AT LEAST 150 WORDS EACH RESPONSE, 1 REFERENCE EACH RESPONSE, NO PLAGIARISM, PLEASE SEPARATE REPSONSES
POST 1:
The NASW states that “Social work has an extensive history of addressing poverty at the individual, community and national levels. In fact, one of the six ethical principles guiding social workers working for social justice cites poverty as a primary problem” (para 3 & 4). So as social workers poverty is an issue that needs addressed and we need to advocate for our clients that are effected by this problem. Unemployment and economic crisis are the primary cause of poverty among the young and middle adults; this is as a result of the extended retirement age forcing the young adults to take the low-paying jobs to make ends meet. As a result, the young generation is faced with substance misuses like drugs, behavioral development, poor parenting, educational attainment and psychosocial development.
I think poverty is as a result of cultural characteristics, in 2015, 43.1 million people lived in poverty in the USA which means that poverty rate for 2015 was 13.5% (census.gov). It’s true that poverty affects people of all races, genders, and nationalities, but it’s also true that poverty especially deep, persistent, inter generational poverty plagues some groups more than others. The theory states that having been brought up in pervasive poverty, the young adults eventually adapt to the situation. Adaptation to this culture results into traits such as laziness, dependency, and marginality. The culture of poverty is inherently passed down generations by individuals as behaviors and attitudes through the socialization process (Bradshaw, 2007).Over-reliance on government, aid has contributed to the values of laziness and dependency on help which has resulted in reduced living standards whereby if the charity lacks the people will be helpless the whole year until the government intervenes. This culture has led to people in the poverty-stricken areas to lack knowledge on how to alleviate the current situation through collective action since they only focus on their personal problems (Armitage,2016).
The cultural theory is critical in addressing the poverty stricken areas and understanding social issues and challenges in order to come up with poverty relief solutions. The problem with culture as a driver for poverty is the values that are instilled and passed down generations making individuals subject to poverty. As a social worker in order to empower the grassroots communities that need government relief aid the following cultural issues will be addressed; the value placed on work, the role of individuals in the society, importance of education, the importance of resource utilization and the value of creativity and innovation. Progressive cultural changes need to be cultivated in their mindset in order to minimize the development-resistant cultures.
References:
Armitage, D. (2016). Theories of Poverty in the World. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Bradshaw, T. (2007). Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community Development. Community Development
National Association of Social Workers NASW. (n.d.). Poverty . InPoverty. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from
https://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/features/i…
Proctor, B. D., Semega, J. L., & Kollar, M. (2015). Income and poverty in the United States: Retrieved June 19,2017 from https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/pover…
POST 2:
Poverty impacts the experience of individual in young and middle adulthood in a number of ways like unemployment, poor physical health, emotional problems, drug addiction, low education level, racial and sexual discrimination, budgeting problems and mismanagement of resources. And mental retardation. ( Zastrow & Kirst – Ashman, 2016)
I would say that poverty is as a result of cultural or individual characteristic because poverty is concentrated among certain population categories, including one – parent families, children, older adults, large – size families, people of color, and the homeless (Zastrow & Kirst – Ashman, 2016)
The theory of poverty I selected is that poverty perpetuates poverty. He described how poverty and dismal living condition lead to despair, hopelessness, and failure.
The aspect of this theory that will be most suitable for my practice is that social workers that work with families and children deal with abuse and neglect children. Because of the abuse and neglect, children will be placed in a foster home in order to stop the act. But the irony thing is that those children in the foster home end up in a circle of abuse and neglect. For example, the case of Marcee Carvel who came from an abusive and neglected home was placed in a foster home. She was placed in a total of 17 different homes, in one of those, she was sexually assaulted by her foster father. And was assaulted in another home by her foster brother.
The theory I find problematic in terms of my knowledge of social work practice is that most of these foster children are not properly groomed to face challenges the moment they aged out from the system. In the case of Marcee, when she turned 18, the state no longer pays her care in foster home and she did not finish high school or learn any skills to enable her stand on her feet.( Zastrow & Kirst – Ashman, 2016).
Reference:
Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst – Ashman, K. K. (2016). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (10th ed.) Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
