Poverty is a state of being exceedingly poor, lacking the basic needs needed for sustaining life. The state of being poor means people cannot afford the basic need like food, water and shelter. What leads to poverty and how it comes about, is the question to be answered. It is true that poverty is socially constructed. The recent global financial crisis has led to increased poverty levels, which can be blamed on the cultural and social behaviors of people. The gap between the rich and poor has widened, and the social behaviors of people have also deteriorated. This has led to the conclusion that poverty can be socially constructed.
In the event that poverty can be socially constructed, different explanations have been put forward to explain this notion. First, the social gap between the rich and the poor has widened. As Amidon, Lusted argues, (2010) the diffusionalism of culture has a played a significant role in widening the gap. The slow and failed response to the global economic downturn has had drastic effects on the social lives of many people. The poor are portrayed to be drinkers and therefore harm their lives in order to avoid the reality of poverty. As Amidon describes it, changes in social behavior and culture of people are not even in a society. This signifies that poverty levels are not even. The society has formed and created fear about poverty, which perpetuates socially constructed poverty.
The social construction of poverty, matters for its reduction. As Kimberly points out, until the society can stop castigating the poor and creating fear about poverty, poverty cannot be successfully eradicated. The cultural and social construction of people plays a decisive role in reducing poverty just as it created it. We should change the way the society views poverty before we can begin to fight it.
References
Amidon, Lusted, M. Poverty. ABDO, 2010
Shah, Anup. Poverty Facts and Stats, 2010. Retrieved on 25th April 2011 from
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
Williams, Kimberly. Socially constructed school violence. Peter Lang, 2005
