ISS 215: Social Differentiation and InequalityLecture 9: Poverty and HungerIn-Class NotesWhat is poverty?- No universal definition of poverty- Someone poor in America could be rich in BangladeshIndicators 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 associationHow many people are poor?- Poverty is highest in Asia- China or India mainly- Larger populationsWho 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 helplessHunger- 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. ModelP.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 thempoor- 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
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