Sociology Chapter 6

Front 1

Blaming the Poor:
Advocates maintain saying?
Many Americans have attributed economic failure to ?

Back 1

Advocates maintain "you can make it" if you work hard and compete with others wholehearteldly
Attributed economic failure to laziness and incompetence in disadvantaged individuals and groups.

Front 2

The culture of poverty:
What causes the perpetual cycle of poverty?
What beliefs and behaviors associated with poverty?
What makes children ill-equipped to enter social mainstream as they enter adulthood?

Back 2

Children learn poverty induced values and attitudes from their parents
behaviors - apathy, resignation, fatalism, no schooling, unstable family life, mistrust of authority
Negative orientation toward life and work makes them ill equipped to enter society mainstream

Front 3

The Nature of Poverty:
Absolute Deprivation Approach

Back 3

Relies on income as the determinant
Assumption is that family requires minimum amount of money to secure basic necessities of life.
Classified as poor if it fails to earn that minimum amount.

Front 4

Poverty Index Changes:
How has proportion of Americans living in poverty changed from 1970-early 2000's ?

Back 4

Almost the same now as in the early 70's
With relying on income only to measure poor is that it ignores food stamps, healthcare, school lunches.
Poorest families may spend twice of their reported income.

Front 5

Relative Deprivation Approach:
Define
1994 Mayer-Jencks study:

Back 5

definition of poverty rests on what the people believe are their minimum needs
study showed - poorest households are much more likely to have bathroom, heat, a/c , telephone, and dishwasher than the poorest households in the 1970's

Front 6

Who are the Poor?
Minority Status

Back 6

Far more of the poor are white than black
About 1/10 whites are in poverty
about 1/4 blacks and 1/5 hispanics are poor

Front 7

Who are the Poor?
How many Men are poor?
How many Women are poor?

Back 7

14.7 million men
19.8 million women

Front 8

Family Structure :
What type of family constitute the largest segment of population living in poverty?

Back 8

Female-headed families.

Front 9

The Impact of Poverty:
Health

Back 9

Infant mortality rates are higher in low income families
Average lifespan is 7 years shorter than that of non poor

Front 10

The Impact of Poverty:
Housing

Back 10

High-rise public housing projects rienforced concentraion of poor people in urban areas
Projects are decreasing (replaced by townhouses)

Front 11

The Impact of Poverty:
Family Life

Back 11

Family instability more common
Marriages, pregnanices occur earlier age
Divorces happen higher rate
Incidents of family diputes and voilence are more frequent.

Front 12

The Impact of Poverty:
Attitudinal Responses

Back 12

Many non-poor people reject, despise poor
Some cannot find work to escape welfare no matter how hard they try

Front 13

The Impact of Poverty:
Education

Back 13

Lack of education is an cause and effect of poverty
Among poverty families 1/5 heads in households did not graduate high school
No incourragment at home

Front 14

Work and Welfare:
Welfare has?

Back 14

welfare has utilized billions of tax dollars yet failed to bring the problem of poverty under control
Welfare is a trap creating dependencey on welfare.

Front 15

Welfare Reform:
Who wrote a book (1984) that attacked welfare system for prolonging rather than eliminating it?
What act was passed in a atempt to reform welfare?

Back 15

Charles Murray
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996

Front 16

1996 Legislation:
during the 1990's ?

Back 16

reduced number of families recieving welfare by 60% to lowest percentage since 1960
reduction in welfare caseload matched decline in poverty itself.

Front 17

Sociological Perspectives: Functionalist

Back 17

Poverty are necessary part of out social system. Hiearchy of rewards created social stratification where poor people receive relatively little.

Front 18

Sociological Perspectives: Conflict

Back 18

Capitalist society promotes interests of those owning the means of production and exploit those who do not
When full national program address problems it will be overcame

Front 19

Sociological Perspectives: Feminist

Back 19

Standpoint Theory: argue life experience structure a persons understanding of life, research bust begin from concrete experience, rather than abstract concepts.

Front 20

Sociological Perspectives: Interactionist

Back 20

Ongoing interaction is daily lives function to keep poor people at the bottom
Poor tend to define themselves of their own shortcomings