What is the purpose of this article? What is the author saying? What are the main points? Robert G. Valleta, starts the article by stating “inequality in market income has increased since the 1990’s” (2004, pg 1). He then compares and contrasts the four major industrialized countries Canada, Germany, United States, and Great Britain to analyze which social factors effect which country the most. The social factors mentioned in the article are family structure, employment, and income inequality and how they differ between the countries as well as showcasing similar statistics. In the next portion of the article, Valleta begins a cross – section to each of the countries and in detail describes how each social factor contributes …show more content…
One of his sources did a similar study, but focusing on the dynamics of child poverty (Bradbury, Jenkins, and Micklewright 2001 as cited in Valleta 2004). This study had similar viewpoints as Valleta’s however, focused more on the negative influences parental figures have as well as education. Throughout the article, the author has provided graphs and tables to provide a visual understanding to his statistics. The graphs also display the statistics of the other countries mention in the article, allowing for a compare and contrast …show more content…
Valleta’s theoretical perspective on this study showcases similar characteristics to the social conflict theory. The graph provided shows the statistics for non-poor, short-term poor, and long-term poor. It also displays some social classes and how it effects each category differently. Looking at the education category, the high level educated individuals have a lower always poor rating and a higher non-poor rating. This suggests once you are in the higher levels, it is harder to fall into lower level classes and vice versa. The author does a good job not showing bias towards one perspective allowing for a critical analysis of the issue.
What are the strengths and limitations of this article? The strengths of this article is it presents scientific facts to back up Valleta’s opinion. Using graphs and cross – sections of each country allows for strong evidence which helps clarify. Another strength is that the article does not focus on one dynamic. By not focusing on one particular perspective, it allows the reader of the study to become multi-dimensional on the issue. A weakness to the article is it does not go in-depth about the anti-poverty programs provided. Going more in depth about anti-poverty programs could provide an example of how we could reduce poverty rates instead of just mentioning