Hat Does Poverty Mean and to What Extent Can Growing Poverty Be Blamed on the Advance of Globalization

What does poverty mean and to what extent can growing poverty be blamed on the advance of globalization? Give examples.

The issue of poverty has been widely debated in the society recently because people in backward areas where have no food, clean water and good environment even cannot live. In the 2009 Human Development Report (Heywood, 2014), life expectancy in sub-Saharan African in 2010 was 54.17 years; 74 per cent of the population was estimated to be undernourished and only 30 per cent had access to improved sanitation. Nowadays, poverty is not only a national problem but also becomes a poignant problem in the world. According to Waldman (2013), in America 2011, 16.1 million children (21.9% of all children) less than 18 years of age lived in poverty. As a result, eradicating poverty has become the international community's number one development objective. It is an important issue because it concerns the development of countries and the effect of globalization on poverty. Therefore, this essay will first discuss the definition of poverty: absolute poverty; relative poverty and then discuss the globalization intensify to the poverty in three ways^[a].

Firstly, Poverty is divided into absolute poverty; relative poverty and the measures of poverty are poverty line and purchasing power parity (PPP). Poverty is defined 'by reference to the views of society as a whole' based on 'a widespread social consensus about what constitute the necessities of life' (Mack and Lansley, 1985).

First, it can be confirm that absolute poverty mainly refers to individual labor cannot maintain the basic survival needs. Heywood (2014) stated that absolute poverty is founded on the idea of ‘basic needs’ like food, clothing, shelter and it is based on an income level or access to resources. So, in terms of production of poverty, material conditions are difficult to maintain its own simple reproduction; In terms of consumption of poverty, people cannot satisfied with the minimum condition like the basic necessities of life. For example, an individual may be considered absolute poverty if she lacks basic food or shelter or, equivalently, if she lacks income to buy these basic needs. According to Laderchi (2003), where the availability of a survival minimum is felt as a pressing issue (i.e. generally in developing countries), absolute standards are more often adopted. 

Second, compared with absolute poverty, relative poverty is more emphasis on difference with others and a standard of living defined in relation to the position of other people in the income distribution. It is clear that relative poverty mainly refers to people psychological instead of basic needs. Heywood (2014) claimed that relative poverty is a subjective calculation that based on feelings of deprivation and disadvantage created by the gap between the poor and the rest of society. For example, in the developed capitalist society, the state of the economy of workers' proved to be richer, but compared with the rich of the exploiting classes, their life, is relatively poor. Besides, relative standards are mostly adopted in countries where it is assumed that all have access to the means to ensure survival. (Bellu, 2005). According to the different definitions of poverty, measurement methods are also different. As a result, Lorenzo (2005) stated that poverty is usually measured by the value, in real terms, of a given level of goods ensuring some form of minimum subsistence (e.g. the value of basic food or the minimum income required to have decent lives).