CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO POVERTY – REACTIONS

A. SOCIAL CONTRIBUTING FACTORS The politics of poverty. This is true, since the government has to have

something in return, or something to gain back, they have to/obliged continually support those who are rich, or the “haves” because they have the means to give back to the government.

Poverty and the economy. One example of this is evident in hospitals and in the medical world. Doctors here in the Philippines nowadays respond more to and immediately prioritize whoever has the means to have a patient treated even if it is just a minor injury, than those who have barely enough to buy vitamin C for their children who are suffering from chronic cough episodes.

Patterns of family life. This is dependent on the case for students who graduated from the rural areas with excelling marks than those from the urban schools who graduated with just passing marks. Employment opportunities nowadays are like this: a fresh graduate of the former would more likely be offered a lower position than the latter regardless of his/her transcript of records because of the name of the school, or the prestige it holds.

B. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS The culture of poverty. The phrase “Poverty is in the mind” is

applicable in this paragraph. How can a poor person rise up from poverty if he/she does not get out of the mindset that he/she will be poor for the rest of his/her life (psychological), seek help from people who could assist him/her (social) in finding ways for him/her to earn a living to be out of the poverty line (economic)?

Disparagement and discrimination. This is self-explanatory in that, again, it comes down to a person’s mindset about being poor/being within the poverty line in order to stand for him/herself, gain self-respect, and not be discriminated again. One should know that poverty is not genetic, nor is it passed on throughout generations. Rather (personally), it is a condition one places him/herself when seeking alternatives/means in order to earn a living to get by everyday is not being done at all even though opportunities are already being presented. And that grave dependence towards the government in order to be fed, clothed, and sheltered is the only thing one does in order to feel secure.