Poverty and Wealth
Over the last years, income inequality has increased in the United States. Currently, the U.S. ranks around the 30th percentile worldwide in terms of income inequality (Macionis 2015). It means that 70% of other countries have better income distribution between the rich and have-nots than the U.S. This situation has triggered a debate over the need for harmonization and equitable income distribution. The opponents of the course argue that high-income inequality will give the wealthy unacceptable control over the lives of the poor people, can undermine the fairness of the political offices. On the other hand, the proponents argue that income inequality triggers industrial and technological innovation. However, economists argue …show more content…
– the poor, middle, and wealthy class. According to Saez and Gabriel (2016), the US Census Bureau has calculated the number of poor and rich people by applying the wealth index and taking into account the minimum income needed to meet basic needs. The results have shown that over 41 million Americans (13% of the total population) live in poverty (Saez and Gabriel 2016). The number of poor people has been increasing since the 1930s (Saez and Gabriel 2016). Some of the problems faced by poor individuals include the lack of proper clothing and monetary resources to purchase a healthy diet, access good medical care, and receive a decent education. In addition, poor people cannot buy houses and often become homeless. In the past, the US government introduced programs aimed at combating poverty by providing more job opportunities. Most of the programs, in the technology, entertainment, administrative, and agriculture have been instrumental in absorbing most of the unemployed people in the U.S. While some individuals have benefited from such programs, others have remained weak mainly due to the lack of adequate financial management skills. Saez and Gabriel (2016) have also estimated that there are about 5 million wealthy people in the U.S. This number includes politicians, business people, athletes, business executives, and celebrities. The number of rich people is still small compared to the total US population (Long 2016). People are …show more content…
The theory is wrong and cannot help to bridge the inequality gap. Millionaires usually do not reveal their sources of wealth. Consequently, the lack of a standard scale to measure wealth depending on sources of income limits the use of the theory in motivating people to work hard. Drug trafficking, misappropriation of public funds by politicians, the concentration of firms in different industries, corruption, and unequal wealth distribution have become rampant in the U.S. and increased the number of millionaires (Cohen 2016). Drug trafficking generates a substantial amount of revenue, making drug dealers millionaires in a short period of time. In addition, the concentration of firms destroys the spirit of fair competition as individual companies cannot successfully compete with large conglomerates. Therefore, modern structural functionalism cannot motivate people to work harder because not all millionaires accumulate their wealth through hard work, some of them employ unfair means to achieve their aims. Finally, some institutions have the capacity to generate more income than the others. Macionis (2015) argues that a society that does not value the structural functionalism theory would be inferring no difference if the job is done right or wrong. However, some sectors are likely to generate significant returns from a small or even a bad input that would otherwise turn profitable, unlike
Over the last years, income inequality has increased in the United States. Currently, the U.S. ranks around the 30th percentile worldwide in terms of income inequality (Macionis 2015). It means that 70% of other countries have better income distribution between the rich and have-nots than the U.S. This situation has triggered a debate over the need for harmonization and equitable income distribution. The opponents of the course argue that high-income inequality will give the wealthy unacceptable control over the lives of the poor people, can undermine the fairness of the political offices. On the other hand, the proponents argue that income inequality triggers industrial and technological innovation. However, economists argue …show more content…
– the poor, middle, and wealthy class. According to Saez and Gabriel (2016), the US Census Bureau has calculated the number of poor and rich people by applying the wealth index and taking into account the minimum income needed to meet basic needs. The results have shown that over 41 million Americans (13% of the total population) live in poverty (Saez and Gabriel 2016). The number of poor people has been increasing since the 1930s (Saez and Gabriel 2016). Some of the problems faced by poor individuals include the lack of proper clothing and monetary resources to purchase a healthy diet, access good medical care, and receive a decent education. In addition, poor people cannot buy houses and often become homeless. In the past, the US government introduced programs aimed at combating poverty by providing more job opportunities. Most of the programs, in the technology, entertainment, administrative, and agriculture have been instrumental in absorbing most of the unemployed people in the U.S. While some individuals have benefited from such programs, others have remained weak mainly due to the lack of adequate financial management skills. Saez and Gabriel (2016) have also estimated that there are about 5 million wealthy people in the U.S. This number includes politicians, business people, athletes, business executives, and celebrities. The number of rich people is still small compared to the total US population (Long 2016). People are …show more content…
The theory is wrong and cannot help to bridge the inequality gap. Millionaires usually do not reveal their sources of wealth. Consequently, the lack of a standard scale to measure wealth depending on sources of income limits the use of the theory in motivating people to work hard. Drug trafficking, misappropriation of public funds by politicians, the concentration of firms in different industries, corruption, and unequal wealth distribution have become rampant in the U.S. and increased the number of millionaires (Cohen 2016). Drug trafficking generates a substantial amount of revenue, making drug dealers millionaires in a short period of time. In addition, the concentration of firms destroys the spirit of fair competition as individual companies cannot successfully compete with large conglomerates. Therefore, modern structural functionalism cannot motivate people to work harder because not all millionaires accumulate their wealth through hard work, some of them employ unfair means to achieve their aims. Finally, some institutions have the capacity to generate more income than the others. Macionis (2015) argues that a society that does not value the structural functionalism theory would be inferring no difference if the job is done right or wrong. However, some sectors are likely to generate significant returns from a small or even a bad input that would otherwise turn profitable, unlike