The sociology of poverty studies how poverty affects different groups of people and attempts to trace its root causes. It examines theories such as situational and structural, and specific factors like unemployment and lack of education. Group interactions, underground economies, and the role of poverty in maintaining other classes are also studied. Solutions are left to other disciplines.
The sociology of poverty is the concentrated study of how this particular aspect of society affects the behaviors, interactions and perspectives of different groups of people. This sociological study also often attempts to trace the root causes of poverty among people from diverse backgrounds. Different sociological studies on poverty can draw on different schools of thought according to the viewpoints of academic researchers. While the sociology of poverty usually looks closely at the causes and circumstances, it normally leaves possible solutions to other disciplines such as economic theory to formulate.
The study of poverty is often required for a sociology degree in order to gain an understanding of concepts such as the stratification of socioeconomic classes. Two of the most frequently studied theories of why poverty exists include situational theory and structural theory. Situational theory focuses on the fact that the poor usually lack the resources necessary for upward mobility, and structural theory examines how certain arrangements in society are responsible for consistent poverty among certain groups. These theories are two examples that provide a broader framework for studying the sociology of poverty.
Scholars studying this field of sociology often look at more specific factors such as prolonged unemployment, a lack of available jobs that pay living wages, and insufficient education that could otherwise lift some groups out of poverty. The sociology of poverty also includes studies of crime rates among the poor, some cultural practices unique to poverty, and the most common stereotypes about the poor. A common debate among many sociologists is whether the poor are solely responsible for their own fate or whether the wider society is at least partly responsible for keeping them below established poverty lines.
Group interactions in poor communities are frequent areas of interest for researchers studying the sociology of poverty. Some scholars can compile case studies of underground economies where people in poor areas provide each other with cash-only goods and services that are not reported to the tax authorities. Others might study the prevalence of illegal or semi-legal means of income that are prevalent among the poorest residents of many communities. A related focus is on how poverty works to maintain other classes of a given society. This particular school of thought in the sociology of poverty argues that the poor serve a necessary economic function because they comprise a workforce ready for the lower-paying and more unpleasant jobs that other socioeconomic classes are unwilling to perform.
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