- Answer the following: A) What is the current governmental definition of poverty? What do you think the official poverty line should be? Consider your definition in terms of providing adequate housing, education, food, and healthcare for those at or near poverty level (i.e., how much do we need to give ourselves and our families for these necessities?). B) Describe the difference between the structural-functionalist view versus the conflict theorist view of poverty in society. What explanation does each school of thought give for why poverty exists? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each view?
- Read the following three articles: the Business Insider transcript (or video), the Time.com article, and the Racial Inequality…pieces. Describe the following dynamics related to income inequality: 1) the increase in wealth for billionaires, 2) the increasingly racialized income inequality due to the pandemic. Are there any solutions to the widening disparities in income and wealth for the rich and poor?
- Watch the videos that have been uploaded to Module 6. Compare ‘The One Percent’ to 'The Line: Poverty Line in America.' (Watch as much of the videos as you feel is necessary to answer the forum question adequately, using quotes and examples from the videos.) Make a few thoughtful comments on the implications of the growing wealth gap in America in the context of these videos. Answer these questions: 1) How do the ‘one percent’ (as represented by such wealth advocates as Steve Forbes, Paul Orfalea, and Milton Friedman) justify their extremely high net worth? 2) Do they have a responsibility to close this increasing wealth gap in our society? 3) What is 'wage stagnation' and how is the one percent implicated in this phenomenon (NOTE: Read the Pew Research Article to inform your answer)?
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