Many people in politics and the media persists that individual characteristics lead to poverty in the society. Therefore, they consider that poverty exists due to the existence of people who are unable to make money. The reality of the situation is completely different from this assumption, as the poverty does not exist due to individuals and their inability to make money. Rather, it is because there are not enough opportunities for individuals to make money and drag themselves out of poverty. Therefore, it is wrong to base presence of poverty solely on individual characteristics of the poor, as they can only be related to an individual’s lack of wealth.
Ultimately, poverty is caused by the structural failings of the society at the social, political and economic levels. Social level failure exists due to lack or ineffectiveness of the social safety structure in the society. Political level failure exists due to the failure of the government to take actions that help people to drag themselves out of poverty. Economic level failure exists due to the failure of developing economic and employment opportunities and reduces the poverty level. Therefore, failure at these levels creates and maintains poverty in a society and plays the most important role in overall poverty in the society.
Therefore, by focusing on individual attributes and pointing it out as the central cause of poverty in the society, most social scientists have completely missed the dynamic of economic impoverishment in the society. Simply put, it is clear that individual attributes do not play an important role in developing and maintaining poverty in the society. It is a systemic and structural level failure that reaches above individual characteristics, and the only way to overcome poverty in the society and reducing the poverty rate is through management of structural level failures.
Reference
Rank, M. R., Yoon, H. S., & Hirschl, T. A. (2015). American Poverty as a Structural Failing: Evidence and Arguments. The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare , 30(4), 3-29.
