Sociology: The Poverty Trap (MLA Format))

It is self evident as to why one can be torn between two different perspectives on the controversial state of poverty, and whether or not it is an individual problem. Or in this particular instance, if social-welfare programs hurt or help those living under poor and needy circumstances. I have researched both sides in an unbiased fashion, and come to the conclusion that yes, from one perspective poverty is an individual problem based mainly on poor choices one might make in life. People have the freedom of three things in life: responsibilities, choices, and consequences. One must make choices based on their responsibilities, and then, in return, be willing to accept the consequences of their choices. That way, when someone falls under destitution, they have no one to blame but themselves. On the other hand, there’s society and the government. Under certain circumstances one may not have a choice whether or not they live in poor conditions. Completely eliminating all social-welfare is not the lone solution in reducing poverty.
The majority of people in this world have a tendency to fall in to what I like to call their comfort zone, and when they happen to stumble upon this zone moving away from it is not so easy at times.

Cross-national poverty rates vary because the distribution of pretax income is more unequal in some countries than others. Some nations have larger shares of citizens working in low paying jobs, higher unemployment rates, more labor-force dropouts, larger elderly populations, and/or more single parent families. Each of these can be expected to produce more households with earnings below the poverty level…(Kenworthy).

Although I addressed two different arguments and/or opinions, I feel as though poverty is more than an individual problem, but a social problem as well. Society’s views and standards may cause the instance of poverty to be an individual’s problem, but not solely one person’s problem specifically, if that makes sense to you at all. Society has something to do with it, whether it be employers laying a worker off, not providing them with the training necessary to live (and no, high school does not count), or discriminating against race, mentioned above. The elimination of programs such as the TANF is would not benefit those in need, nor would it reduce poverty as a whole. The solution is simple, coordinate all welfare programs to the standard of TANF, where the time and funds to the recipients are limited. This way those who line under these poor conditions will gain some initiative to help themselves as well as the community.

es. Individuals are well aware of the fact that social-welfare will continue to be provided by the government as long as it is needed and the person in need fully qualifies. The problem here is because the needy person(s)