Group 1 Poverty and Positivism

Members: It concerns a fundamental aspect of the

Amor, Andrea distribution of income and wealth. People have to
Almayda, Crisanta understand how extreme wealth accumulation is
Fajardo, Michelle connected to extreme inequality; if not, the question of
Marqueses, Stephanie poverty will go unaddressed continuously. Technically,
Montefalcon, Princess people must know poverty alleviation and focus on
Nakar, Jewell attacking the unequal distribution of resources rather
Reyes, Lenielyn than just treating the symptoms of poverty. (Alves,
Opeña, Marcin 2018)
Palentinos, Raevel
Sayong, John Mike – While according to (Vizcarrondo, 2014) cited by
(Salah U Din et al., 2021). To understand the emergence
POVERTY of poverty as a social issue we have to first understand
It is a social condition defined by the lack of essential Eugenics. Eugenics is a philosophy of racial supremacy
resources for basic survival and minimum living of Whites and Elites. This philosophy attributes to the
standards, which vary by location. It is characterized by superiority of genetics. Many prominent names from
insufficient access to food, clothing, and shelter, leading logical positivists like Sir Francis Galton, Sir Karl
to persistent hunger, inadequate education, and limited Pearson, Sir Ronald Fisher were staunch followers of
healthcare. Individuals in poverty often feel alienated this philosophy who then created statistics to support
from mainstream society. (Crossman, 2019) their views.

Poverty in Empiricism Eugenics have two extreme views in order to deal with
The World Bank Group (2023). Seeks to the inferior human race.
understand poverty through data and diverse people (1) Exterminate the commoners (negative eugenics)
experiences. The group collects data on poverty to (2) Increase the population of middle and higher class
understand how many people live in extreme poverty (positive Eugenics)
and what factors contribute to it. They show that poverty
is not just about low income but also involves lack of (Graver and Graver, 1991). “As Eugenics
access to education and healthcare. This means that to believed that inferior human race was inferior
fight poverty, we need to expand our look at many genetically, there was no hope for nurturing them to
different areas of people's lives. bring them up to the level of superior race. Therefore,
they took the path of specialization, assigning tasks to
Collier (2007), as cited by Easterly (2009), uses inferiors up their capabilities and utilizing them for the
empirical data to prove that the 'bottom billion' are benefits of superiors”
trapped in poverty due to factors such as conflict, poor
governance, and resource curses. These traps prevent Poverty and Sociology
these countries from participating in global economic The study of poverty in the Philippines from a
growth and keep them in a cycle of poverty." sociological perspective offers a nuanced understanding
of complex factors that contribute to this pressing social
Stiglitz (2002) related poverty in policy-making. issue.
In researching poverty it is really important because it Poverty not merely as a personal or individual
helps us understand what works and what doesn’t when problem, but as a systemic issue influenced by broader
it comes to helping people who are struggling economic, political, and social structures.
financially. Many governments and organizations try to
create policies or programs to reduce poverty, but not all Kumar, 2018 stated that on the basis of social,
of them are successful. For example, sometimes a policy economic, and political aspects, there are different ways
might look good on paper but fails to make a real to identify the type of Poverty:
difference in people's lives.
1. Absolute poverty: Also known as extreme poverty or
By studying poverty in-depth, researchers can gather abject poverty, it involves the scarcity of basic food,
valuable information about how different policies clean water, health, shelter, education and information.
impact various groups of people. They can look at things
like income, education, and health care to see how these 2. Relative Poverty: It is defined from the social
factors affect poverty levels. This research helps perspective that is living standard compared to the
policymakers figure out which strategies are effective economic standards of population living in
and which ones may actually make things worse. surroundings. Hence it is a measure of income
inequality.
 References:

3. Situational Poverty: It is a temporary type of poverty Alves, F. 2018 Why positive thinking won’t get you out
based on occurrence of an adverse event like of poverty.
environmental disaster, job loss and severe health https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformati
problem. on/why-positive-thinking-won-t-get-you-out-of-
People can help themselves even with a small assistance, poverty/?
as the poverty comes because of unfortunate event. fbclid=IwY2xjawGT9ERleHRuA2FlbQIxMAA
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4. Generational Poverty: It is handed over to individual mGoEmtwk5kmUp32WpuFFGvLaTw_aem_U_
and families from one generation to the one. This is 9xkFVQhFeko4NdSOkSPw#:~:text=More
more complicated as there is no escape because the %20than%20800%20million%20people,uneven
people are trapped in its cause and unable to access the %20development%20across%20the%20globe
tools required to get out of it.
5. Rural Poverty: It occurs in rural areas with population Collier, P. (2007). The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest
below 50,000. It is the area where there are less job Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done
opportunities, less access to services, less support for About It. Oxford University Press
disabilities and quality education opportunities. People
are tending to live mostly on the farming and other Din, T., Shahzad, A., Sulehri N., Qaim, S. 2021
menial work available to the surroundings. Poverty-To Measure or Not to Measure: Going
6. Urban Poverty: It occurs in the metropolitan areas Beyond Logical Positivism.
with population over 50,000. These are some major https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350374
challenges faced by the Urban Poor: 646_Poverty-
• Limited access to health and education. To_Measure_or_Not_To_Measure_Going_Beyo
• Inadequate housing and services. nd_Logical_Positivism?
• Violent and unhealthy environment because of fbclid=IwY2xjawGT9OVleHRuA2FlbQIxMAA
overcrowding. BHYEUT6KdTk7cw7-
• Little or no social protection mechanism. RMdAAQv67Mvvdm36BmGoEmtwk5kmUp32
WpuFFGvLaTw_aem_U_9xkFVQhFeko4NdSO
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Kumar, G. 2018 What is Poverty and its types?

https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-
knowledge/what-is-poverty-and-its-types-
1523453034-1?
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Mtiox_KH40dtw

Stiglitz, J. E. (2002). Globalization and Its Discontents.

W. W. Norton & Company.

World Bank. (2023). World Development Report

2000/2001: Attacking Poverty. Oxford
University Press.