The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All

This is a summary from a sociology assignment based on the functions of poverty.

In the essay, “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All,” sociologist Herbert J. Gans uses the functionalist perspective to explain the functions and dysfunctions of poverty. He provides explanations to thirteen functions of poverty as well as possible solutions to the problem.

According to Gans, poverty and the poor satisfy many positive functions in the American society. He begins his essay by explaining that the poor perform most of the dirty work at low wages. Dirty work in the fields, hospitals, and restaurants, for example, depend on the poor for its existence. Poverty creates many jobs in our society. Jobs like social services, whose main purpose are to provide service for the poor, would not exist without poverty. Poverty provides income (money received, usually from a job, business or assets) for poorly trained professionals like doctors, teachers, and lawyers. Since the poor are more likely to be caught when committing a crime or deviant act, it serves a measure to identify these acts and as a way to enforce the law by punishing the transgressors. Poverty also serves as a measure of superiority. It makes the distinction between the elite social class (a large group of people who rank close to one anther in wealth, prestige, and power) and the working-class. Poverty is functional to the political system. Poor people are less likely to participate in politics than the middle-class. This enables the Republican system to stay in power. The poor, without power (the ability to carry out your will, even over the resistance of others) sometimes pay the cost of social growth. When projects such as establishing markets, universities, hospitals, and expressways need to be built, locations where the poor live tend to be the targets. As a consequence, the poor are pushed off of their property without recompense. These are only some of the functions Gans describes in his essay.