A social issue refers to a problem that impacts and is protested against by numerous amounts of people in a society. It often occurs as a result of different aspects beyond the control of an average human being. In most cases, a social issue is the cause of varying opinions on what is discerned as a morally impartial personal life or societal order. Poverty is a general scarcity. It is where individuals in society lack the basic necessities for everyday survival. It can also be classified as when those who are more fortunate refuse to offer assistance to those that are in need. As a result of poverty there is an injustice in the health system and other basic commodities that should be affordable to members of the public. People
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Conflict theory depicts just how unjust society is as the poor will remain poor because the rich refuse to be fair and equal in their dealings. There is a lot of inequality in and throughout society. As seen from the perspective of conflict theory poverty is a social, cultural and economic issue. In the perspective of Structural Functionalism the main reason for the existence of societal problems and maintaining order is that societies are always changing as change is inevitable and not being able to adapt to the changes causes an issue. Functionalists believe that poverty has a positive influence on society as functionalists focus mainly on the large scale structural explanations of social life. Functionalists view poverty on a general basis rather than on the people that are personally affected (those who are in poverty). The writer Herbert J. Gans suggests that based on this perspective “poverty benefits the rich and powerful who have a vested interest in maintain poverty”. Gans also states that “poverty ensures there is always someone in society who needs to perform physically dangerous, temporary, undignified and underpaid work for low wages, which is ultimately better than destitution. Furthermore, without the very low paid in society, many industries would be unable to function as they rely upon low paid workers to ensure their profit and survival. The existence of poverty provides reassurance and
Conflict theory depicts just how unjust society is as the poor will remain poor because the rich refuse to be fair and equal in their dealings. There is a lot of inequality in and throughout society. As seen from the perspective of conflict theory poverty is a social, cultural and economic issue. In the perspective of Structural Functionalism the main reason for the existence of societal problems and maintaining order is that societies are always changing as change is inevitable and not being able to adapt to the changes causes an issue. Functionalists believe that poverty has a positive influence on society as functionalists focus mainly on the large scale structural explanations of social life. Functionalists view poverty on a general basis rather than on the people that are personally affected (those who are in poverty). The writer Herbert J. Gans suggests that based on this perspective “poverty benefits the rich and powerful who have a vested interest in maintain poverty”. Gans also states that “poverty ensures there is always someone in society who needs to perform physically dangerous, temporary, undignified and underpaid work for low wages, which is ultimately better than destitution. Furthermore, without the very low paid in society, many industries would be unable to function as they rely upon low paid workers to ensure their profit and survival. The existence of poverty provides reassurance and