Running head: CRITICAL ANALYSIS PORTFOLIO
7-2 Final Project Part One: Critical Analysis Portfolio
Cheyenne Nelson
Southern New Hampshire University
CRITICAL ANALYSIS PORTFOLIO
History
One key aspect that makes the lens of history so important is that ".. .it can provide us
with solutions to many of the problems of the present" (The School of Life, 2014). Due to such
knowledge, "over the last 200 years the world as a whole has seen a marked decline in the
incidence of absolute poverty" (Ravallion, 2013); in brief, the effects of poverty on society are
damaging and have been concurring for decades. With a multitude of factors affecting poverty
(i.e. unsafe work environments, poor housing, water and food related diseases, etc. (Borgen,
2019)), the issue of poverty deems never-ending through generations; however, moving forward,
modern society faces the challenges of poverty and aims to potentially fix the major issues
through transitional thinking of what once was to what could be. Moving forward through
history, poverty was once viewed as ".. .necessary for economic advancement" (Ravallion, 2016)
has now advanced to viewing poverty "...as a social ill that can be avoided through public
action" (Ravallion, 2016) -- poverty is "...no longer seen as some inevitable, even natural,
condition, but as something that could and should be eliminated" (Ravallion, 2016).
Regardless of the advances made to defeat the issue of poverty, it is abundantly clear that
poverty affects everyone (i.e. individuals, families, children, the community) in a similar, but
differing fashion. In one definition, "...poverty is seen as a lack of economic resources that have
negative social consequences" (Mood & Jonsson, 2015); whether individuals have what one
would consider necessary items (i.e. food, clothes, shelter) "...economic problems lead to a
deterioration of social relations and participation" (Mood et al., 2015). Social issues arise from
the stigma surrounding poverty -- when an individual is poor, the individual faces "...not being
able to partake in society on equal terms with others, and therefore in the long run being
excluded by fellow citizens or withdrawing from social and civic life (Mood et al., 2015) due to
CRITICAL ANALYSIS PORTFOLIO
lack of economic resources combined with a sense of ".. .shame of not being able to live a life
like them" (Mood et al., 2015). With this sense of "failure poor individuals then show neglect.
do not have the resources provided, and/or do not ask for necessary resources to enhance the
wellness in other areas (i.e. health, schooling and education, etc.) of their lives due to this shame
factor from society.
Looking at the affect(s) poverty has on society, health concerns become apparent and
noticeable in those living and not living in poverty. According to Habitat for Humanity (2018),
"over 10,000 children die every day because they live in poor housing"; lack of sanitation and
ventilation in homes bring forth life-threatening diarrhea, intestinal infections, and respiratory
diseases especially in children. (Habitat for Humanity, 2018). Factors affecting ones' health in
turn affect ones' mental well-being -- social issues arising fr