Causes of Poverty
Despite the current phase at which the world is developing in terms of technology, there still exist problems that humanity has found difficulty in dealing with. The key among these problems is poverty, which has affected many developing countries. In places where poverty is constant and extreme, natural resource base deteriorates, human rights are compromised, and human dignity tends to give way to despair. Breaking the poverty cycle that remains an integral part of all countries and societies across the globe. The paper is aimed to setting an argument on causes of poverty and chances of a person escaping from its cycle.
Historical and cultural factors have had a causal link to poverty, especially in many developing countries. Majority of the developing countries in the world were either colonies or areas that were primarily associated with the export of slaves. As a result of colonization, these countries’ natural resources were exploited by their colonial masters, denying them an opportunity to benefit from them (Long, 5). Colonization ad slavery has been used to explain the poverty that exists in African and Asian countries to date. As a result of colonization, people living in territories that where colonized had limited access to education ad capital. Lack of education leads to ignorance and slow adaptation of technology, thus derailing the development endeavors of people living in such regions. Lack of money, on the other hand, subjects countries to borrow from developed countries, thus subjecting themselves to an ending cycle of poverty.
Another major cause of poverty in modern days is political instability that has been experienced in different countries across the globe. Political uncertainty tends to slow down the phase of development, displace people, disrupt economic activities, and create tension among people. Once development is altered, it means that people no longer carry out their normal activities and thus turn on doors for support (Hui, 43). Additionally, major economic activities such as agriculture, mining, and trade are disrupted, thus subjecting people to leave indecent life. On the other hand, education is also affected as people migrate to safer places with others seeking refuge in a neighboring country. In the end, people are subjected to living in abject poverty.
Unemployment has also been found to contribute to poverty. It is more pronounced in countries that depend on agriculture and cannot establish several industries. In the contemporary world, unemployment has also been growing in developing countries as a result of immigration and population growth. When industries no longer have the capacity to absorb more employees, then social and economic problems become the order of the day (Vázquez, 92). Poverty becomes imminent, leading citizens to engage in unethical activity as they try to earn a living. Additionally, there also exist people in different economies that are underemployed. As a result, they struggle to make a living but remain below the poverty line.
Despite poverty being a significant cause of concern in the contemporary world, people have chances of escaping from the poverty cycle. These people break the poverty cycle through education, proper utilization of available resources, and industrialization. Through training, people get to understand and avoid those habits that tend to drive them towards poverty. Education, in this case, does help not only those from affluent backgrounds but also individuals from low-income family backgrounds (Dent, 12). Harmed with the right education sills, these individuals can create perfect poverty eradication models that turn to be successful. This is because they gain an understanding of how grants and credit systems work and utilize them appropriately to break the poverty cycle.
Proper utilization of available resources also enables some individuals to break the poverty cycle. There has been notable differences in countries that were once within the same development level but their level of poverty has since shifted. The utilization of available resources reduces the proliferation that is often witnessed through corruption and bribery. These individuals fight against these leakages in their economies by ensuring stringent audit systems ad adherence to the rule of law. In the long run, they end up becoming self-sufficient, thus breaking the poverty cycle (Lynch, 31).
Additionally, industrialization has also been used by persons such as economists to break the poverty cycle. Through industrialization, they are able to arrest the causes of unemployment by offering a vigilant employment system. With increased employment as a result of industrialization, money circulation teds to increase within different economies. This translates to a better living ad increases the productivity capacity of individuals, their societies, and nations (Sofo, 244). Whenever the living standards are improved, people move from the poverty bracket as they become self-sufficient.
In conclusion, poverty can be linked to different causal factors, especially in developing countries. However, unlike individuals, societies, and countries in the contemporary world are continuously striving to eradicate poverty. Some of the measures currently being undertaken to eliminate poverty are educating masses, proper utilization of resources, and industrialization. As a result, these efforts proved to be more sustainable in eradicating poverty as well as reducing the gap that exists between the rich and the poor in different societies.
Works Cited
Sofo, Francesco, and Alison Wicks. “An occupational perspective of poverty and poverty reduction.” Journal of Occupational Science 24.2 (2017): 244-249.
Hui, C. A. I. “Study on Rural Anti-poverty under Precise Poverty Alleviation: Present Situation, Causes of Poverty and Path Selection.” Hubei Agricultural Sciences 2017.18 (2017): 43.
Long, Y. A. N. G., and L. I. Meng. “Research on the Causes and Mechanism of Poverty——With Comments on the Policy of Poverty Alleviation in China.” Journal of South China Normal University (Social Science Edition) 4 (2017): 5.
Vázquez, José Juan. “The Perception of Social Conditions and Its Impact on the Inclusion Processes of People in Extreme Poverty and Social Exclusion.” Psychosocial Implications of Poverty. Springer, Cham, 2019. 91-104.
Lynch, Michael J., and Lyndsay N. Boggess. “A radical grounding for social disorganization theory: a political economic investigation of the causes of poverty, inequality and crime in urban areas.” Radical Criminology 6 (2016): 11-69.
Dent, Martin, and Bill Peters. “The Problem of Debt and Poverty and a Practical Answer.” The Crisis of Poverty and Debt in the Third World. Routledge, 2019. 1-14.