Poverty

 Poverty

Poverty is the state of not having enough money or material possessions to live comfortably. Poverty is defined as a state of being unable to meet one's basic necessities. In this context, determining what constitutes basic necessities is necessary before identifying poor people. These can be defined as "those necessary for survival" or more broadly as "those reflecting the community's predominant standard of living." The first criterion would apply exclusively to individuals on the verge of famine or death from exposure; the second would apply to those whose nourishment, housing, and clothes, while adequate for survival, fall short of those of the general population. 

Although poverty has existed since the dawn of humanity, its relevance has evolved with time. Poverty had been viewed as unavoidable under traditional (i.e., nonindustrial zed) means of economic production. The total output of goods and services, even if equally distributed, would still have been insufficient to give the entire population a comfortable standard of living by prevailing standards. With the economic productivity that resulted from industrialization, however, this ceased to be the case—especially in the world’s most industrialized countries, where national outputs were sufficient to raise the entire population to a comfortable level if the necessary redistribution could be arranged without adversely affecting output.

Cyclical poverty

Cyclical poverty is defined as poverty that is widespread throughout a population but only lasts for a short period of time. This type of inability to meet one's basic needs in nonindustrial societies (both present and past) is primarily due to temporary food shortages caused by natural phenomena or poor agricultural planning. Prices would rise due to food scarcity, causing widespread, albeit temporary, misery.

The main cyclical cause of poverty in industrialized societies is fluctuations in the business cycle, with mass unemployment during periods of depression or severe recession. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the world's industrialized nations experienced business panics and recessions, which temporarily increased the number of the poor. The Great Depression of the 1930s in the United States, while unique in some ways, exemplifies this type of poverty. And, until the Great Depression, poverty as a result of business fluctuations was accepted as an unavoidable byproduct of a natural market-regulatory process. Unemployed people were given temporary relief to tide them over until the business cycle resumed its upward trend. 

Collective poverty

Unlike cyclical poverty, which is temporary, widespread or "collective" poverty involves a relatively permanent insufficiency of means to secure basic needs—a condition that may be so general as to describe the average level of life in a society or that may be concentrated in relatively large groups in an otherwise prosperous society. Both generalized and concentrated collective poverty can be passed down from generation to generation, with parents passing down their poverty to their children.

Unlike cyclical poverty, which is temporary, widespread or "collective" poverty involves a relatively permanent insufficiency of means to secure basic needs—a condition that may be so general as to describe the average level of life in a society or that may be concentrated in relatively large groups in an otherwise prosperous society. Collective poverty, both generalized and concentrated, can be passed down from generation to generation, with parents passing on their poverty to their children.

Concentrated collective poverty

Certain demographic groups are vulnerable to long-term poverty in many industrialized, relatively affluent countries. Victims of concentrated collective poverty can be found in city ghettos, regions bypassed or abandoned by industry, and areas where agriculture or industry is inefficient and cannot compete profitably. When compared to more affluent segments of society, these people, like those suffering from generalized poverty, have higher mortality rates, poor health, lower educational levels, and so on.

Case poverty

Case poverty, which is similar to collective poverty in terms of relative permanence but differs in terms of distribution, refers to an individual's or family's inability to secure basic needs despite living in a social environment of general prosperity. This inability is usually due to a lack of some basic characteristic that would allow the individual to sustain himself or herself. These people may be blind, physically or emotionally disabled, or chronically ill. Physical and mental disabilities are typically viewed sympathetically as being beyond the control of those who suffer from them. Efforts to alleviate poverty caused by physical factors focus on education, sheltered employment, and, if necessary, economic maintenance.