Throughout the last two years it seems that the discussion of poverty has come up very often. Yes, I mean often almost in the sarcastic manner that suggests it took a movement, Occupy, to re-incorporate poverty into the everyday speech of the average American.
Why?
Well, I wouldn't say that Americans are ignorant about the concept of poverty. If you ever over hear an American speaking about India or developing countries in South America or Africa, I am sure that the term would be thrown about it. (Please excuse my mass generalizations here, I am just trying to make a point.) However, I would venture to speculate that many Americans would ever want to consider themselves as living in relative poverty.
As someone who studied Sociology with a focus in poverty and inequality I have to hand it to the Occupy movement for introducing the idea that a citizen needs to analyze relative poverty within the country that he/she resides in. Although, one step of the process was missing in order for this to be a productive conversation. One needs to research the terms and concepts that he/she is throwing around in discussion in order to make valid arguments that could be the basis for realistic and meaningful change. I found, when listening to people discuss these issues, I was appalled by how much they made up based on what I knew from my studies, and how little I knew after a certain framework of thought. The reason why this is so shocking is that if frameworks and definitions of poverty are not understood by average citizens, who is going to make the call for reform?
For those of you interested in a basic introduction into the issue of poverty in the U.S. I suggest reading this, which is an overview of poverty thresholds and guidelines for the U.S. developed by the original center for research on poverty at UW-Madison.
Sorry for the flip-flopping nature of my blog. If anything, this gives an insight into the differences in my patterns of thought.
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