How does poverty affect the life experiences of individuals during their young and middle adult years?
Poverty affects the life experience of people during their young and middle adult years in several ways. Poverty affects both the physical and mental health of an individual. People from low-income communities lack access to healthcare services due to lack of health facilities, or lack of health insurance. Consequently, they may develop health complications during their young and middle adult year rendering them unproductive. Moreover, they may suffer and die from curable medical conditions, leaving behind dependents such as children without a breadwinner. Poverty also subjects young and middle-aged adults to stress, depression, and anxiety when they cannot afford basic needs (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman, 2019). As a result, they may resort to substance abuse and commit offenses leading to incarceration.
One of the keys to success in life is education. Unfortunately, poor people may not afford to pay for tuition fees and other resources needed for education. Therefore, according to Auerbach (2021), poverty affects academic achievement as well as the level of education. Most impoverished sections of society face barriers such as educational discrimination as well as restricted access to empowering vocational opportunities; this may then have effects of augmenting cycles of poverty. A lack of a high school diploma may result in limited employment options, but they often lead to low income and low security. It only worsens their economic distress.
Poverty also affects family dynamics. The inability to get and provide basic needs leads to conflict in a family. For example, wives and children may feel that the father who is the breadwinner is not doing enough to provide for them. On the other hand, the father may release his stress on the family members whenever things do not work out. This may lead to separation and divorce (Auerbach, 2021). The disintegration of the family may lead to loneliness, lack of indiscipline among children, and exclusion by society.
A statement as to whether poverty is the result of cultural or social factors; provide support for your position and an example to illustrate it.
Poverty is the result of both cultural and social factors. Therefore, it cannot be attributed to solely cultural and social factors. Cultural factors include customs, norms, values, and beliefs helped by a community. On the other hand, social factors refer to structural and systematic factors such as social, economic, and political policies in a society. Cultural practices and beliefs may lead to poverty (Auerbach, 2021). For example, one may decide not to pursue higher education or take certain well-paying jobs due to cultural beliefs regarding gender roles and professions. Social factors also lead to poverty. For instance, the deeply entrenched systematic discrimination that leads to unequal distribution and access to resources leads to economic disparity (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman, 2019). Undocumented immigrants and minority groups often lack access to equal employment opportunities, housing loans, quality education, and healthcare, aggravating poverty.
Which parts of this theory apply to your practice the most? Why?
Social Exclusion theory gives us such a holistic model; without doubt, it is a complex social work approach, but it significantly contributes to understanding poverty and exclusion. One of the best practices in social work is a holistic approach to dealing with issues that clients face. Likewise, Social Exclusion theory takes a multidimensional approach when handling cases related to poverty (Auerbach, 2021). It emphasizes that poverty is caused by an interplay of social, political, and cultural factors. Therefore, by adopting a multidimensional approach, I would identify challenges, strengths, and resources available to the client. Doing so would help me identify how various factors interact and contribute to poverty.
Concerning your understanding of social work practice, which parts of this theory seem problematic to you? Describe.
The term exclusion is one aspect of Social Exclusion theory that seems problematic to me. It is broad and sometimes vague in its’ total definition, for example, the term “exclusion”, therefore, it is prone to misinterpretation and misuse. Social exclusion includes several economic, political, social, and cultural factors, which are dynamic in different contexts. Consequently, I find it challenging to operationalize during practices as a social worker. Being ambiguous makes it hard to set goals and devise effective strategies to address social exclusion in social work practice.
References
Auerbach, M. P. (2021). Social theories of poverty. In Salem Press encyclopedia. Salem Press.
Zastrow, C. H., Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2019). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.
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