There is little peace in a world characterized by painful differences between the rich and the poor, between the haves and the have-nots. Poverty is certainly not conducive to peace. Inequality in resources and opportunities is a direct burden on the poor themselves i.e. poor people as well as poor countries. When poverty is persistent, degrading, miserable, life-shortening, life-threatening, and life denying, it is an affront to human dignity.
Inequality of conditions allude to the unequal distribution of material goods, income, and wealth. For example, the inequality of housing conditions with the homeless and those living in housing projects sitting at the bottom of hierarchy while the multi- million dollar houses sit at the top of the
In its most extreme form, poverty is a lack of basic human needs such as adequate and nutritious food, clothing, housing, clean water and health services. According to the United Nations Development Report, [2000], “poverty is defined as a complex phenomenon that generally refers to inadequacy of resources and deprivation of choices that would enable people to enjoy a decent living conditions.” According to Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel laureate in economics, argues that the “capability to function” is what matters for status as a poor or nonpoor. As Sen put it, “economic growth cannot be sensibly treated as an end in itself. Development has to be more concerned with enhancing the lives we lead and the freedoms we enjoy.” This argument by Sen, underscores that although economic growth is good but cannot be regarded as development. Development has to affect the lives of the
Davis explores the theme of division between the social classes by using characters who view life based on their own economic statuses that works to reinforce the sill-existing gap of today. The social ladder is one that is filled with many holes. It is not a fair climb. Some will start out already at the top, while others will begin at the very bottom. No one can be faulted for where they start on this ladder.
Also, poverty includes hunger which is related to malnutrition, different health problems, limited or no access to education, inadequate housing conditions, homelessness and lack of other basic services. Economists define poverty as the inability to achieve a certain standard of living. For example, Ravallion (Ravallion, 1989) believes that "Poverty exists in a given society, when one or more persons can not reach a level of economic prosperity that is considered to represent acceptable minimum regarding the standards of a given society. " This definition implies that the concept of poverty is determined by standards, values and circumstances prevailing in the society. But this definition is not relevant, because it would be difficult to make comparisons of countries and societies because nature and structure of poverty may vary from country to country.
According to Encyclopedia Americana (1989) poverty can be viewed from two different perspectives and these two points of view are: (i) “ moneylessness” which means both an insufficiency of cash and serious inadequacy of resources of all kinds to satisfy and meet basic human needs, such as, nutrition, rest, and body maintenance; and (ii) “powerlessness” meaning those that lack the chances and choices open to them and whose lives seem to them to be governed by forces and persons outside their control. From this, it is seen that poverty has various manifestations which include among others: lack of income and productive resources enough to make sure sustainable livelihood, hunger and malnutrition, limited or lack of access to education, ill health, and other basic services, increased morbidity and mortality from illness, homelessness and inadequate, unsafe and degraded environment and social discrimination and exclusion LITERATURE REVIEW Vital to the clamour for policies and programmes that will reduce poverty is the issue of the conceptualization of poverty. Conceptually, there three dominant views that will be identified as the meaning of poverty in this paper. Aliyu, (2002) has specifically identified the first view that views poverty as a chronic deprivation of some basic human needs at the individual or household level. Put differently, poverty is a material deprivation and this can best be measured and quantified in monetary terms.
Furthermore, the effects of poverty are said interrelated as they do not occur alone. According to Wilkinson and Pickett (2014), when there are inequalities in the country it resulted in poorer health, lower educational attainment, higher crime rates, lower spending of social capital and lower cooperation with and trust of government. All these resulted from poverty actually affect the political stability in developing world. Inequalities in wealth distribution often link with the living condition of the people in country. Inequalities basically widen the gap between the rich and the poor (Shah, 2014).
This is where there is a large divide between rich and poor, with some South Africans living above the poverty line while others lives and incomes are worse than the general standard of living. Not only this, but certain South Africans also face absolute poverty, where they face lack of basic necessities, isolation from social activities, lack of information and hope, and fear for their children’s lives and futures due to poverty. In South Africa alone, 18 million children are affected by poverty and there is a 23.3% unemployment rate. These shocking figures emphasize the poor poverty situation South Africa faces. Sickness, no income and poor education all play large roles in poverty in South Africa.
Corollaries of poverty Poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. Economic deprivation disempowers and dehumanizes people in several ways. Low income negatively affects nutrition and when body does not get enough nutrition capacity to work and earn decreases further. Malnutrition is often compounded with a general poor health condition due to lack of access to potable drinking water, poor sanitation facilities, congested living area and high cost of health
The problem with poverty is not only in the lack of money but also in the believes and actions that come with it. What is worse than poverty is the trustless of poor people towards their society because they don’t get respect for their rights to live a decent life and that causes them to steal forcibly. What is worse than poverty is the loss of desire for life and resulting in the search for the lost and engage in acts of criminality and livelihood in wars and conflicts to earn the dirty money, and this happens because of the disruption of the poor person’s life with his unfair society. What is worse than poverty is the doors that closes in the faces of the poor, at the same time the closing of the rich to spend their needs quietly and smoothly despite equal capacity, if not