Poverty as a social issue

• What is the functionalist perspective in regard to poverty as a social issue?

  They believe that people in poverty are either:

  
  

  1. Excluded from the labour market e.g disabled, have a chronic illness
  2. They're in a weak position e.g those with no marketable skills are trapped in low-paid and insecure employment.
• What is the Marxist perspective in regard to poverty as a social issue?

  • The capitalist economic system needs to maintain a cheap pool of labor.
  • The Welfare State is a mechanism used by capitalism to preserve itself.
  • Working class are 'brought off' with the minimum acceptable provisions for their health and well - being.
• What is the feminist perspective in regard to poverty as a social issue?

  • Emphasises that the welfare state supports conventional family structures reinforcing the patriarchy and female dependency on men.
  • Divorce and/or single parenthood can mean a move into poverty.
  • Women at the head of single - parent families are in an 'economically perilous' situation.