Poverty, Work, and the Economy

This blog will be discussing poverty, work, and the economy and how it all greatly impacts our society. Stratification is a society's "ranking" of people into socioeconomic tiers based on factors like race, wealth, education, income, etc. The functionalism theory on poverty provides us with the idea that stratification is necessary and inevitable to induce people with knowledge, skills, etc. The conflict theory suggests that stratification results from the lack of opportunity and discrimination against the poor, women, and people of color. It also claims the opposite of the functionalism theory, that it is neither necessary or inevitable. The symbolic theory adds on that stratification affects people's beliefs, lifestyles, daily interaction, and conceptions of themselves.  

Rising inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, highlights how increases in the cost of goods and services can directly impact social problems related to poverty. Prices for essentials like food, housing, transportation, often rise faster than wages do. This creates the problem of individuals, especially low-income, experiencing the hardships and struggles of meeting basic needs. The conflict theory is primarily shown here as it explains how inflation harms numerous populations while wealthier groups are better able to adapt to these rising costs. Demographic factors like race, income, ethnicity, gender, play a role in this as well. 


The nonprofit organization I chose for this blog is United Against Poverty. Their mission is to help families and individuals with basic needs until they're able to provide for themselves. Whether it's assisting in food, education, employment training, crisis care, they are there to help. They offer programs for grocery aid, employee training, crisis management, and more! 

https://unitedagainstpoverty.org/ 

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