Poverty In America Essay

Words: 836
Pages: 4

There are many different definitions of poverty, and many social scientists disagree on how to define poverty (Wagle, 2002). For this paper's sake, poverty is defined in survival criteria. Poverty is the inability to acquire the minimum food calorie intake and live the basic life (as cited by Hagenaars 1991; MacPherson and Silburn 1998). Poverty is one of America’s continuous battles and possibly one of America’s largest social problems. Over the years, many programs have been created to assist American families who are in poverty, but it has not eliminated poverty. Food stamps, unemployment benefits, and social security benefits are just a few government programs to help reduce poverty.
Almost 15 million children in the United States live at or below the poverty line, which is the second highest (20%) among developed countries (Chang, 2015). With poverty, follows a combination of environmental and emotional stressors. The stressors that follow can cause behavior and mood inconsistency.
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There are few opportunities to move out of poverty, but when there are opportunities it’s often for individuals who are trained or educated, which isn’t as realistic for individuals without money. In rural America, jobs are scarce and unstable. On rare occasions, though, new industries are created in rural communities to boost the local economy, but they usually bring in outside workers due to the lack of qualifications in the rural community (Tickamyer & Duncan, 1990). According to Tickamyer & Duncan (1990) over time, many plants move to rural communities to boost the local economy and to save money, but many rural plants move offshore to save more money, thus rural communities are struggling economically once again. Even with the economic boosts in rural areas, unemployment remains high in rural