Poverty In Sociology

Many non-profit organizations focus their missions on helping those in poverty, but they are addressing the problem on the individual level. This might make a difference for that one person or family, but not to the thousands of others who are in very similar situations due to circumstances of their demographic group. Studying poverty holistically, in relation to specific groups, is an essential step to solving the problem of poverty as a whole. There are a few, wide-spread, solvable social problems involving employment that are facing the groups of women and transgender people that play a significant role in how they came to live under the poverty line. The issue of employment includes: underemployment, unequal wages and hiring discrimination.

When the demographics of poverty are exhibited, racial, educational, and economic differences receive the most attention. However, gender is one of the largest demographic groups one person can

According to Repko, “Sociology views the world as a social reality that includes the range of and the nature of the relationships that exist between people in any given society (Repko, 2012, p. 103).” They look at social structure, gender, family types, classes, ethnic and racial divisions and social ideology (109). Most social sciences embrace more than one epistemology. The epistemology of sociology is primarily modernist. They share a rationalist epistemology with other social sciences and “the assumption that knowledge is socially constructed and that knowledge… can change the course of history if applied properly. (Repko, 2012, p. 115).” The weakness in this approach is that human opinion and data gathered could have several alternate explanations (119). The assumptions sociologists make vary widely. Data gathered can be effected by cultural factors, education, learned behavior, or social bias. They also assume that people are primarily motivated by the desire for social status (Repko, p.