...POVERTY: A GLOBAL ISSUE Charles Williams Introduction to Sociology – SOC100 October 29, 2011 1. Describe how society defines poverty. Poverty is a condition in which a person or community is deprived of, or lacks the essentials for a minimum standard of well-being and life. Since poverty is understood in many senses, these essentials may be material resources such as food, safe drinking water, and shelter, or they may be social resources such as access to information, education, health care, social status, political power, or the opportunity to develop meaningful connections with other people in society. Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people. In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle. Poverty is also characterized by a chronic shortage of economic, social and political participation, relegating individuals to exclusion as social beings, preventing access to the benefits of economic and social development and thereby limiting their cultural development...
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...Electric guitars and staggering statistics shared a Central Park audience of more than 60,000 people on Saturday at the Global Citizen Festival, a five-hour concert held on Central Park’s Great Lawn devoted to ending extreme poverty worldwide. The music line-up—which included Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Band of Horses, The Black Keys, The Foo Fighters, K’Naan and surprise guest John Legend—performed free-of-charge to the public to highlight issues of hunger, poverty, polio and malaria. But while the simulcasted event’s intention was to increase awareness of worldwide social inequity, the overall message of altruism fell flat. Two hours before the concert’s start time, the attendees flooded the Great Lawn. Petition holders representing UNICEF, Half the Sky, The End of Polio and Charity Water descended upon the crowd to collect signatures to encourage future involvement in their respective charitable causes. Surprisingly, the charity volunteers were not well received by the music lovers. Many attendees walked away, or, responded with “leave me alone” before the volunteers could utter a word. The apathy, and the resulting cold responses, lasted from the time of admission to when the opening band stepped foot on the stage. It is odd that attendees shrugged their shoulders at the ambassadors; yet, they lit up when the musicians advocating for the same charities began performing, especially given the timely message. The concert was scheduled around the meeting of the United...
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...Global Poverty 1) What exactly is the problem, and why do you believe this to be so important? State of being extremely poor People don't have enough food People are starving Illness No education allows for them to be stuck where there are and have a very difficult time getting out of it. They can not get jobs because no one wants to hire them 2) In what way is the problem a regional issue? (Is this problem unique to a part of the world or is it global?) This problem is global Half of the population is living in poverty More than 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day More than 1.3 billion people live on $1.25 a day 1 billion children worldwide live in poverty (one in two children) 22,000 children die each year as a result of poverty...
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...diseases;[3] the idea that we need to own the fastest and newest car, while others have to walk miles just to access drinking water.[4] From a young age we have been conditioned to accept this type of thinking as normal. But the reality is that when we put our standard of living side by side with that of millions around the world, it appears ridiculous and inconceivable that we could allow such outrageous inequality to persist. Most of us have had moments when we have realised this, and have even felt we would like to do something about it. But all too quickly the endless distractions commercialism bombards us with push those thoughts to the back of our minds, where they lay dormant, and eventually die. [1] Martin Ravallion, Awareness of poverty over three centuries (14 February 2011) Vox, . [2] Homeless people have a life expectancy up to 30 years shorter than the national average in England:...
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...The general argument made by author Nada Sewidan in her article “Discrimination Affects Global Poverty” is that discrimination and poverty can be directly attributed to each other. When a minority group is given no rights at all and is served inequality, that limits them to certain occupations and education. More specifically, she argues that government plays a part with this discrimination by targeting certain groups and stripping them of basic rights and necessities. She writes, “ discrimination hinders one’s ability to partake in government policies.” In this passage, Nada is suggesting that “discrimination can be a result of poverty and also an obstacle for ending global poverty.” In conclusion, Nada’s belief is that inequalities due to...
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...Extreme Poverty and Hunger- “The Silent Killers”: How the World Bank plans to eradicate them by 2015 Extreme poverty and food insecurity are some of the major global issues many countries worldwide have to face. Poverty leads to heavily indebted governments, hunger, poor education and lack of adequate medical care for the people. Although poverty “is a state for the majority of the world’s people and nations (Shah, “Causes of Poverty”)”, there is hope that “the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization (Shah, “Causes of Poverty”)” will enforce successfully global policies and practices fighting the cruel reality which over 3 billion people have to try to survive in on less than $2.50 a day (Shah, “Causes of Poverty”). Depending on how a culture views the issue with poverty, the mechanisms against it are enforced accordingly. In the middle Ages, it was considered a virtue and a way for “the chosen ones” to display their good Christian values by feeding the hungry and giving clothes to the ones who do not have any. In addition, the misery which poverty brought to the people was not considered a problem but a widely accepted path towards one’s soul salvation. In Latin America poverty used to be accepted as destiny, a family’s inheritance passed on from generation to generation. Nobody can run away from it even if one improves their financial situation because there will always be somebody to make a comment such as:” I remember whenever you were poor and had nothing”...
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...always become hard to explain what poverty is, and the cause. Poverty has lots of different definitions which resulted from different understandings or perspectives of people. Poverty is an age-old concern’, however, we cannot talk about any common or general reason of poverty. We can find many different reasons that engendering poverty and it is obvious that in every different age, the causes of poverty are changing. So, the dynamics of societies and relations are very effective factor that directly affecting poverty. This assumption seems more accurate for especially capitalist era. Naturally, there could be many different reasons of poverty between nations or within nations. However, I think capitalist production relations and the structure of global economy are the most effective factors that create poverty in all around the world. According to an article in the New York time, written by Paul Krugman in 2008, “Poverty is Poison”. The article states that according to neuroscientists “many children growing up in very poor families with low social status experience unhealthy levels of stress hormones, which impair their neural development.” The effect is to impair language development and memory and hence the ability to escape poverty for the rest of the child’s life. I think this has great impact on both poverty among nations and poverty within nations. Poverty among nations can be thought as a direct result of the structure of global economy. Rich and powerful countries...
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...Looking for a place to stash your cash? Tax Havens promise anonymity and no accountability. While some countries benefit from the existence of these tax havens, others experience losses. This speech supports the assertion that tax havens create more poverty around the world. Globalisation has resulted in countries becoming more interconnected -this interconnectivity has resulted in goods, services and people moving across borders. As a result individuals and company have access to tax havens – a place which has no taxes or low taxes placed on individuals and corporations. There are present in countries where there are weak government regulations, lack of transparency and no need for local presence. Tax havens enable many multinationals to shift profits out of poor countries where the business functions where their profits are untaxed robbing; developing countries are deprived of much needed revenues needed to fight poverty (ActionAid UK, 2013). McNair (2015) reports that between 2010 and 2012 the Democratic Republic of Congo lost over $1.3 billion which is almost twice its health and education budgets joined. As a result government are not able to provide proper healthcare and educational facilities to its people. Similarly Ridgwell (2013) reveals that African countries lose $38 billion a year through tax havens. This money is needed to feed and clothe millions daily. War on Want states that even though the UK loses billions of pounds every year to corporate tax...
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...whether intended, directly or otherwise; it has gradually increased its presence in our daily lives. In this essay, I will point out who are the ones benefited and the ones injured from it by breaking down the question in four broad aspects: economic, political, socio-cultural and environmental. Seemingly, I will analyse the causals for this particular outcomes and distributions that indicate that globalization is creating further divergence in our world increasingly fragmented and unequal. The globalization winners – predominantly developed countries, the top 1% wealthiest demographic segments, transnational companies (TNC’s), supranational organizations amongst others – deeply embedded in the neoliberal belief that markets are the answer to global growth through trade, fostered by incentives such as low tariffs and interest rates and minimal government intervention find themselves unattached to the markedly less benefited, the losers– developing countries, especially their poorest demographic segments, the low-skilled low-wage percentage of workforce, the unemployed, the minorities, women amongst others – who in turn find themselves trapped in this zero-sum cycle where one either leads globalization or follows it – at risk of falling behind – but not either. Globalization, as most concepts in IPE and other social sciences, is a highly contested concept and encompasses a wide range of topics such as money, ideas, cultures, etc. However for the purposes of this essay we will refer...
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...[Type the company name] Senior-Economics National Development of Third World Countries [Type the company name] Senior-Economics National Development of Third World Countries In this world, the average person in some countries earns more than $40,000/year. In this same rich world, 28 billion people live on less than $700 a year. As a result, 33 thousand children are dying every day in developing countries. Each minute, more than one woman dies during child birth. Hundred million children, most of them girls, are out of school due to poverty. The term ‘Third world’ is a label that describes the states that are considered to have under-developed standards concerning their economy, standards of living, health, education, globalization, or other factors of improvement. They have major common characteristics that are: their capita incomes are low, this poverty leads to shorter life expectancies, higher rates of infant mortality, lower levels of education, and higher levels of population that are engaged in agriculture. Moreover, their exports are from the primary sector and they have low growth rate of income and low levels of productivity. They also have high levels of population growth rate. In addition to one common political situation; most of the third world countries were colonies of the former powers of Europe and Asia. Most of the newly independent countries aimed for two objectives: Development and Independence. In general, development means the enhancement...
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...JaQuess Wynn Jayantha Jayman GS101: Intro to Political Economy November 2, 2012 I. Title Shifting the Blame From the Poor to the Privileged: Global Poverty, World Hunger, Population Growth, and the Misappropriation of Wealth in Third World Countries I. Introduction At a broad level, globalization is an increase in the impact on human activities of forces that span national boundaries. These activities can be economic, social, cultural, political, technological, or even biological, as in the case of disease. Additionally, all of these realms are connected through capitalism. Globalization, as defined by McMichael is “integration on the basis of a project pursuing "market rule on a global scale.” Under McMichael’s definition of capitalism, the availability of food is becoming a major issue. And that is driven by a number of factors. Both the ability to grow enough food especially under a changing climate, as well as increases in population and greater demand for food from an increasing discerning population that wants more meat in their diet. This is driving up demand for food and that is basically pushing up prices which not only affects the ability to buy the diversity of food that we want to eat, but it particularly affects people in the developing world for whom food is a major cost in their finances. The evolution of food production plays a big role in its current role in the capitalist economy. Farmers no longer produce food for others to eat, but rather...
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...NEEDS i) How Poor are the Poor? : Current Research and Publications on the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) Issues ii) Indonesia Poverty Reduction Programs IV. THE BASE OF PYRAMID : BUSINESS APPROACH i) Preliminary Measures for Forming the BOP Business Taskforce ii) Fair Trade Program iii) BOP Products & Service Expo iv) Duty Free BOP Outlets in major International Airports & Seaports V. FUTURE PERSPECTIVES AND CONCLUSION VI. REFERENCES I. ABSTRACT This essay attempts to emphasize the importance of the private sector’s involvement through APEC participation in fostering economic development at the Base of the Pyramid (BOP). In December 2008, the Asian Development Bank[1] reported that poverty in the Asia Pacific region is estimated to be much larger than earlier reported. The region was also reported to be facing major hurdles in meeting its Millennium Development Goals. Following ADB reports, in January 2009, the World Economic Forum[2], in partnership with The Boston Consulting Group presented a set of new insights and design principles which can help companies tap the economic potential of BOP markets in ways that serve both commercial and societal goals. In fact, both reports concluded that the task to reduce poverty is far too large for the public sector to handle by itself, and so the role of the private sector in poverty reduction and inclusive growth is therefore critical. They argue that the private sector can play a bigger role in improving...
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...phenomenon. In my opinion it can be defined as interconnectedness on a global level, which usually means that something in one part of the world can impact upon the rest of the world. Additionally, it is all those processes by which people of the world are incorporated into one single society and impact countries and individuals in an uneven manner. There are various categories of globalization and they could be economic, cultural, technological and also social. However, this essay’s main focus is on identifying three social issues that arose because of globalization and discuss how they have affected the quality of life of the people in the Caribbean. These issues include; poverty, migration and culture and identity. To begin, (Ritzer, 2011) stated that, “globalization is the spread of worldwide practices, relations, consciousness, and organization of social life.” This implies that globalization is the driving force within society, which allow for the sharing of common goals and values for both social life, financial and political aspects as well. This helps move society from an obsolete to technological way of thinking. (UNDP, 1997) posits that “globalization encapsulates both a description and a prescription. The description is the widening and deepening of international flows of trade, finance and information in a single, integrated global market. The prescription is to liberalize national and global markets in the belief that free flows of trade, finance and information...
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...the poorest countries Burundi and Ethiopia have a per capita income of $90. These show the huge gap between the poorest and richest countries per capita income. These numbers raised the question “Has globalisation led to a greater income inequality or less?” In the article ‘Is globalisation reducing poverty and inequality’, Wade (2004) questions the empirical basis of the neoliberal argument. The neoliberal argument says that the distribution of income between the entire world’s people has become more equal over the past two decades and the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen. It states that these progressive trends are due in large part to the rising density of economic integration between countries, which has made for rising efficiency of resource use worldwide as countries and regions specialize in line with their comparative advantage. This is partially true as globalisation helps improve the integration within countries and between countries however they must be aware of the difference in the three groups of countries (developed, developing and newly industrialising countries). In his article, Wade (2004) argues that world inequality and poverty have been rising not falling, due to forces unleashed by the same globalisation. He suggests that the...
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...Globalisation – A drastic change maker in India Globalisation is the new buzzword that has come to dominate the world since the nineties of the last century with the end of the cold war and the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the global trend towards the rolling ball. The frontiers of the state with increased reliance on the market economy and renewed faith in the private capital and resources, a process of structural adjustment spurred by the studies and influences of the World Bank and other International organisations have started in many of the developing countries. Also Globalisation has brought in new opportunities to developing countries. Greater access to developed country markets and technology transfer hold out promise improved productivity and higher living standard. But globalisation has also thrown up new challenges like growing inequality across and within nations, volatility in financial market and environmental deteriorations. Another negative aspect of globalisation is that a great majority of developing countries remain removed from the process. Till the nineties the process of globalisation of the Indian economy was constrained by the barriers to trade and investment liberalisation of trade, investment and financial flows initiated in the nineties has progressively lowered the barriers to competition and hastened the pace of globalisation. Though the precise definition of globalisation is still unavailable a few definitions worth viewing, Stephen Gill:...
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