Poverty and Sociology

Approximately 46.2 million people were considered poverty in 2010. The country's poverty rate rose to 15.1%, and in 2009, 14.3% of the US lived in poverty (Censky, 2011). In 2010, an increase of 6 million people. In the United States, the federal poverty line - the absolute measure of annual income - is often used to determine who is classified as the poor (Ferris & Stein, 2008, 2010). Currently, the government defines the poverty line as individual income of $ 11,139, and the family of 4 people earns $ 22,314 (Censky, 2011).

Sociology provides a powerful means to think about poverty. "Social thinking" helps us better understand social problems. It allows us to understand personal problems as part of socioeconomic and political systems and looks critical to the problems we may simply or incorrectly explain It makes it possible to do. When observing poverty, myths and misunderstandings dominate in general and political arguments. Sociological thinking helps to remove poverty from a variety of related concepts and greatly compromises the discussion of various social issues.

The review explains the sociological theory of the cause of poverty and critically analyzes it. It describes controversial concepts related to how to understand poverty from the viewpoint of sociology / social theory. Sociological thinking focuses on the structure and organization of society and the relationship between social problems and private life. When trying to explain poverty, sociologists often tend to balance the relative importance of social structure (how society is organized) and the role of individual actors - to balance people's independent choices and actions . Some sociologists, especially those who wrote in the 1970s and 1980s, tend to explain poverty by referring to people's moral mistakes, shamelessness or dependence on culture. Others think that they can better understand poverty due to uneven distribution of resources and opportunities in society.

Many sociological studies of poverty, particularly from the 1970s to the 1980s, explain the relative importance of the spread and sustenance of poverty over social structure and individual institutions. It has a long history of social and political tendencies and in some way is responsible for some people for their own difficulties. In many reports, especially popular and political, it is important for individuals' behavior, virtual shamelessness, or moral mistake to be the main cause of poverty for the so-called "poor without value" There is also academic research focused.