Sociology

Poverty is something so pervasive that one-third of deaths in the entire world are because of poverty-related causes. Since 1990, a total of 270 million have died from starvation and disease.  The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that malnutrition and hunger are the top two threats to public health globally and are the factors most responsible for child mortality (WHO, 2008). When we watch on the television how so many Africans and peoples in the Third World die from hunger, it is a truly tragic sight. What has caused these people to starve to death Is it their own making or is a social system responsible for their fate Answers to these questions have clashed and the understanding of poverty from various theoretical perspectives have shaped the way governments and other institutions have regarded and responded to this social problem. In Richard Schaefers book Sociology, two different theories on poverty are explained the structural functionalist perspective and conflict theory. These theories contradict each other and can put our views on poverty in order.

The structural functionalist approach to social problems such as poverty argues that it is the result of a sickness in society. Structural functionalists liken society to the human body. Society is composed of interdependent parts and poverty is a functional part for societys equilibrium.  Eventually, because some parts or organs are not performing well, the body gets sick and this is where poverty becomes dysfunctional. Poverty exists because certain institutions within the society break down and decline due to corruption and bad governance. Just as the human body gets strained and falls ill, social problems such as poverty are also a part of the social balance. To structural functionalists, this is the natural course of society. Many people regard the poor as a mere burden to society, but structural functionalists would argue that having poor people around is important. For instance, underpaid and impoverished workers are willing to perform menial jobs that other people would not want. To the structural functionalist, having a poor person around benefits society because he would be willing to do just about anything (including dangerous and dirty jobs) in order to survive. Moreover, poverty creates a market for surplus and substandard products such as old appliances, homes, and vehicles.

Stratification in society serves a stabilizing function in the view of the structural functionalist. If there will be no poor people, then who will feed the upper classes However, poverty becomes dysfunctional when malnutrition and hunger lead to deaths. This is where government must intervene in order to address poverty. Structural functionalists do not aim to eradicate poverty, simply prevent its pervasiveness. Max Weber advocated for good governance and stronger and more efficient bureaucracies as the most efficient solution in addressing poverty.

The conflict theory emanating from the thought of Karl Marx views poverty as a direct result of the clash over scarce resources and the oppression of the lower classes by the upper classes. Conflict theory supposes that the world is essentially always in conflict because there are competing interests over who gets power and resources. The dominant class, the bourgeoisie, own the means of production, and rule over the working class, the proletariat. Poverty then, is caused by the unequal distribution of wealth, that is perpetrated and legitimized by the ruling class. Poverty is not something natural, but a product of class struggle. It is something that has been created by the dominant class in order to keep the working class oppressed and exploited. The only way to eradicate poverty, then, is to eliminate the class, and the creation of a classless society.

I can see how both theories would appeal to different kinds of people. In the United States, where there seem to be plenty of opportunities, poverty would be regarded as something that is self-inflicted or chosen by people because of their laziness. However, in Africa and in the Third World, where hunger and starvation is pervasive, poverty would be regarded as the product of an unfair social system. In my opinion, the extent of global poverty is too massive for the structural functionalists view to make sense. Even in the United States, unemployment and homelessness has spelled the lives of many when the financial crisis broke. Poverty is something that should not exist in society and in my opinion, must be eradicated. However, I also agree that governments have a crucial role in addressing poverty through the implementation of developmental programs, literacy and education, and the eradication of corruption that prevents the poor from acquiring the aid they need.