ISS 215 Social Differentiation and Inequality Lecture 9 Poverty and Hunger In Class Notes What is poverty No universal definition of poverty Someone poor in America could be rich in Bangladesh Indicators of poverty Economic indicators GNP Gross national product Average income Doesn t reflect the average individual Money is added up and divided by the amount of people Social indicators Longevity Amount of children that die before reaching age one infant mortality Amount of children that die before reaching age five child mortality Life expectancy Access to knowledge Literacy rates How many people can read and write Standard of living Access to health services There is a hospital and a pharmacy but you don t have the money or healthcare for it Welchers of America Health insurance company Pharmaceutical companies American medical doctors association How many people are poor Poverty is highest in Asia China or India mainly Larger populations Who are these people Rural Landless laborers Do casual jobs Tenants Sign a contract for land Pay for your own seeds water labor etc Theoretical discussion Global level poverty Why nations are poor Modernization theory Nations that are rich went through industrialization urbanization and modernization Ex Europe China Brazil India Hong Kong Taiwan Influence by functional perspective and right wing party World system perspective Influenced by conflict perspective and Marxist Look at history of previous nations Colonialism exploitation on poor nations Individual level poverty Popular views of poverty Lazy dropped out of high school no work ethic Others made up reasons to blame people for being poor Point of view of ruling class Biological explanations Something related to by birth Survival of the fittest Well off economically Mentally physically healthy Smart Culture of poverty Poverty runs from generation to generation a cycle Structural functional perspective Can t create equal society Poor people are a necessity Need someone to do unwanted jobs Creates competition to get money Poverty is functional Agree with popular views of poverty Blame poor for being poor Conflict perspective System is so huge that individual is helpless Hunger What is hunger Intake of food either low in quantity or of the wrong kind or both Everybody needs a certain amount of food due to body type and what work you do Skipping meals can lead to chronic hunger Severe food insecurity a problem of limited access to adequate food in an abundant society How and where food is being produced and access to it There s enough food world wide to feed everybody Why hunger P O E T Model P O E T Model and Hunger Organizations Politics of hunger Poverty Plans to eliminate poverty flopped Defense budget Mass amount of money used solely for weapons of defense and war Economics of hunger World system Blames other nations for exploiting other nations and making them poor Modernization blames the nations themselves Unemployment Underemployment hidden employment Economic inequality Lifestyle of elites vs common people Food crops versus cash crops Ex coffee GMO Culture and hunger Individualism and hunger Self promotion cost is so dramatic that you question whether or not to do it Ex Kevin Carter photo of vulture and girl Illiteracy Bell curve theory Low education low income no food Wastage of food Restaurants throw away tons of food on a national level Environment Depletion of soil Natural process land becoming deserts Unnatural process replacing land with structures Technology Lack of technology Still using same tools from thousands of years ago Transfer of inappropriate technology Tools that work in one country can be ineffective in another country Ex tractor Population Population growth must stay in balance with economic growth