1. Chapter 7
Mr. Garcia
Religion 10

2. 1. What is poverty?
The experience of not having the basic things one needs to live a full and dignified life.
2. Briefly describe each of the following characteristics of poverty: the nearness of death, marginalization, living on the edge.
Poor people experience the nearness of death as a result of chronic hunger, health problems, and violence. The average life span of the world’s poorest people is only forty years.
Poverty brings a sense of marginalization, which is the denial of full participation in the economic, social, and political life of society and an inability to influence decisions that affect one’s life.
Poor people live on the edge because it can take only one extra challenge or misfortune in their life for them to lose a home or a job.
3. Describe the cycle of poverty.
The lack of basic resources creates barriers that prevent people from obtaining those and other resources. For instance, having good transportation and good work often depend on one another, so that when one of them is no longer available, the other becomes difficult to obtain as well.

3. 4. What is the basic premise behind Dr
4. What is the basic premise behind Dr. Abraham Maslow’s theory the hierarchy of needs?
Only when people’s basic needs are met can they move on to meet higher-level needs.
5. What is the option for the poor and vulnerable?
The choice to make the needs of society’s poorest and most vulnerable members a top concern.
6. Why does the church say that people deserve fair access to the resources of the earth and the human community?
So they can fully develop their own unique ways of loving God and others.
7.How might the denial of the rights of workers (discussed in chapter 6) affect the cycle of poverty?

4. 8. Compare and contrast how the two forms of chronic hunger affect people.
Both forms mean that a person does not have enough food to give the body the nutrients needed to grow and maintain itself properly. A person who is starving gets so few calories that the body starts feeding on itself, destroying its ability to function. When a person is malnourished, the person’s diet is extremely limited and he or she does not receive the vitamins and minerals needed for proper physical and mental development.
9. Describe four types of hidden homelessness.
When people’s housing costs consume too much of their income, they are vulnerable to hunger and other economic stresses, including the loss of housing.
When people live in inadequate housing, they must contend with housing that is unsafe and broken down—living conditions that degrade human dignity.
When people do not have their own housing, they sometimes must double up with other families, leading to unsafe living conditions.
When people live in unsafe homes because of violence, crime, and substance abuse, they do not have a safe, nurturing home.
10. Why is education one of the best ways to break the cycle of poverty?
Good education opens up good job opportunities, helps us develop our full potential as human beings, and gives us self-confidence.

5. 11. In your own words, summarize four factors that contribute to poverty.
When the purchasing power of a person’s wages goes down an the cost of available housing goes up, people are more likely to be homeless, hungry, or subject to other economic stress.
When the government gives only limited aid to people struggling with poverty, the people are not given the real tools they need to break the cycle of poverty—decent housing, job training, and so on.
When people do not have health insurance, the financial strain of a major illness or injury can lead to the loss of housing. When people who are treated for mental and physical illness do not have health insurance, they can lose their housing because of the costs, a condition that leads to more poor health. Those who are mentally ill often lack the health care and social services necessary to maintain housing.
Hopelessness leads to poverty because people do not see a way out, they live only for the moment, or they escape through substance abuse.
12. Review the five characteristic of poverty listed at the beginning of this chapter. Choose tree of the them, briefly describing how each is evident in one of the poverty-related problems discussed in this section.
13. Give two examples of the devastating effects of bad water and poor sanitation.
Adults contract cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea.
Young children die of dehydration caused by diarrhea.
Malaria affects 800 million people annually, killing one million infants in Africa each year.

6. 14. How does the church say that wealthier nations should treat refugees?
Wealthy nations should welcome refugees.
15. List three common myths about hunger and give a summary of why they are false.
Myth 1. There is not enough food to feed the world’s growing population. This is false because enough food is currently grown worldwide to supply every child, woman, and man with 3,600 calories a day, enough to cause weight gain. Redistributing food would eliminate hunger.
Myth 2. Most hunger is caused by droughts and natural disasters. This is false because for centuries, traditional cultures have developed strategies for coping with food loss due to natural disasters. Civil wars contribute to hunger, and deforestation can contribute to droughts.
Myth 3. The world’s poor people only need to work harder to obtain the food they need. This is false because poor people work hard every day and often cannot support themselves because they do not have the resources necessary for self-reliance.

7. 16. What are three consequences of colonialism?
Economies were undermined.
Export crops replaced crops grown to feed local populations.
Native populations were forced off their land.
Powerful elites came to control most economic and political power.
Violent conflict was fueled by poorly drawn borders.
17. Briefly describe three modern barriers to development for poor nations.
Export each crop replace crops grown to feed local population, and multinational corporation extract the resources from developing nations.
A small elite control most of the natural resources and power.
Wealthy nations offer only small amounts of aid, and this aid often reinforces the interests of wealthy nations and the ruling elite in the countries receiving the aid.
Discrimination based on religion, gender, and ethnicity cause poverty.
Conflict is fueled by arms sales.
18. Briefly describe how the debt crisis affects the world’s poorest people.
Money that could ease the suffering of poor people through social programs is spent on debt repayment to banks and wealthy nations. Repaying the debt stifles economic development, so that the debt will likely never be repaid in full.
19. How would the world’s wealthiest countries and poorest countries relate differently if they had a power-with relationship rather than a power-over relationship? Answers will vary.