Poverty Case

Poverty is a huge issue, even in the United States, and very heavily impacts the children of our nation. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, data shows that the poverty rate in our nation rose to 15.1 percent (46.2 million) in the year 2010 which is the highest it’s been since 1993. The majority of our citizens who are below the poverty line are either African-American or Hispanic. These disparities are associated with the historical marginalization of ethnic minority groups and entrenched barriers to good education and jobs. U.S. Census data reveals that from 2009 to 2010, the total number of children under age 18 living in poverty increased to 16.4 million from 15.5 million. The child poverty rate rose from 20.7 percent in 2009, to 22 percent in 2010, and this is the highest it has ever been since 1993. Racial and ethnic disparities in poverty rates persist among children as well. The poverty rate for African-American children was 38.2 percent and 32.3 percent for Hispanic children.

Poverty, especially when discussing children, is definitely a sociological issue. Poverty is defined as the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support. According to our textbook, there is both relative and absolute poverty. Relative poverty means that some people lack resources that are taken for granted by others and this type of poverty exists and is very common in all societies. Absolute poverty is a lack of resources that can be life threatening, which is more common in third-world countries. The issue of poverty falls into under sociological term, global stratification, which is an uneven distribution of privileges, material rewards, opportunities, power, prestige and influence among individuals and groups. More simply put, it is the patterns of social inequality in the world as a whole (Macionis 2012).

They go into detail about how family poverty is associated with a child’s health, achievement, and behavior.