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Poverty is a state or condition where an individual or a community does not have access to significant necessities required for effective existence in society. Normally, it is the lack of the basic things that makes the one be considered poor. Notably, these basic things are food, shelter and clothing. However, people embrace varying definitions of poverty in line with their backgrounds or country where they come from. In the United States, a person is considered poor if he is living below a dollar per day. This has resulted to debates as people seek the true definition or meaning of the word poor.
This paper analyzes the word poverty taken of different people. Additionally, the essay exemplifies the worth of the interpretation of this term.
Possible Meanings of Poverty and Disagreements
As defined above, poverty is a state or condition where an individual or a community does not have access to vital necessities for effective operation in society. Accordingly, this means that the poor persons cannot make their ends meet as they lack the required necessities. Nevertheless, different people would disagree with this definition since they have their own take on the analyzed word.
Particularly, as other people assume poverty is the lack of basic things and other material goods, other people believe that it is more of that (Haughton and Khandker 2009, 28). An audience that contains wealthy people may obliviously disagree with this explanation. Rich people spend more and have lavish lifestyles. Regarding that, they assume each other person should at least try and match their lifestyle. People who fail to meet their lifestyle or at least have a lavish lifestyle may be considered poor by the wealthy. According to them, poverty is the state where a person cannot afford expensive foodstuffs, clothing and, all the other lavish things.
However, this will be different with the middle lower class people. The middle lower class people are those one who can afford food but are not able to eat what they want. This implies that they can only manage to buy cheap foodstuffs and they also have houses but they are in poor conditions (Pantazis, Gordon and Levitas 69). Normally, the middle lower class people have access to basic needs, but they are limited. Poverty to these individuals may have another meaning contrary to the one of the wealthy people. According to this audience, the pointed phenomenon will mean any person or community that lacks the basic things completely.
Groups that Agree with This Definition of Poverty
Despite the fact some groups disagree with this definition of poverty, there is still other categories that would agree with it obviously. One of the notable groups that would simply agree with the above definition is the lower class people who cannot afford anything, but instead just have to beg. The representatives of such class lack all the basic needs from clothing and food to shelter. This group would concur with the explanation because it states that poverty is the situation, where a person does not have access to material goods and other primary necessities. Remarkably, the lower class people cannot refute this definition because they truly have nothing of possession. By the middle lower class, poverty is the complete lack of basic things. This definition means that it is only the aforementioned class individuals’ lifestyles that can be rated as poverty.
The Reason Why This Definition is Worth Considering
Different people have different takes on this definition; however, there is a reason why it has to be considered worth.
Firstly, this interpretation has a point of value where it states that poverty means the lack to meet a certain standard of living. That makes it worth since a person who cannot meet the dollar per day lifestyle is simply poor. In the definition, the phrase "certain amount of material possession" has strength, and it is the one that clearly asserts what this formal and concise statement means. This implies that not any other person who is not having a lavish lifestyle is poor but only those who cannot meet a certain level of lifestyle (Yunus and Weber 2007, 99). Additionally, a human may be managing to get food on a daily basis but after a long struggle. This same person can have a house that is on a poor condition, and he has no money to repair it. Basing on that, the individual can get all the basic needs but not on a good capacity that is considered as good lifestyle. That is simply poverty.
In conclusion, poverty is debatable word and different people may define it in a different manner. In this essay, this term has been defined as a state or condition where an individual or community is in wants of material possessions or lifestyle that is least accepted by the people. However, some other men like the middle lower class people will disagree with this. They are the ones who can afford food but are not able to eat what they want. On their view, poverty may be a state where a person has nothing completely. This means that a poor individual is the one who begs for food and even does not have a shelter. Despite that, there is a reason why this definition has to be considered worth: it claims that a poor person is the one who struggles to make the daily ends meet.