Inquiry Welcome Post 267016 0 What is one ongoing issue our nation continues to face over centuries even after learning and repeating from its past mistakes? The first thought that crossed my mind, as a struggling college student, was the affair of poverty. Although, it may seem to be a simple issue to be resolved it involves more complexity than what is seen on the surface. Its a very intricate concept influenced by social, political, and economic elements. My chosen line of inquiry is, how can our perception of poverty in society be molded by our surrounding influences and norms? I decided to pursue my line of inquiry on this issue after discovering that the topic | thought | understood actually had a deeper meaning behind it. believe that almost everyone knows what poverty is, but not everyone understands the full significance it carries or the impact it has on ordinary people's lives. In order to get my intial ideas together, l had to start by looking through scholarly texts. | needed to find solid research and supportive reasoning | knew | could use to back Lup my statement and to build an argument. The more I learned about poverty. besides the basic facts | knew, the more interested | was in its origin, history, and foundation in society and around the world The original curiosity that led me to this line of inquiry was my personal experience with poverty (even though | may not have realized it at the start) | mean | was justa 6th grader in middle school with my utmost priority being what would | do with my hair tomorrow or what color shirt should |wear? But, what | didn't realize were the issues my family was facing, After the economy dropped. life became really difficult for my dad who was a small business owner. Before | knew it, my dad had lost his restaurants and he was on the verge of declaring bankruptcy. Now. this was the closest | have been to understanding what itis lke to watch every penny being spent. Although, my parents did their best to keep us biindsided so we would not worry, it was obvious to me what was going on. Having gone through this rough patch in my life at such a young age has led me to wonder how the other kids deal with this matter. lam fortunate enough to be in college now and to afford my education. But, at times | wonder if my parents had been paying for my school then, was there a chance | would have had to drop out? | want to gain new perspectives on this matter and to continue to add to my line of inquiry through investigative research of different genres from news articles to documentaries to even personal experiences and real life stories and statistics. LIVING ON. ONE DOLLAR - ETFLIX| have read and listened to two texts that were able to help me get started with my line of inquiry and further my research process. The first text | watched was a documentary I found on Netflix. In all honesty. I did not plan on forming a line of inquiry from the concept of poverty. but the title of the documentary, Ine Dollar 2 Day” was what caught my attention. | was able to connect to this text as a college student especially since the documentary was created and filmed by recent college students as well. This documentary informed me about the lives of the people in Guatemalan villages and how difficult their lifestyles were. This text showed how the rural villagers had a very limited supply of resources and how somedays families had to choose between putting food on the table or sending their children to school. However, these people lived through hardships with smiles on their faces and by coming together as a community to share support. hope, and their faith. This documentary about living off of one dollar a day helped shape my questions about extreme poverty and its conditions because | was given a new perspective and definition of what poverty meant to these people. It allowed me to question the lifestyles of people in 3rd world countries and whether or whether not our world would ever be rid of poverty. The second text | read was a speech on Ted Talks by Richard Wilkinson about °+ omic inequality har This source informed me about how the many underlying factors of poverty are taking a greater toll on less developed countries rather than more developed countries. This text helped me gain knowledge and insight on the relation between poverty and inequality. This talk especially helped me shape my questions because it allowed to take the foundation of my line of inquiry to the next level by asking about income gaps and social mobility in the social and economic spectrum. Most of all, this source allowed me to ask questions about specific vocabulary and terms | needed to build connections such as the many social gradients and the impact it had on poverty in society.ne we ricnest 20% the poorest 20%? Led Pre els Marly Erte Poverty can be a very widespread issue since it is a continuous cycle. In order for my line of inquiry to be successful, | have come up with smaller questions to build upon my curiosities, More specific questions | have about this issue is how the topic of poverty is influenced by the “American Dream’ what does it mean to “live within your means”, haw can our society be fully informed about the intensity of poverty, and what does it mean if unequal countries are worse off th nore equal and developed countries? Constructing my list of questions to build upon my line of inquiry is never ending. | have moved on to even focus on stereotypes, hardcore statistics, and ways poverty is essed. Also, | want to look into the media's influence on poverty b: sse not only will this will help me find more viewpoints that | am not aware of, but it will also help with my research because technology and the way it is used in the media has significantly improved. | hope to learn how poverty is influenced in different regions of a city and/or society because there are many factors t be considered. Discovering these factors is my ultimate goal. | want to understand how the‘standard of poverty" was created, However, | believe | will actually begin to find answers once | pick a certain group to study and am looking to research Charlotte, North Carolina. | have lived in North Carolina almost my entire life, so why not study the city my college isin? Although, my initial research led me to consider poverty in 3rd world countries | want to find the truth about this matter in our society itself. How much do you know about poverty in the region you live? After completing my research hopefully | will have more knowledge about how poverty was created ‘and why itis sil seen in our lives to this very day. IT'S CRAZY! | am going to have to consider terms such as social status and gradients, education, income differences, cultural traditions, influences from societal norms, measure of poverty at home and etc. | suppose | will have the dictionary by my side as | continue to research. However, | will have to keep an open mind to explore the idea of poverty which means keeping my beliefs about this issue aside. If you thought religion and politics were debatable and controversial topics, can you think of a reason the matter of poverty isn't? Information I can use while writing this “conversation” will be factors of ethnicity, race, gender, and different demographics. Once I get the hang of this, | will comparing societies and different regions right and left for uncovering the source of poverty. Whether people of modern- day society believe it or not, poverty takes atoll on everyone's lives both directly and indirectly. In my opinion, since the topic of poverty is generalized, people's level of awareness on this issue has dropped. Before digging deeper into this issue | was very blindsided by the severity ofthis problem. | believe this question is worth exploring because it will help us understand why our nation and our surrounding neighbors suffer from these deficiencies, while some regions/ parts of the world bathe in wealth and glory. Who set the standard of poverty and ‘wealth to begin with? By understanding the impact of different influences such as cultural. political, and economical as well as societal norms and stereotypes on poverty | think people everywhere will‘see how their perspectives are changed and affected not just by others, but by surrounding factors also. Therefore, this matter at hand could pertain to everyone in society, don't you think so? Personally, | believe that the research | want to and will conduct will matter the most to the younger generation of ‘our societies. Most kids/ young teenagers and/ or adults in their early 20's specifically that make up the Charlotte region will reap the most benefits from my research because itis at this age that one starts to understand the worth of money and the world around them. Also, this is the age that determines their social status, especially as they start to form as individuals and create their own unique identities and personalities, Charlotte is a huge city, I can study certain groups from less developed areas and more developed areas to compare and conclude from. Every heard of the term “the stew?" Let me explain, our nation is seen as “the stew” because individuals from all over the ‘country have came to America and bring their own flavor to the table. Likewise Charlotte, North Carolina is comprised of many different ethnic groups which is why | am going to factor in elements such as gender, race, ethnicity, and etc. because these characteristics help define people which help build and sustain a society and its many different, yet unique regions. IF were to go to Google and search the definition of poverty. | would find a very mainstream result but | would not know how common of a struggle this is for people everywhere. Other than that, have no idea what influences affect our perce 3 of poverty because it is not something that many discuss. Usually, one will hear many exchanging ideas about how to prevent and fight poverty and world hunger. Ideas of collecting money for investments, getting involved, and/ or spreading awareness are frequent thoughts. But, how often do you hear someone trying to figure out how the matter of poverty came to be? Volunteering at the Habitat for Humanity and Charlotte Refugee Resettlement Association has given me a hands on experience with understanding the deep the