Living at Risk with Low Income

As students enter the room, review what we have been learning. 

1.  Individually - What are all the components that sociologists measure to examine social class?  


Today:  Within the United States, an individual's life chances are greatly affected by lower social class.


2.  With a partner - hypothesize with a partner about the ways that poverty affects people in terms of:

Health
Location/environment
Lifestyle
Criminal Justice System

Health

Physical Health 
A person from lower class circumstances has a higher chance of dying at any age than a wealthy person!  Some other health outcomes for those in poverty:

From the American Journal of Pediatrics; Poverty and lack of nurturing in early life may have a direct effect on a child’s brain development, according to a study that found smaller brain volumes in poor, neglected children.

 Impoverished black children, for example, are twice as likely as poor Hispanic or white children to have levels of lead in their blood that is at least 2.5 micrograms per deciliter. Some researchers have found that even that small amount of lead is enough to cause cognitive impairment in children — especially the kind that impacts their reading ability.

 hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes, heart disease,  

Medical Care 
less access and poorer hospitals, lack of health insurance.

Mental Health 
higher stress, children feel effects of stress for life, mental disorders, suicide,

Environment 
From the Huffington Post, the poor are more likely to experience asthma and other health issues.  From the Florida Times Union;

...poor black children are more likely than poor white or Hispanic children to be diagnosed with asthma — another ailment that plagues poor children in Jacksonville and one that is linked to living in older, more industrialized areas. Poor white children, though, are more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke, or to be born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy than poor black or Hispanic children. And poor Hispanic children, it found, are twice as likely to have no place to go for health care, as compared to poor white or black children.

Lifestyle 
less access to healthy food (i.e. fruits and vegetables); see this link for a TED talk about one man who is arrested for planting a vegetable garden in a poor neighborhood, smoking, drug use and abuse, exercise less,

The connection between poverty and diabetes including obesity and poor diet and sedentary lifestyle from the American Diabetes Association;

One reason may be that violence tracks with poverty, thereby preventing people from being active out-of-doors. Similarly, parks and sports facilities are less available to people living in poor counties (5), and people who live in poverty-dense regions may be less able to afford gym membership, sports clothing, and/or exercise equipment. There are multiple individual and environmental reasons to explain why poverty-dense counties may be more sedentary and bear greater obesity burdens.

 unsafe sex, obesity, cancer, HIV


From the Frontline documentary, Poor Kids;
Twenty percent of the children in the US are growing up in poverty! That's 1 out of every 5 kids in the United States is living at the poverty level! Yes, you read that correctly - 1 out of every 5 children in the United States is living in poverty right now!  That's a higher rate than 34 out of 35 Western countries. 

From Voices For Illinois Children, we see that the number of children in poverty has been increasing and the effects can be very damaging; 

Growing up in poverty can have serious and long-lasting effects on children’s health, development, and overall well-being. The effects of poverty have a well-documented impact on young children’s developing brains. And children who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience harmful levels of stress, more likely to struggle in school, and more likely to have behavioral, social, and emotional problems than their peers.

Unnatural causes is a website and documentary about the connection between social class and health;

UNNATURAL CAUSES is the acclaimed documentary series broadcast by PBS and now used by thousands of organizations around the country to tackle the root causes of our alarming socio-economic and racial inequities in health. 
The four-hour series crisscrosses the nation uncovering startling new findings that suggest there is much more to our health than bad habits, health care, or unlucky genes. The social circumstances in which we are born, live, and work can actually get under our skin and disrupt our physiology as much as germs and viruses.
Among the clues:
• It's not CEOs dropping dead from heart attacks, but their subordinates. 
• Poor smokers are at higher risk of disease than rich smokers. 
• Recent Latino immigrants, though typically poorer, enjoy better health than the average American. But the longer they're here, the worse their health becomes.
Furthermore, research has revealed a gradient to health. At each step down the class pyramid, people tend to be sicker and die sooner. Poor Americans die on average almost six years sooner than the rich. No surprise. But even middle class Americans die two years sooner than the rich. And at each step on that pyramid, African Americans, on average, fare worse than their white counterparts. In many cases, so do other peoples of color.
But why? How can class and racism disrupt our physiology? Through what channels might inequities in housing, wealthy, jobs, and education, along with a lack of power and control over one's life, translate into bad health? What is it about our poor neighborhoods, especially neglected neighborhoods of color, that is so deadly? How are the behavioral choices we make (such as diet and exercise) constrained by the choices we have?

From the CDC, here is an explanation of the social determinants of health;

Conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes.1 These conditions are known as social determinants of health (SDOH).We know that poverty limits access to healthy foods and safe neighborhoods and that more education is a predictor of better health.2,3,4 We also know that differences in health are striking in communities with poor SDOH such as unstable housing, low income, unsafe neighborhoods, or substandard education.

Criminal Justice
Poor people are more likely to enter the criminal justice system and remain there.  From Spotlight on Poverty and Georgetown University Law Professor, Peter Edelmen's book, Not A Crime To Be Poor;

This chart shows the different stages of the criminal justice system.  In each stage, a person of lower social class is more likely to progress through the system than a person of upper social class.

Economic Life Chances

Researchers have documented that it costs more to be poor.  From the Economist, this article, explains the numerous ways that in the United States, life is more expensive the less money you have.

And the award winning book Evicted from Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond shows how society profits off the poor and how lack of housing can lead families to spiral downward.

In this groundbreaking book, Harvard sociologist and 2015 MacArthur “Genius” Award winner Matthew Desmond takes readers into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee, where families spend most of their income on housing and where eviction has become routine—a vicious cycle that deepens our country’s vast inequality. Based on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data, Evicted transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving a devastating, uniquely American problem.

Now make a mind map connecting the various effects of poverty.  How does each connect to the others?  How many connections can you make?

Online Simulation

Try the playspent website which guides readers through the difficult choices that those in poverty must make.

A Culture of Poverty?

Some people will argue that there is a culture of poverty among those in the lowest income levels. This culture of poverty represents individuals making choices that create or worsen the impoverished situation they are in. But, it is important to understand how these choices come about. A life of deprivation, punctuated by emergencies creates a lack of “deferred gratification." In other words, it is difficult for these people to invest in their own future; many of the poor see the future as more of the same or even worse; enjoy what you can, because tomorrow may be worse; poverty influences attitude which influences behavior which leads to poverty, etc…

Other Resources:

Here is a link to the University of Michigan's school of Poverty Solutions, which is full of resources and research on poverty. 

Here is the website, Spotlight on Poverty with numerous resources, stories and links.