Sociology Social Disadvantage or Moral Failing †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about theSociologyfor Social Disadvantage or Moral Failing. Answer: Introduction The poverty rate in United States has fluctuated with time and the reasons and factors leading to poverty vary from individual to individual. Sociologists tend to explain poverty by means of cultural dependency, social disadvantage or moral failing. Some have also explained that poverty occurs due to unequal distribution of resource and opportunities in society (Williams et al., 2013).This report particularly looks at poverty in United States based on demographics and common characteristics of race, location and standard of living. The identification of particular group living in poverty and the common characteristics they possess will help to relate the finding to social problems and individual life status. It will evaluate whether individual factor or social factor results in poverty in certain groups in UK. Current Statistics on Poverty in United States In United States, the poverty is measured by poverty threshold which is the lack of those goods and services which is necessary for all members of mainstream society. This measure is adjusted based on inflation using the consumer price index. According to the official U.S. Census Bureau report of 2015, the poverty rate in U.S. is 13.5% and the 43.1 million people were living in poverty in that year. In most demographic group, the number of people living in poverty decreased from 2014 to 2015 (UC Davis Center for Poverty Research, 2017). The poverty rate is also higher in rural areas and inner locations of U.S. compared to other urban areas. The highest poverty rate was seen in California and in contrast, the lowest rate was seen in New Hampshire and Minnesota. Poverty Rates by Demographics and other Characteristics The U.S Census Bureau determine the poverty group people by calculating minimum amount of income needed to meet basic need based on size and composition of families. The group affected by poverty mainly includes homeless people, children, immigrants and autistic people. By race, the highest poverty rate is seen in American Indians, Alaskan native and African Americans. For example in 2014, 15.5 million children were living in poverty and more than 4.6 million among them were under 5 year age. Based on poverty by race, highest number of poor children was from Hispanic race compared to other race. In term of data on poverty rate by sex, large number of female was in poverty than in mean and this was mostly seen in elderly women. On the other hand, the poverty rate by location or residential area type revealed that poverty rate increased in suburban areas and decreased in rural areas. Considering different region of United States, the poverty rate was high in the South U.S. compared to other region (Institute for Research on Poverty | University of WisconsinMadison, 2017). Cause of Poverty in United States Sociological theory explains poverty by means of social structure and individual factors. With the change in time, the welfare system varied and it mainly includes factors like culture of worklessness, troubled families and sociopolitical system to explain poverty. There is also association of poverty with individual behavior such as unemployment and other family issues also lead to poverty. As poverty also occurs as a result of economic stratification, sociologist explains poverty by conflict theory and structural functionalist theory. Conflict theorists are of the opinion that stratification harm the society and unequal distribution creates economic advantage and disadvantage for different groups (Stratification, 2016). This section particularly analyzes the reason for poverty in certain groups with high poverty rate. There are many factors that have made certain group poor in United States. The main factors related to poverty included income level, unemployment, family type, ethnicity and policies. Poverty reports have shown that poverty rate is high in African Americans and Hispanic origin people compared to non-Hispanic Whites. The rate of poverty in minority groups occurs due to socioeconomic deprivation in this group of people. This minority group are mostly unemployed, have lower education and larger risk of being prisoners. It reflects that their demographic characteristics are similar to those of disadvantaged groups which explain the reason for being poor. They are also affected by discriminatory policies which prohibits their social development and standard of living. Hence, it reflects that income unequally distributed among leading to gap in well-being of ethnic and racial groups (Gradn, 2012). Poverty reports have also shown that poverty rate is high in immigrants and immigrants group mainly include Hispanic, Black, Asian and Whites. Immigrants account for 26.1% uninsured person in United States and this is due low level of education in them. The income and earning of immigrants is affected by poor skills and earning capacity. The implementation of appropriate reform policy is necessary to improve the earning capacity of immigrants despite their nativity (Marable, 2015). The United States has also pointed out to high rate of child poverty in United States with about 15 million children living in below federal poverty threshold. This reflect that the poverty rate is high because 43% children live in low-income families and their parents are struggling to make a living. They have low wages or unstable form of employment which impeded childrens ability to learn and expose them to social, emotional and behavioral risk. Children living in poverty are also at risk of poor heath particularly mental health due to persistent poverty. Hence, poverty is great threat to well-being of children and focus on this group is important to improve the poverty threshold of United States (NCCP | Child Poverty 2017). Conclusion From the report on poverty status and characteristics in United States, it is understood that minority groups, immigrants and children are the major contributor of poverty rate in the country. The study of poverty reports revealed poverty by demographics, region and residential areas. Furthermore exploration of the reason for poverty revealed common characteristics of race, social inequality and poor employment in certain group. From the sociological perspective, poverty is significantly posing risk for children and urgent public action is required to alleviate poverty by means of effective policy and social reforms for vulnerable group. Reference Gradn, C. (2012). Poverty among minorities in the United States: Explaining the racial poverty gap for Blacks and Latinos.Applied Economics,44(29), 3793-3804. Marable, M. (2015).How capitalism underdeveloped Black America: Problems in race, political economy, and society. Haymarket Books. NCCP | Child Poverty. (2017).Nccp.org. Retrieved 23 February 2017, from https://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html Stratification, S. C. (2016). Functionalism and Stratification, Socio-Cultural Evolution and Revolution. What is the current poverty rate in the United States? - UC Davis Center for Poverty Research. (2017).Poverty.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 23 February 2017, from https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/what-current-poverty-rate-united-states Who is poor? | Institute for Research on Poverty | University of WisconsinMadison. (2017).Irp.wisc.edu. Retrieved 23 February 2017, from https://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq3.htm Williams, F. (Ed.). (2013).Language and poverty: Perspectives on a theme. Elsevier.