Theories of Global Poverty

ABSTRACT

In September 2000, participants in the United Nations Millennium Summit made a commitment to alleviating global poverty and inequality through the Millennium Development goals. This historical pledge has raised public and academic awareness of the issue of global poverty. In light of this interest, this literature review seeks to clarify the issues surrounding global poverty by focusing on the developed world and the developing world. Given the substantial amount of interdisciplinary research on global poverty, it can be organized into at least four areas: poverty definitions, units of measurement, theories concerning resources, and findings on effective interventions. It is clear that context influences these four areas and the resulting theories relate to: (1) inclusion, exclusion, and access; (2) individual rights and responsibilities versus community focus; (3) human capital theories, structural poverty, and resource inequality; and (4) theories of welfare versus theories of development. This analysis of these four theoretical domains concludes with a conceptual framework for understanding of global poverty and the influence of the social environment on human behavior.     

The Blame Index: Exploring the Change in Social Work Students’ Perceptions of Poverty

ABSTRACT

This study reports the development of a new Blame Index to determine attributions of the causes of poverty along a single structural-to-individual dimension. A multisite pre-/post-group design tested the degree of change in social work students’ (N = 177) perception of poverty as a result of taking a single BSW social policy course or an MSW foundation social policy course. Student respondents reported a significant shift toward structural and away from individual attribution of the causes of poverty, more support for government antipoverty benefit programs, increased awareness of the inadequacy of existing government antipoverty programs, and increased awareness of the difficulty in accessing government antipoverty benefits. Linear regression explained 17% of the change in the Blame Index with only race/ethnicity and the change in adequacy of benefits as significant predictors.     

The Group-Centered BSW Curriculum for Community Practice

ABSTRACT

The “mundane extreme environment” of racism and poverty follows us into the new millennium (McAdoo, 1986). In response, I propose a group-centered curriculum for community practice as the professional foundation for social work education. Shifting the curricular focus from individual development to social development and from a domestic perspective to an international human rights perspective, the group-centered curriculum would teach social group work, inter-group work, and inter-professional practice as methods for promoting social and economic justice.     

Information Poverty and the Latino Community

Abstract

Social work education can help students to reach a higher understanding of the impact of information poverty on the Latino community by systematically integrating this content into social work curriculum areas of information society, information poverty, and Latino communities. The authors examine the prospects for poverty and inequality in the Latino community as the United States emerges into the information economy and suggest that the Latino population may continue to be at risk for poverty in the information age. This article reviews indicators such as education, access to computers and network communications that may influence access to the emerging economic order and offers technology-based practice strategies, such as community net works and e-commerce, to create local empowerment. It provides recommendations for curriculum development.     

Sociological Theories of Poverty in Urban America

ABSTRACT

Since the 1950s, American sociologists have developed a substantial literature on poverty in urban American communities. This literature review examines some of these sociological theories of poverty and identifies four major explanations of urban poverty: social stratification, (including segregation and racism); lack of access to social capital; cultural and value norms; and social policies. The literature review concludes with a conceptual framework that focuses on multiple relationships that link theory to practice related to the reduction of poverty in inner-city communities.     

“Heating Is More Important Than Food”

Abstract

Fuel poverty is estimated to affect millions of people in the UK, and older people are especially vulnerable. Most research into fuel poverty has drawn upon quantitative paradigms. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate the perceptions and experiences of older women in relation to fuel issues. Ten qualitative semi-structured interviews were undertaken during the winter of 2005. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A phenomenological approach was used for analysis. Four main themes emerged: causes of fuel poverty; managing money; heating is a priority;and government initiatives. The results from this study show that fuel poverty is an important health and financial concern for older women.     

Assessment of China’s Poor County Program

ABSTRACT

China made remarkable progress in rural poverty alleviation. A major policy instrument is the County Level Poverty Alleviation Program, which has vast policy support but is also criticized for targeting errors, misuse of funds, and making poverty both shameful and attractive. Whether this program, or the country’s economic growth in general, is the main force in poverty reduction is the question addressed in this article, analyzing data for the 592 poor counties. The response to the economic growth–policy alleviation conundrum is that a push for social wellbeing and empowerment is needed together with economic growth to achieve major poverty improvements.     

Social Capital and Community Supportsfor Low Income Families

Abstract

The Personal Responsibility, Work Opportunity and Medicaid Restructuring Act of 1996 changed welfare dramatically. This article explores the concept of social capital, illustrating how social and cultural capital are important factors that make the difference between persistent and temporary poverty. Through research in Wisconsin and Philadelphia, this article shows that social capital provides both barrier and bridge to families trying to survive in a changed policy context. However, just as programs focusing exclusively on work experience, developing human capital, or providing additional income fail to produce results for everyone on public assistance, programs concentrating exclusively on social or cultural capital are also doomed to failure.     

Environmental Social Work: Accounting for Gender in Climate Disasters

Abstract

The person-in-the-environment concept has largely been interpreted by social workers to indicate social networks and relationships, ignoring the physical environment and its complex impact on human health and wellbeing. This article examines the environmental domain, noting the critical role social workers can have in this field as a consequence of climate events and global warming. The article notes the significance of gender as a key factor in vulnerability to disasters and outlines the need for social workers to consider gender as a critical indicator in their work in this emerging area. Embodiment, connection to place, poverty, and cultural awareness are also significant, but often overlooked, factors in a social work response to environmental disasters. Ecological and ecofeminist theories give a direction for social work theory and practice in the postdisaster space. The article challenges social workers to reconsider the person-in-the-environment as a complex and critical emerging domain of social work theories and practice, a domain where gender awareness is fundamental.     

Technology,Social Inclusion and Poverty: An Exploratory Investigation of a Community Technology Center

ABSTRACT

Community technology centers (CTCs) are advanced as a major part of the solution to the so-called digital divide. It is believed that in the knowledge economy access to computing resources should level the playing field for low income people. Faced with a growing population that cannot afford computers or the Internet, government policy makers have been turning to technology community access points. This article presents a brief overview of the digital divide and whether or not CTCs can effectively address the problem. A CTC located at the Debra Dynes Family House in Ottawa, Canada–a center that has been highlighted in newspapers and government reports as a success story in bridging the digital divide-is reviewed. The concept of social inclusion is explored to determine how CTCs are addressing poverty and social exclusion.     

The welfare/self-sufficiency gap among single mothers through theoretical lenses

ABSTRACT

Poverty has been a recurring issue in America since time immemorial and become the target of a panoply of corrective measures from the federal government. One of these measures is, of course, the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the key welfare policy under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Since its inception, TANF has constantly been the subject of vehement controversies among politicians, lawmakers, community advocates, social researchers, and government officials. Indeed, there has been a growing concern about the effectiveness of the program in galvanizing economically disadvantaged families toward economic self-sufficiency. This paper presents a historical overview of the political context that led to the passage of the TANF policy, identifies barriers associated with TANF implementation, explains the concept of self-sufficiency, and critically analyzes the gap between welfare receipt and economic self-sufficiency through the lenses of four theoretical benchmarks: policy design and social construction, culture of poverty, racial classification, and social control. Implications for research are discussed.     

African Americans,U.S. Poverty,and International Law

ABSTRACT

Statistical rates of poverty among African Americans often hide the cultural and historical nature of their intended consequences. Unfavorable outcomes for social change can occur when viewing poverty among African Americans in isolation from their unique historical and cultural experiences and U.S. social, political, and capitalistic influences. While pressures to subordinate African Americans continue, African Americans also exert pressure (e.g., social movements) as human agents in their efforts toward self-determination. In order to understand and/or ameliorate poverty in the US, policy makers, researchers, and educators must first deal with the cultural hegemony undergirding it.     

Issues Affecting Utilization of Hospice Services by Rural Hispanics

Abstract

As the population of Hispanics in the U.S. is growing, their utilization of hospice care remains low. In a study of 110 rural His-panics, most (88%) were not familiar with hospice, but did report willingness to accept such service in their homes. The most important possible barrier to receiving hospice care was language, along with poverty, lack of health insurance, and low levels of education. Hospice social workers can contribute greatly to an effort to increase access to hospice by offering education to the Hispanic community and promoting cultural awareness among hospice staff.     

Familial and Social Dimensions of Welfare Receipt

Abstract

In this study we categorize welfare duration determinants into those associated with family traits and the social macro environment outside the family. Monthly AFDC-Basic data for Texas from mid-1989 through April 1993 are analyzed using an event history analysis to examine the length of time families receive AFDC benefits and to estimate the effects of the two latent traits that influence the pace of quitting welfare. Results suggest a need for reformulating welfare policies to address the disadvantages stemming from the social structural context of poverty such as urban residence and race membership.     

Poverty,exclusion and child protection practice: the contribution of ‘the politics of recognition&respect’

The affective dimensions of poverty, including the impact of wider policy discourses and services that ‘other’ and shame people in poverty, are increasingly recognized. In response, Lister [(2013). Power, not Pity: Poverty and Human Rights. Ethics and Social Welfare, 7(2), 109–123] advocates for ‘a politics of recognition&respect’ that centralizes the voices, participation and lived experiences of those who live in poverty. This paper considers how applying Lister’s theory could improve child protection (CP) social work in England, from a human rights and social justice perspective. The paper draws on findings from an ATD Fourth World participatory research project aimed at updating the course content for a pre-existing social worker training module on poverty awareness. The project brings together families with experience of poverty and CP interventions, social work practitioners and academics.     

Resilience of Families Living in Poverty

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways that community social workers reflect the established literature on family resilience. This exploratory study involved semistructured group interviews with community social workers from an urban agency that serves families who are poor. The analysis was completed by comparing Walsh's “Key Processes in Family Resilience” with the responses from the participants in the group interviews. Specifically, Walsh (2002 Walsh , F. ( 2002 ). A family resilience framework: Innovative practice approaches . Family Relations , 51 ( 2 ), 130 – 137 .[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) identifies three domains of resilient families, including belief systems, organizational patterns, and communication processes. These were used as reference points for comparison. The interviews with the community social workers revealed a connection between using positive beliefs, thinking, and taking action steps that define a resilient family. This only becomes possible in the context of supportive internal family relations and external community connections. While the community social workers affirm elements of the established models of family resilience, they also emphasized its dynamic nature as the interplay of positive family beliefs combined with action steps and support from the community.     

Community Effects on Welfare Participation

This paper conceptualizes and estimates a model of welfare participation that tests for community effects. Theoretically, the model is consistent with Fischer's (1984) notion of urban life, and a welfare participation model developed by Rank and Hirschl (1993). The empirical analysis includes aggregate and multivariate tests, and an identification of these effects in terms of household knowledge and behavior. We find strong evidence that community structure influences the decision to get food stamps, and one notable difference with the Rank and Hirschl findings: community poverty level is a more powerful and global predictor of participation than is population density. The findings suggest emendations to Wilson's notion of the truly disadvantaged insofar as residence in high poverty areas afford opportunities for information exchange and the development of specialized networks.     

Community orientation of services for persons with a psychiatric disability. Comparison between Estonia,Hungary and the Netherlands

This article explores the way mental health services and social services are orientated on assisting people with a psychiatric disability to participate in different areas of community life. A large research project about community participation in three different countries (Estonia, Hungary and the Netherlands) confirms the findings of other studies that – regardless of geographical location – people with a psychiatric disability have difficulty fulfilling social roles in the community. They are often faced with fewer opportunities than other citizens, due to their health problems, stigma, discrimination and poverty [World Health Organisation. (2011). World report on disability. Geneva: WHO]. An important objective of social work is to help people find their way in society. Surprisingly enough, in all three countries, most social workers are mainly focused on solving individual problems, and not on community participation. Shifting the focus starts by having a clear awareness of the notion of community participation. Social workers have to work both on supporting individuals to find their way in the community (individual support), and on supporting social networks in the community to accommodate persons with a disability on the basis of equal and valued citizenship (community support).     

Living Arrangements During Childrearing Years and Later Health of African American Mothers

Using longitudinal data from the Woodlawn Project (N= 680), this study examined how patterns of living arrangements among a community cohort of African American mothers were associated with later physical and emotional health. We identified eight patterns of stability and transition in living arrangements during the childrearing years. Health outcomes include SF‐36 Physical Functioning, SF‐36 Bodily Pain, depressed mood, and anxious mood. Specific patterns of living arrangements were related to later health, controlling for age, earlier health, education, and poverty. Poverty explained many, but not all, of the relationships between living arrangements and health. Findings underscored the benefits of social support and social integration and highlighted the negative effects of marital dissolution on health.     

The Measurement of Multidimensional Poverty

Many authors have insisted on the necessity of defining poverty as a multidimensional concept rather than relying on income or consumption expenditures per capita. Yet, not much has actually been done to include the various dimensions of deprivation into the practical definition and measurement of poverty. Existing attempts along that direction consist of aggregating various attributes into a single index through some arbitrary function and defining a poverty line and associated poverty measures on the basis of that index. This is merely redefining more generally the concept of poverty, which then essentially remains a one dimensional concept. The present paper suggests that an alternative way to take into account the multi-dimensionality of poverty is to specify a poverty line for each dimension of poverty and to consider that a person is poor if he/she falls below at least one of these various lines. The paper then explores how to combine these various poverty lines and associated one-dimensional gaps into multidimensional poverty measures. An application of these measures to the rural population in Brazil is also given with poverty defined on income and education.