Types of Poverty

Poverty: the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions  -Merriam-Webster Dictionary

• Absolute Poverty: measures poverty in relation to the amount of money necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter
• Relative Poverty: defines poverty in relation to the economic status of other members of the society; people are poor if they fall below prevailing standards of living in a given societal context

When discussing the concept of absolute poverty one must note that it is not concerned with broader quality of life issues or with the overall level of inequality in society. The concept therefore fails to recognize that individuals have important social and cultural needs. An important criticism of both concepts is that they are largely concerned with income and consumption. This has significant affect on ********

Differences Between White Poverty and Black Poverty

      It is shown that the poverty experienced by African Americans and that of white Americans is a very different experience. The poverty experienced by the black population is much more isolated, as well as concentrated. Studies have shown that it is much more likely for a poor black family is more likely to live in a neighborhood where everyone is poor than white families. "In St. Louis, 29.5% of poor African Americans live in concentrated poverty. Among poor whites, just 1.6 do," (New York Times). 

     This concentration of poverty is often referred to as the "double burden of poverty." Living in uniformly poor neighborhoods restricts access to many things, such as better schools, as public schools receive their money based on taxation in regards to property in the area. The reason why concentrated poverty is an increasing problem relates to how many, especially African Americans are continuously left behind. This is due to things such as systemic discrimination that exists within the United States. As discussed in the post about gentrification, there are also modern zoning laws that keep the poor out of wealthier areas.   

Works Cited:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/12/black-poverty-differs-from-white-poverty/
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/international-migration/glossary/poverty/