Defining a Global Problem
This page of our website is dedicated to raising awareness related to poverty. All references to information shared are listed at the bottom.
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What is a global problem anyway? Sometimes referred to as wicked problems or complex socio-technical systems, a global problem has many characteristics. Wong lists ten characteristics of a wicked problem in the resource referenced in the references section, and it is encouraged to visit the site listed. Global problems cannot be easily defined; they do not have an individual obvious solution, the solutions tested do not bring immediate and permanent results, and the problems are often intertwined (Wong, 2020, Section: 10 Characteristics). It may be easy to see how a global problem can be so wicked, and while a permanent solution may not exist, foundations and charities are battling the problem.
Discussing Poverty
What is poverty? The UN loosely describes poverty as a lack of income and resources, undue hunger and malnutrition, inaccessible education and services, social discrimination and exclusion, and exclusion from democracy or input (UN, n.d.).
There are income thresholds in the U.S. that the U.S. Census Bureau sets; for example, less than $14,580 for an individual, $19,720 for two persons, $24,680 for three persons, and so on constitutes a federal poverty level (FPL) (Healthcare.gov, 2023).
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Pre-pandemic global poverty rates had been cut by more than half since 2000. The COVID-19 pandemic could increase global poverty by as much as half a billion people, or 8% of the total human population (United Nations, n.d.).
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One of the main problems when developing policy on alleviating poverty is who is responsible. To what degree are the impoverished responsible for their hardship? To what degree does the un-impoverished part of society have a responsibility in policy making? “The reluctance to assist the most entrenched homeless people with the most complex life situations [...] may be born out of administrative demands, but it also aligns with more conservative views of homeless people as failing to respond and lacking the initiative to ‘help themselves’ “ (Hodgetts et al., 2012, para. 38). To paraphrase; people may not want to help others who are lower class than them, because if the lower class would do the work, they could achieve social mobility upward. With this element of conflict it is important to understand everyone can make a difference in these situations, and that is why we have to unite against the global problems.
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References
Formatted in APA 7
Healthcare.gov. (2023). Federal poverty level (FPL). https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/
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Hodgetts, D., Stolte, O., Waimarie Nikora, L., & Groot, S. (2012). Drifting Along or Dropping into Homelessness: A Class Analysis of Responses to Homelessness. Antipode, 44(4), 1209–1226. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00977.x
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United Nations. (n.d.). Global issues. https://www.un.org/en/global-issues.
UN. (n.d.). Global issues-ending poverty. https://www.un.org/en/global-issues
Wong, E. (2020). What is a wicked problem and how can you solve it? Interaction Design Foundation. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/wicked-problems-5-steps-to-help-you-tackle-wicked-problems-by-combining-systems-thinking-with-agile-methodology