Economic problems: Poverty and Wealth

6 important questions on Economic problems: Poverty and Wealth

What is the poverty line and explain the struggle with the line

Poverty line: the official measure of poverty. Based on three times a low cost food budget.

Critics say that the line is stuck in a time warp.  E.g. Food preferences and cooking styles have changed. It assumes that they never eat out. The line is not adjusted for different type of living, NY is more expensive than Georgia. It doesn't distinguish between rural and city.

What is social inequality:

Unequal distribution of wealth, income and power

Conflict theory on poverty:

Resources are limited and groups compete/fight over them
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Explain false class consciousness from marx and its critics:

Idea to start business and become wealthy > class consciousness will arise (they are workers no matter their occupation, even when they are a professor)
> they are all exploited workers > join together > overthrow capitalists
critic: where do managers fit?
Simmel: he overlooked the unpaid sector > household labor. He ignored gender, races and age

Explain culture of poverty and culture of wealth:

When people remain poor they develop a way of life that traps them into poverty. They feel inferior and insecure, concluding they'll never get out of poverty, they become passive > think about present not future.

sociologist don't like this theory cause it blames the poor. They think its more a structural cause.

culture of wealth: that keeps people falling down the ladder, same thing as culture of poverty

What does Mills say about the power elite:

Group of millitary, political and business people that rule the US

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