today do not live on farms, vacant marshes, or vast deserts, and instead live in cities. Most often, those people would avoid living in such provincial places because of their distinct conditions. Although if we were to determine which type of life is more
...from the free enterprise economy in the country. More often, they turn a blind eye to this economical system and blame the individuals suffering. Teenagers are directly affected; several of them turn to crime just to feed family members. Their class level and sociological location significantly increase their chances of remaining food insecure as adults.
No one person is born poor, although they may be born into a poor family or community, and therefore the focus should be on the society and the forces which created poverty that affect the lives of these people and cause them to be socially excluded. There are many forces which contribute to the exclusion of poor people from society, some of which include but not limited to Power, Class, Gender and Racial discrimination etc. These causes goes on to having negative such as poverty, Unemployment, inequality, Poor Health, homelessness, lack of education and training, poor social welfare etc. on the lives of these group of people.
Do the poor in this country have a choice not to be poor? Do the less fortunate have the same access to opportunities as the middle and upper classes? Do government programs designed to help the impoverished actually keep them in the lower ranks? These are all difficult and controversial questions. Conservatives and Liberals constantly battle over these issues in our state and federal governments. Local and national news media provide limited insight to the root causes and effects of the nation’s poor. There is obviously no simple solution to resolve the plight of these often forgotten citizens. Most of us associate poor as being in a class below the poverty line. In fact there are many levels of poverty ranging from those with nothing, to those with enough to survive but too little to move up. I believe many of our nation’s poor are so by their own doing. I will share observations and personal experiences to support the argument that being poor often is a result of individual choice. One needs merely inspiration and perspiration to move up the socio-economic ladder in the United States. We live in the land of opportunity where anyone with the drive and determination to succeed often can.
“Poverty at Large: A Dark Spot in Humanity.” Causes of Poverty, 25 March 2014. Web. 26
Those living in poverty have a lack of funds to invest in education, thus their schools lack the material and staff to probably train their students for future success. This lack of education is the root cause of poverty, because those with no education can’t compete for higher paying jobs that require basic understanding in subjects like math, such as being an accountant or bank manager. Their lack of education has limited their job opportunities, therefore limiting them from improving their lifestyle. Furthermore, poverty travels from generation to generation like an endless cycle. Also Children living in poverty have a higher number of absenteeism or leave school all together because they are more likely to have to work or care for family members. In addition, Dropout rates of 16 to 24-years-old students who come from low income families are seven times higher than those from families with higher incomes. Also Less than 30% of students in the bottom quarter of incomes enroll in a 4-year school. Among those less than 50% graduate from college(Dosomething). The lack of education and training for well-paying jobs inhabits these people from ever escaping the cycle of poverty. However, the reason many of these people lack the required education is simply that they can’t afford to attend school or earn a degree. Therefore, this allows them to only have jobs that offer little benefit, and
In conclusion, sometimes actions take place that changes a person’s outlook on life and as you can see poverty is one that can have a huge effect on not only one person, but also the people around him/ her.