FREE ESSAY ON POSITIVE FUNCTIONS OF POVERTY

POSITIVE FUNCTIONS OF POVERTY

"Positive Functions of Poverty"
Poverty and the poor satisfy American because it is useful to their society. Without the
poor who would do all the "dirty work"? The first, second, and third functions that
Herbert J. Hans mention deals with the economy. Every society has jobs that the poor
would work for. Some of the dirty work can be dangerous, temporary, and underpaid.
Society can change all of this by filling the jobs by paying higher wages than for the
"clean work". Since the poor are required to work at low wages, it makes life for the
upper-middle and upper classes easier. Poverty creates a lot of jobs for different
occupations and professions that service the poor.
The fifth and sixth functions deal with the social function of poverty. Even though the
poor are about as moral and law-abiding as anyone else, they would still be recognized as
lazy and dishonest compared to the middle class. Also the poor are thought to enjoy sex,
alcohol, and narcotics more than the middle class.
The seventh function would be considered a cultural function of poverty. Sometimes when a
culture is created by or for them it is adopted by the more affluent. For example, a lot
of Americans listen to the blues, Negro spirituals, and country music, which all
originated with the poor.
Poverty also helps to guarantee the status of those who are not poor. In the American
society people need to know where they stand. The poor function is used for permanent
measuring not for status comparison between the different classes of people.
The ninth function explains on how the poor have entered the middle class through the
profits from provision of goods and services in the slums.
The last three functions deal with political functions. The poor are the ones who do all
the backbreaking work and today they are pushed out of their towns just to make room for
progress. The poor are powerless and they do not have any control on what the government
does. The political system often ignores the poor because they vote and participate in
politics less than other groups. There are also a group of the poor that are unwilling to
work or it can be considered inferior because they must accept charity on welfare in
order to survive.
Poverty survives because it is useful to our society. Society's dirty work could be done
without poverty by paying the "dirty workers" decent wages. If the poor were more
affluent they would make less willing clients for upper-class philanthropy. Many of the
functions served by the poor could be replaced if poverty was eliminated. Poverty will
only be eliminated when the poor "the powerless" can obtain enough power to make a change
in today's society.