final poverty exam

Question 1

What are the major characteristics of Rousseau’s “Social Contract”?

Answer 1

“NO man has any natural authority over his fellow men”

“Each of us puts in common his person and his whole power under the supreme direction of the general will&raquo_space;>and in return, we receive every member as an individual part of the world”

Question 2

What is the role of the government between the people and the sovereign?

Answer 2

The government is immediate body, established between the subjects and the sovereign for&raquo_space; mutual correspondence&raquo_space;charged with the executive of the laws&raquo_space;and with the maintenance of the liberty&raquo_space;both civil and political”

Question 3

∷ When would our collective obligation to the poor be at its weakest?

Answer 3

If it’s found in the individual then the collective obligation to the poor will be weak.

Question 4

∷ What was the significance of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act?

Answer 4

presumes in its title that the poor are responsible for their plight
“responsibility”

Question 5

o What were the works expectations put forward by it?

Answer 5

Work expectations:

- work after two years on assistance with few exceptions 
         - Single parents must participate for at least 20 hours per week the first year, increasing to at least 30 hours per week
     - Two-parent families must work 35 hours per week

Question 6

What limits did it place on the receiving of assistance?

Work-responsibility act

Answer 6

Limits:
Families who have received assistance for five cumulative years will be ineligible for cash aid under the law

The law includes child support enforcement measures

Under the new law, unmarried minor parents will be required to live with a responsible adult or in an adult-supervised setting and participate in educational and training activities in order to receive assistance.

Question 7

∷ What forces does Prof. Rank identify in making the case that the source of poverty lies mostly with structural arrangements?

Answer 7

• The stagnation of wages:
• The restructuring of the U.S. economy (deindustrialized to a service economy)
• The inflationary rise in the cost of housing, health care, and education
• The inflammation rise in the cost of housing, healthcare and education

Question 8

∷ What does it mean to claim that with citizenship comes responsibility?

Answer 8

Citizenship bestows certain rights and privileges upon its members..you can’t take without giving something in return ..duties, obligations, functions

Question 9

∷ What are the identified responsibilities citizens have to the collective whole?

Answer 9

•manage one’s affairs in a socially acceptable manner

Failure to do so is a burden on rest of us ( pay your taxes..enjoying benefits of taxes and not paying them)

-do not economically burden fellow citizens if they can avoid it

Question 10

∷ What is Prof. Rank’s argument that fixing poverty is a shared responsibility?

Answer 10

Citizenship bestows on all of us a shared responsibility for the maintenance of community
• These responsibilities are particular relevant when injustices exist or are generated by forces beyond the individual
• We have the responsibility to ease the plight of those harmed by societal and economic forces beyond their control
Example: low wages, consumer prices, and making ends meet
• Poverty is generated by structural failings suggest that we have a shared responsibility to fix that burden.
-By focusing on individual attributes as the source of their own poverty we absolve ourselves of this citizenship responsibility
-Our heterogeneous culture makes it difficult for us to realize or see our collective obligation
• Failure to fulfill this responsibility makes us an indirect source of the problem
• To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it

Question 11

∷ How does Prof. Rank expand on our understanding of wise stewardship?

Answer 11

• Implies taking into account the concerns and needs of ones fellow citizens
• Careful management and care of the community and its surrounding environment
• It also refers to our obligation to future generations

Stewardship for
• -The environment
• -Management of the social, economic and political components of our society
• -schools, crime, city infrastructure and financial debts

Question 12

∷ In what ways does poverty undermine wise stewardship?

Answer 12

 Poverty leads to blighted neighborhoods that spill over into surrounding neighborhoods
 Poor public education leads to a diminished labor force
 Fear of crime leads to the avoidance of some areas
 Poverty leads to the polarization of society – undermines trust and ability to work together
 The poor fill up Americas prisons
 Less political representation (80% of political contributions come from less than 1% of the population)

Question 13

∷ What is the Brazilianization effect

Answer 13

The affluent become increasingly isolated from the rest of society through gated communities

Question 14

∷ What are the three reasons Prof. Rank lists for addressing poverty

Answer 14

1. It is our self-interest
2. It is consistent with our values
3. It is our obligation as citizens

Question 15

∷ What reasons does Prof. Rank identify as limiting our engagement with the issue of poverty?

Answer 15

 We misunderstand the causes
 We stress the individual without acknowledging the social structure
 We are a diverse society that works against collective cooperation
 We worship the idea of the free-market
-Profit and wealth are considered a virtue
-The values of the free-market are antithetical to concern over the plight of the poor

O

Question 16

When it comes to the perceived source of the poverty problem how the old and new paradigms are different from one another?

Answer 16

Old understanding of poverty: is tied to our free market economic structure and the culture of individualism
• The common perceptions is that the causes and solutions to poverty are to be found in the individual
• This assumes the United states economy produces abundant Economic prosperity for all
NEW:
- Starts with the premise the poverty is largely a structural failing
-There are not enough of economic opportunities for many individuals
-Individual deficiencies predict who is likely to be left out
-It is a shortage not simply of employment opportunity but viable employment opportunity

Question 17

∷ Within the old paradigm, how have Conservatives and Liberals viewed the relationship between poverty and the individual differently?

Answer 17

CONSERATIVE POSITION:
Failure to succeed is presumed to be a character flaw in the individual and government policy believed to exacerbate these flaws
Liberal Position
Failure to succeed is tied to a lack of marketable skills , training and education
IN BOTH CASES THE EMPHASIS IS ON THE INDIVIDUAL > FALSE ASSUMPTION > FOCUSING ON THE INDIVIDUAL AND NOT THE STRUCTURE OF OUR ECONOMY> BOTH A WRONG!

Question 18

o How are their solutions different in the old para?

Answer 18

Conservative View:
Encourage and reward individual initiative and responsibility (TANF)
Changing the behavior –Current policy is thought to undermine proper behavior

Liberal View:
Provide greater opportunity and access to training and education
The goal is to provide access to the opportunities to develop ones human capital while demanding personal responsibility

NONE OF THESE SOLUTIONS ADDRESS CONTRIDICTIONS IN THE ECONOMY

Question 19

∷ In the new paradigm, explain what it means to state that poverty is largely a structural failing?

Answer 19

There are not enough of economic opportunities for many individuals
Individual deficiencies predict who is likely to be left out

Question 20

∷ How would you characterize the difference between a shortage of employment opportunity versus a shortage of viable employment opportunity?

Answer 20

It is a shortage not simply of employment opportunity but viable employment opportunity
In 2005, 1/3 of household heads were paid less than $10 hour

Question 21

∷ What does Prof. Rank mean when he states that poverty is a conditional state of being?

Answer 21

Poverty rates go up and down in relation to the structure of the economy
The majority of people who experience poverty, experience it temporally
The majority of Americans will experience poverty at some point in their lifetime
 A year or two in length with occasional return episodes

Question 22

∷ What could offset the many problems associated with low pay and poverty vulnerability?

Answer 22

Low pay could be offset by safety net features but those are limited as well
No universal child care coverage
 Range in monthly cost ( 300 to 1,564)
 Average cost $972 a month (11,664 a year)
On a $10 an hour that is more than half of one yearly income
 Lack of affordable housing

Question 23

∷ What are the new stressors poverty produces for poor people?

Answer 23

Poor people struggle to secure basic resources which subsequently produces new stressors for poor people

     - Health risk- undernourishment, heart disease, dental problems, mental illness 
     - Inferior education- lowered skill set to complete in the labor market
     - The ability to build economic assets for security and retirement 
     - Limited access to fair trails and government participation

Question 24

∷ In what ways does poverty affect us all?

Answer 24

We pay more in health care
We we have less productive workforce
It diminishes integrity of our values
We spend money to address the symptoms but the the actual problem

Question 25

∷ What are the five ways to shift to this new paradigm for understanding poverty?

Answer 25

1. Move from an individual to structural focus
2. Recognize that poverty is a conditional not static program
   - more people move in and out of poverty rather than remain stuck in it
3. Move beyond seeing poverty as a simply an income matter and acknowledge that deprivation is considerably broad
4. Rather than blame people for their poverty, see the issue as a matter of social justice
   
   • It makes little sense to have as many poor people as we do when considering how rich we are as a nation
5. Acknowledge that we are all vulnerable to poverty be it directly or indirectly