What is case and insular poverty?
Poverty is considered not having enough money, food or support to maintain life. Poor is an even exchange of the word poverty. In “The Position of Poverty,” by John Kenneth Galbraith, he explains that there are two categories of poverty that can be experienced. He described them as case and insular poverty. The difference between them is who the poverty affects and why.
In terms of case poverty, the individual is solely affected along with the possibility of his or her family. Case poverty, in many cases is brought about from something the individual lacks or does. Alcoholism, mental deficiencies, handicaps or even possibly discrimination against them are all things that could cause case Poverty. Even being fired from a job can cause it as well. It will affect the individual and his or her family’s income, resulting in poverty.
Insular poverty on the other hand affects a group of people in a certain area. This poverty can be caused by the environment. A poor standard of living that can be overlooked will lead to this kind of poverty. Places like Detroit could be considered to have insular poverty in some areas. This poverty affects the whole area within the society and not just certain individuals there. This is an epidemic among citizens in a certain area. It is not caused by individual deficiencies as is the case of case poverty.
John Kenneth Galbraith brings to light, these issues in hopes of attempting to fix them. He suggests that curing poverty is possible but he is not sure that people along with the government see it as an important issue unless they themselves experience it. This document was written in 1958. He brought poverty to the forefront but he was correct in his assumptions of people not caring to solve the problem of it. It is now 2007 and we still deal with the same problems as he wrote about in 1958. Soon, people are going to wish they had taken steps to fix it instead of ignoring it as the economy continues to slip here in Michigan.
Galbraith, John Kenneth. “The Position of Poverty.” A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2006. pp403-415.
5 comments:
Good Job. I agree with you that people are going to wish they had taken steps to fix things as the economy slips.
I agree with you that people should do something to stop poverty but I also think that the government should do most of the work to prevent poverty.
Good Job, I agree that people should stop poverty. If people in this world do not step up, who else will. Great Job.
I liked how you referenced Detroit with insular poverty. There are many poverish people down here and many of us see them on campus on a daily basis. It really makes one think of how good we really got it.
excellent blog, I agree that case poverty can be caused by a number of things and there are certian areas that are effected more than others.
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