A few days ago, a woman with four small children in front of me had a basket full of groceries that I would’ve been unable to pay for. Before making her payment, she told the worker that she would be paying with food stamps. A couple behind me made comments amongst themselves about their opinion and even though it wasn’t too nice, it had me thinking about the money taken away from my paychecks for programs that help provide food for that women and her children. The government sponsored program which is technically named as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a controversial topic that some believe aids individuals while others believe it is a program to be dependent on. According to data from the US Department of Agriculture,…show more content… He felt that Social Solidarity – shared moral sentiments and the feelings of obligation towards others that those sentiments evoke -- was the glue that holds a society together (Kouri, PPT, Emile Durkheim, slide 8). If food stamps are one of the many programs that supported individuals who can’t support themselves, Durkheim would feel that the food stamps program was very necessary for the greater good because it was society’s responsibility to take care of each other. People would eventually develop organic solidarity. They would come to the realization that they were more dependent upon each other than they ever were before – and they would come to make sure that everyone was cared for. (Kouri, PPT, Emile Durkheim, slide 25).
Both theorists have parts of their ideology that can be used to support the state of the issue raised in the introduction. If we look at the Food Stamp Program as a “social” problem, and call it what it is – a “welfare program”, Marx had concerns with social welfare creating in the worker a complacency with his labor conditions in a capitalistic system. Marx had the more “romantic” view that an individual sought happiness or fulfillment beyond labor rather than through it. Where freedom was thought of as beyond
