Activity 3

Sociology-34640029

What is poverty?

Poverty is a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living.  means that the income level from employment is so low that basic human needs cannot be met. Poverty is a severe lack of well-being that is primarily measured in monetary terms in terms of household income or consumption. Poverty is a deprivation of well-being and is generally related to whether individuals or communities have sufficient resources to meet their needs. Poverty can be considered a social exclusion, but it benefits both the individuals and communities.

The benefit poverty for the individuals in South Africa

As individuals living in poverty, government helps a lot of individuals with social grants, which is what every child gets when the mother is unemployed.  There are usually food parcels handed over to the less fortunate to help with the struggles of getting food. Due to Covid-19 and the fact that a lot of people lost their jobs, government provided R350 for those who are over 18 and have no source of income. With students who are less fortunate and cannot pay for their studies, there is NSFAS to help and fund them so that they can study without worrying about any tuition fees. This is also government helping individuals.

The benefits of poverty for the community in individuals

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) take over communities to assist those in need of food (soup kitchens), schoolwork, and bible studies. They need entertainment to make the environment bearable and a fun place for the youth. Sports clubs, poetry and drama sessions, and choirs can divert youth away from the streets and harmful influences by providing them with a range of activities. Since there are few ways of making money, community members may start to recycle papers, cans, bottles, and iron in exchange for money. This benefits them and the community because they find the materials on dumping sites, the streets, and yards, this cleans the community and members can benefit cash.

Conclusively, Poverty has become a great issue in our world. Though many organizations have been created to find solutions for this matter nobody could not save our world completely from poverty. The most common fact which we can realize when we consider on information about poverty is that poverty is mostly occurring in developing countries.

Activity 2

Theoretical approaches to social problems

Comparison between Conflict orientation and Feminist orientation. 

• Feminist orientation focuses on attempts to expose how gender systems function and ethical considerations, while conflict orientation focuses on competition between groups within society for limited resources. Society is characterised by pervasive inequality based on social class, race, gender, and other factors. Far-reaching social change is needed to reduce or eliminate social inequality and to create an egalitarian society. For a feminist approach, it opposes injustice by advocating the need to give women a voice that has been ignored in research, such as by promoting women to executive roles in large companies.
• While feminist theory has many variants, they all emphasize that society is rife with gender inequality, with women being the inferior sex in many aspects of social, political, and economic life. The final parallel between conflict and feminist approaches is that they both address the same social issues, namely, changing the structure of how society operates.

Contrast or difference between Conflict orientation and Feminist orientation.       

• The contrast between conflict orientation and feminist orientation is that feminist orientation Incorporates female values and perspectives into research it focuses on subjective, empathetic, inclusive, relational and feelings while conflict orientation focuses on all people , when it comes to controlling conflict tension it is needed to reduce or eliminate social inequality and to create an egalitarian society needs are met. It attempts to explain the social inequalities between genders from the female perspective. While conflict theory focuses on the competition between groups within society over limited resources. Conflict theory views social and economic institutions as tools of the struggle. The feminist theory argues that change is needed to make sure that everyone's between groups or classes, used to maintain inequality and the dominance of the ruling.

Depression- Is a type of mood disorder characterized by a recurrent sense of depression and a lack of interest. It is a social problem because it can lead to suicide which can result in population decrease. Depression is caused by social facts and forces that can act on people. This social problem is too complex to be solved.

Smash & grab- It is a social problem; this crime has a clear resemblance to vandalism with each assault resulting in proper damage. It is caused by high unemployment rate and poverty. Creating more job opportunities may ease this activity.

Rape-Rape is a social problem because it can also affect anyone at any given time, women and children are mostly victims. It therefore poses a threat to the safety of other women and children. The causes of rape are interdependent. Rape is too multicausal to be solved.

Fast food-Fast food cannot be regarded as a social problem because it does not threaten the society at large. It only affects individuals who suffer from excessive weight gain (obesity) and nothing much has been done to address this, the fast-food industry keeps growing instead. What causes a social problem is what impact the condition has on other people and what can be done to address it, and no one can really stop individuals from eating what they like therefore we cannot consider fast food as a social problem.

HIV/AIDS-It is a social problem because people contract the disease by not practicing safe sex and/or being indirect contact with the body fluids of a person who has the disease. Poor infrastructure leads to poor health services in some communities and therefore people with the disease do not receive proper treatment. People can reduce the spread of the disease by changing their sexual behaviour, promote and educate others about the effects of the disease.