Relationship Between Poverty And Inequality

Poverty and Inequality Poverty and inequality are very prevalent in every society in the world today. Both of these are effected how the society develops and grows. As of today, the majority of the population growth is occurring the Global South also known as the lesser-developed regions of the world (Perlman, 2009, p. 41). Thus, as the world population skyrockets, we are seeing a surge of population in poor areas. These poor areas have the least amount of education, little to no access to health care and have the hardest time finding a job to support their children. Latin America is considered to be part of the Global South and thus will experience a rise in their population. Latin America is the most highly urbanized region in the global …show more content…
165). Through the combination of several factors, the favelas have become very dangerous place for its residents to live in. Janice Perlman (2009) describes these factors as the ‘ingredients’ that create a ‘violence stew’ (p. 173). These ‘ingredients’ each add to violence and put its residents in a more vulnerable position. Most of these ingredients are caused by a strong drug gangs, indifferent government with unaccountable police, and vulnerable poor population. Each these alone would not necessarily increase the violence seen in Rio today, but when combined together create this ‘violence …show more content…
The first is that there is extreme inequality, poverty, and a lack of job opportunities for residents. As mentioned in the second question, inequality levels in Rio are among the highest in the world. When combined with the high levels of poverty in this region and a severe lack of job opportunities, the residents are quite vulnerable to the drug traffic as there is money to be made in the drug traffic. This makes parents almost powerless to push their children to search for job when they can just threaten to join the drug traffic, which would make them more than any job they may be able to get. The second ‘ingredient’ is that due to the failures of the police to protect the area, militias have formed to take control and push out the drug traffic. When they take over they have complete control of the area. They control everything in the communities as payment for their protection. They have a monopoly on anything that enters the favela, from Internet access to access in and out of the favela. They extort the members of the favela to make money. The residents of these favelas are powerless to fight the extortion and thus have to pay it. Often times the poor will end up paying more than those residents of the formal city of Rio, which makes it harder to move up and out of the favelas they are in. The last ‘ingredient’ dealing with