Causes of Poverty

Poverty has many causes, some of them very basic. Some experts suggest, for instance, that the world has too many people, too few jobs, and not enough food. But such basic causes are quite intractable and not easily eradicated. In most cases, the causes and effects of poverty interact, so that what makes people poor also creates conditions that keep them poor. Primary factors that may lead to poverty include overpopulation, the unequal distribution of resources in the world economy, inability to meet high standards of living and costs of living, inadequate education and employment opportunities, environmental degradation, certain economic and demographic trends, and welfare incentives.

A person is considered wealthy when their income is substantially larger than that of the average person in their community. Society encourages everyone to strive for power and wealth and as Cohen says,” money in all its manifestations has always been the prime source of power”. Yet given the situation, not everyone attains it (Cohen, 269). A person status in society's social ladder is determined by their wealth. In other woods, wealth determines the social class of a person. There are three social classes: the upper middles and lower class. The upper class consists of these whose income exceeds the average person's income. It consists of those whose social and political importance can give them the same wealth available to the excessively wealthy (Cohen, 45).

The middle class are those whose income is substantially lower than that of the upper class. They make enough for all their needs such as rent, food, clothing, bills, and extras such as forms of transpiration and communication. However do not have enough for the luxuries that the wealthy have. The lower class is referred to as the poverty-stricken class. Galbrith says,” People are poverty-stricken when their income, even ...