Assignment 2: Investigate a Social Issue

Assignment 2: Investigate a Social Issue

Introduction

There are certain social issues faced by all societies, which essentially need to be addressed. One of the social issues faced by the society today is poverty. Poverty, as the literature presents causes hardships to the individuals, families, as well as the socio-political situations in the society, in turn impacting the social development and social stability and also causing significant vulnerabilities for the security of the society as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize on poverty, being a prominent social issue in today's society. A concise introduction in provided for the presented social issue, which is followed by the description of the way it fits into the field of sociology. Also, it analyzes the sociological theories which are related to the presented social issue. After that, some known facts are presented regarding the presented social issue. The paper is concluded with a section which discusses the value of sociological research into the presented social issue, pointing towards the practical implications of the sociological inquiry.

Poverty as a social Issue

Poverty, in the general terms, is described as a state of deficit in welfare. The traditional standpoint associates welfare to the control over possessions, by virtue of which the poor are the people not having adequate consumption or income for placing them above some sufficient bare minimum threshold. Also, poverty is associated to a specific sort of consumption; people, for example, can be considered as food poor, house poor, or health poor. The dimensions of poverty may frequently be directly determined. For example, it may be gauged by evaluating the levels of literacy or malnutrition. The most extensive approach towards welfare and poverty has its focus on the capability of an individual for functioning in the society. Oftentimes, the poor people are short of the basic abilities or might have insufficient education or earnings, poor health, or might feel quite powerless, or they might even lack political freedoms.

How Poverty fits into the field of sociology

Poverty is a significant social issue prevalent in the society. The sociologists, in accordance with Allan (2010), consider poverty as a result of social structural conditions that encompass the lack of support for childcare for working parents, unemployment, as well as the gender inequality at the workplace. In addition, it is argued by Peilin (2012) that, as a discipline, sociology combines the interests in ...