The Uses of Poverty

In the article The Uses of Poverty, a point is made that poverty today is an ongoing social phenomenon. The author is trying to discover if there is a positive function that explains poverty's persistence over a period of time. There were multiple functions identified in the reading. First, society has a kind of “dirty work” that is dirty, dangerous, temporary, and underpaid. Higher paying jobs resemble “clean work,” what everyone wants to do. This creates a shortage in jobs, forcing people to do the “dirty work” at very low wages, creating poverty among Americans. Secondly, Americans in poverty are willing to do activities that benefit to them. Due to the poor paying a high proportion of their income to taxes, they volunteer at hospitals and as guinea pigs in medical related research. A third function is the poor buy food or supplies that other people do not want. For example they buy day old bread. Even though it is still good the price is reduced and it still allows for the company to make some money off their products. The following functions are all part of economic functions. Other functions are classified as socio-economic and other population aggregates.