The Effects of Poverty on the Inner City Family Values Essay Example for Free

The Effects of Poverty on the Inner City Family Values Essay The family is the basic unit of the society. It is an institution that is composed of the father, mother and their children. It can be said that the existence of the family is a simple matter but we should realize that the conglomeration of families is what makes up the world today. The existence of families is governed by family values that are passed from generation to generation. Family values are proven to be effective in keeping families intact no matter how dynamic the world is. In other words, the inability to maintain and practice family values at home makes a family chaotic thereby affecting the society as a whole. There are various family values that are utilized and practiced by families worldwide. However, most of the common values include individuality, integrity, industry, knowledge, compassion, love of family and optimism (Learning Family, 1999, p. 1). These values are useful in keeping family cooperation and order that will result to happiness at home. Moreover, we are aware that family values affect how we face the realities of life. Our values can manifest to others about what kind of people we are, and can assist them in understanding our actions (Learning Family, 1999, p. 1). In this paper, the primary factor that could affect family values is the problem of poverty that surfaced in the world today. This paper will give a simple yet thorough discussion of the effects of poverty on actual and perceived families found in the inner city and their values. The basic manifestations of poverty are overpopulation, food shortage and related problems, high crime rate and poor educational background of which family values can be applied in solving for these problems. Poverty and Its Effects to Actual and Perceived Inner City Family Values Poverty is a problem that hits the whole world. Many countries are suffering from poverty and its constituents always hope for changes. Having families forced to fill the streets due to inability to afford a house is a reality. Even in the United States, there people who are found in the streets as they could not afford to own a house (Wattenberg, et. als. , 2003, p. 517). It is for a fact that the United States has been considered as a country that has the highest national income worldwide (Wattenberg, et. als. , 2003, p. 517). Yet, poverty still exists due to unequal distribution of income and wealth. Due to this situation, many families are becoming malfunctioned as their children caused so many problems in the society. Family values are no longer frequently taught among children since juvenile delinquency is rampant nowadays. There are two kinds of families that we need to deal with in analyzing family values in relation to poverty in the inner city and these are the actual family and the perceived inner city family. In order to have a basic backdrop in understanding the paper, it should be put in mind that these two kinds of family will be analyzed with respect to each manifestation of poverty together with the family values mentioned earlier. Hence, the purpose of this paper is trying to stress the differences in views between the actual and the perceived poor inner city family. Schools are getting problems of truancy as a sign that parents can no longer control their children in their homes. Parents are more focused in solving financial problems that they tend to forge their children’s emotional and psychological needs. Overpopulation and Its Effects to Actual and Perceived Inner City Families The problem of poverty includes population growth. As time continues to exist, the number of people living in this world also increases. In line with that, life expectancy as well as standards of living became more complicated. Besides, the populace has developed into a huge number that is about six billion, and continues to increase over time (Overpopulation Website, 2008, p. 1). In addition to that, the pressures of rising populations on natural resources and commercial greed coalesce, resulting to detrimental consequences (Overpopulation Website, 2008, p. 1). As many people exist, there is shortage of space in cities wherein most families live to earn a living. Housing problems occur and the government is trying to resolve the issue. Due to the rising number of unemployed people, homeless families continue to increase. Children start to show disgust in the situation leading them to stray in the streets. Aside from that, many families stay in the streets to earn a living by selling whatever materials to passersby and run errands to other people. Besides, those people in the countryside try to relocate into inner cities in order to search for economic opportunities. This situation adds to the burden of having a congested place in the urban and suburban communities. Diseases that affect the people living in the cities continue to be a problem since clean water supply is limited. In other words, overpopulation greatly affects those families who live in the inner cities since all other huge problems related to poverty exist there. For a detailed analysis on the effects of poverty on the actual inner city family values, we need to consider the matters discussed earlier. The main focus in this section is the effects of poverty on the actual families in inner cities and their values. Considering overpopulation, there are family values that are utilized by actual families. These values include industry, compassion, and optimism. Actual inner city poor families are aware of the value of industry, compassion and optimism. First and foremost, the hardships that these families need to bear require an optimistic heart so that life can be fully enjoyed. Small amount of food can be shared by family members and a few clothing supply can be used by them. However, actual families are weak in terms of compassion since they would not care for other people’s welfare as long as their own families can survive. The future is that a family of three members who are earning the minimum wage in the year 2009 can still considered as living below the federal poverty line. The only family values that can prevent this situation are industry since there is no other way. Yet, because of poor educational background leading to poor qualification in work with better pay make the family members indolent. The effect of poverty on the value of industry is very severe as long financial crisis may result to inadequacy of work qualifications. Actual families and its members usually blame each other in their poor educational background due to the coming of more family members leading to more mouths to feed. Parents are always blamed by their children of their inability to afford for the educational needs of their children. As a result, the value of industry never worked out due to lack of work qualification. In addition, poor actual families view poverty as something that they do not deserve as they thought they worked hard to earn a living. Whatever it may be, the actual families still believes that no matter how hard life is, optimism is a value that should not be discarded. On the other hand, the views of perceived families on inner city values are much more different than views of actual family. The perceived family in the inner city viewed overpopulation as the failure of the government to address the issue. Perceived families most likely blamed the government for not giving then sufficient work opportunities that resulted to their economic difficulties. Aside from that, perceived families living in urban and suburban communities do not care about the value of compassion. Most frequently, people in inner cities who are poor fight against each other over little resources. Their dire needs of living allowance made them inactive to the welfare of other people but for themselves. In addition, perceived families in inner cities are not optimistic in nature. They tend to submit to negative actions just to escape poverty. There are so many cases of theft, robbery and even rape that exist in perceived families due to the inability of family members and even neighbors to help each other. The scarce resources in the inner city due to overpopulation pushed young children to wander in the streets for possible alms and donations. Just think of the existing people in the streets begging for food and basic necessities, perceived families in the inner cities experienced these things. However, the value of industry is something that is treasured by perceived families on inner cities. This is due to the fact that if they will not work to earn a living, they have nothing to eat. Their children will suffer more due to lack of sustenance. Poor perceived families on inner cities could be aware of the fact that only a sincere industry could give them a chance to earn a living.