Solving Poverty
There are two main explanations to poverty, the cultural and structural. Sociologists mostly use the structural causes to explain the poverty in America. The cultural issue puts more fault and cause on the individual and the “culture” they create—making it seems like a repetitive cycle. Nonetheless, poverty is a very complex issue, even though culture and the individual do play a part, there is much more to it and thus the structural causes explanation comes in. With even the causations and explanation being so complex the solution must also be multi-faceted and flexible—being able to conform in many different situations and settings. Looking at history and seeing how others have faced the issue of poverty in their societies could lead us to find some answers. This paper will be studying zakat—a charitable tax found in Islam—and seeing if it can mitigate the plight of the poor in America.
The cultural argument states that poor people are raised to become poor. Their way of living—their culture—entraps them to the lowest class. The culture of poverty has traits such as laziness, no work ethic, and no responsibility. Looking at this, poverty can be blamed on families and thus the deterioration of social morals and ethics. In the end this explanation puts all the blame on individuals in that they themselves produce their situation by not getting out of it. This explanation has become a general excuse or belief in the U.S and can even be glimpsed in the rhetoric of policy-makers. It has become so common that there are phrases like—pull yourself up from your bootstraps. In a fashion this explanation also keeps the status quo making a kind of poverty caste system.
The structural causes explanation of poverty argue...
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...r something that has its source from Islam in their government. It can be seen from recent mosque protests that, even a place of worship comes to instill the fear of the sharia in people’s minds. Whereas sharia is something very complex and not a monolithic canon of law (it’s very flexible)—and most countries that say they practice it really don’t plus forget everyone else most Muslims don’t want a sharia themselves. Islam being such a controversial issue, it might not be possible to use zakat. However, the general idea was that society and individuals themselves are responsible for many aspects of poverty and it is their responsibility and duty to fix in the end for their own benefit.
Works Cited
Senturk, Omer Faruk. A Comprehensive Guide to Zakat Charity in Islam. New Jersey: The Light Inc., 2007.
Gohari, M. J. The Quran. Oxford: Quran Institute, 2007. Print.
Gorski, P. (2010/2011). The Myth of the Culture of Poverty. Annual Editions: Social Problems 10/11 , pp. 67-70.
The cultural side being how a person is raised and the values that come from that. Whereas the structural side is based mostly in the government. However, as the article progresses, it becomes clear that Haskins and Sawhill lean more toward the cultural aspect rather than the structural side. The authors inform the reader of the structural issues that worsen poverty. Nevertheless, a great deal of the ideas Haskins and Sawhill introduce in the article are culturally based. Motivation and tradition seem to be the article’s main focus when it comes to culture. The motivation that comes from within, to the traditional family home, which instills the correct values. A family’s structure is an intricate part of the cultural side of poverty. Whether a child has one parent, especially a mother, or two
Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.
If I had the power to abolish poverty in the United States I would do
The culture of poverty resonates from the social theory that elaborates on the cycle of poverty. This theory suggests that the poor do not lack resources but have acquired a poverty- value system. The marginalization of the poor due to their social status of an individual, has created a society that is a society based on the income or wealth they become class conscious. From the paper, it becomes apparent that the culture of poverty creates a prejudice attitude towards a group of people, as it encourages them to think that people are poor or rich because it is what they want. This paper has used examples of different times in history, to support its arguments.
Throughout Islam, there are many rituals and things that are required of Muslims. In Islamic cultures, females wear Hijab, a head covering that is often worn in public. In the movie Aladdin, the women in the marketplace are wearing Hijab. Another reference to Islam is when Aladdin gives away the bread that he and Abu stole at the beginning of the movie to two children who were also seemingly living on the streets. A huge part of Islam is charity, so much so that according to Joseph Liu (2012), all able Muslims are required to make donations to the poor. “The amount is typically 2.5% of a person’s total wealth, not just annual income” (Liu,
These readings helped me understand the conditions before and after the implications of Zakah in Islamic religion. Even though it is a great idea that all people from all religion should practice this charity to help the poor. Unfortunately, the Zakah or Zakat is rarely practiced and some Muslims give Zakah privately, the reason for this is the confusion of how much should be given now. Since the amount when it was practiced centuries ago from older systems that measured the wealth from individual property. As stated by Sirat (1969, p. 319), “there is confusion among the concepts of Zakah, other alms, and taxes to the government. Many people believe that when they give money for taxes or alms it is the same as Zakah.” The idea of Zakah is not practices for the stated reasons. It is a gloomy thought to think that this is no longer practiced in a religion that had the great honor to act in the grace of Allah to help the
Harvey L. D., Reed M.H., The Culture of Poverty: An Ideological Analysis, Sociological Perspective, Volume 29, NO.4 (Winter 1996), pp. 465-495
...of hard earned money to Mosques which would distribute the money to the poor on behalf of the Muslims who donated. As well as this, Zakah is one of the Pillars of Islam, and Muslims are obligate to comply with Zakah. Mosque help Muslims to give Zakah as the Mosques distributes to the poor helping Muslims to fulfil their Zakah.
There are mainly two kinds of zakat which are Zakat ul-Fitr and Zakat al-mal. We should pay zakat because Allah (SWT) commands in Al-Quran, “Take alms out of their property, you would cleanse them and purify them thereby pray for them and surely your prayer is a relief to them and Allah is hearing and knowing.” [Al-Quran 9:103] Besides that, Allah will destroy Riba (usury) and will give increase for Sadaqat (deeds of charity, alms) Allah also likes not the disbelievers, sinners and whatever you give for interest to increase within the wealth of people will not increase with Allah. But what you give in Zakat, desiring the countenance of Allah - those are the multipliers.” [AlQuran 30:39]
Poverty is one of critical issues that faced by many countries in this world nowadays. This problem incurred due to the inequality in the society which can be reduced by implementation of zakat. It has been supported by the study done by Kusuma and Sukmana (2010) that mentioned about the importance of zakat in the socio-economic framework of Islam and how it can be used to reduce the inequality in the society.
Social issues are problems in the society today that are described as wrong, widespread and changeable. A category of conditions that people believe need to be changed. Poverty is a serious social issue in the society today. According to Peilin (2012), poverty brings hardships to families and individuals as well as political thereby negatively affecting the social stability and social development and posing a severe threat to human security (p. 243). This paper focuses on poverty as a social issue in today’s society. First, it gives a succinct introduction of the social issue, and then describes how it fits into the field of sociology. It also evaluates the sociological theories and terminology that relate to the social issue. The section that follows evaluates what is known and unknown about the particular social issue. This is followed by a discussion regarding the value of sociological research into the issue determining the available or possible practical implications of the sociological inquiry. The information presented here is strongly supported by the concepts and theories derived from reliable sources.
Zakat is the third pillar of Islam. It is an Arabic word, and translates as purification or growth. It is generally thought of as a tax, as the contributor should pay 2.5% of their wealth to charity. However, Zakat is valued not because of the money given, but the motive behind it. The intentions for giving Zakat should be pure, and simply about pleasing Allah, and earning good deeds.
Poverty is a major problem in the United States today. Social, economical, political, and cultural factors all contribute to poverty. Education and economic development are two major issues that will help prevent poverty. The United States Census Bureau defines poverty as an "economic condition in which people lack sufficient income to obtain basic needs for food, housing, clothing, health services and education." In other words, poverty is powerlessness, a lack of representation and freedom. Poverty is an issue that the world faces everyday.
To begin, there are two main types of poverty in the world, non-income and income poverty (ZPRP). Non Income Poverty is when people may have money, but only a little to keep themselves alive (ZPRP). They don’t have the money to afford physical services and social events such as schooling, work, medicines, health care, sanitation, and transportation (ZPRP). The best way to condense the cause of non-income poverty is to make sure that individuals have access to inexpensive and exceptional social services, that they feel safe when in their homes and that they have family and friends to protect them when needed (ZPRP). Income poverty is when people are living on less than 1 dollar a day, which is far from the normal amount a family can survive on (ZPRP). They tend to not have fresh food and water, medicine, live in poor houses, sometimes no houses, and have dirty and ragged clothes (ZPRP). Just as there are many types of poverty, there are many effects to it to.