SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Market Basket, Poverty Threshold

• School: Syracuse University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 101
• Professor: Wilmoth

Document Summary

Soc 101: intro to sociology- lecture 10: poverty. Calculated how much it costs to feed a family (based on size) for a month. This is multiplied by 3 to determine the threshold. Does not account for food stamps, etc. Family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children)= ,624. Family of 2 (1 adult, 1 child)= ,057. Family of 3 (1 parent, 2 children)= ,709. 52% of americans have experience poverty at some time before age 65 and receive partial assistance. 50% are no longer in poverty a year later. 75% experience poverty spells of less than 4 years. 51 million americans (1 in 3) are in poverty or near poverty. Income is 150% or less of the poverty threshold. Not paying for gas, oil, or electric bills. In 1959 the highest poverty rate was in the 65+ age group with 35% of people in that age group in poverty.