Deck 11: Poverty and Powerlessness

Question 1

Social insurance and public assistance is the same thing.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The ranks of the homeless remain consistent with the seasons.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Adults receiving welfare benefits are now required to begin working within five years of receiving aid, and there are no exemptions.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In 1965 Congress amended Social Security to add Medicare-comprehensive health benefits for persons over 55.

Question 5

Advocates of the present-orientedness explanation for the culture of poverty argue that poverty is related to the inability to envision a successful future or to plan for it.

Question 6

It is sometimes argued that the poor have a characteristic lifestyle, or culture of poverty, that assists them in adjusting to their world.

Question 7

States can establish a single set of eligibility and work requirements for food stamps, welfare checks, and other welfare programs.

Question 8

Children are less likely than people of other age groups to experience poverty.

Question 9

The official poverty level is derived by calculating the minimum cash income required to maintain families of different sizes. The dollar amounts change each year to

A) accommodate immigration.
B) take into account the effect of interest rates.
C) account for unemployment.
D) take into account the effect of inflation.

Question 10

Deinstitutionalization was a reform movement that resulted in emptying the nation's mental hospitals of all but the most dangerous mental patients.

Question 11

The Welfare Reform Act replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children with a block grant called Temporary Assistance to Welfare Families.

Question 12

The social insurance concept was designed to prevent poverty resulting from individual misfortune-gambling, addiction, and divorce.

Question 13

Powerlessness is the inability to control the events that shape one's life. The poor lack economic recourses and are largely dependent on others for their needs. Their lack of power derives from their

A) lack of self-worth.
B) dependency.
C) alienation.
D) education.

Question 14

The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 awarded the states increased power over the dispersal of welfare assistance.

Question 15

All severe poverty is self-perpetuating.

Question 16

Reformers are likely to focus on the economic deprivations as the fundamental cause of the social pathologies that afflict the poor.

Question 17

Today nearly one-half of the U.S. population receives some form of direct government benefit.

Question 18

The idea of public assistance is to alleviate, or simply to provide a minimal level of subsistence to certain categories of needy persons.

Question 19

Liberals frequently view the subsistence definition of poverty as insensitive to a variety of needs including

A) entertainment, recreation, and the relief of monotony.
B) entertainment, new clothes, and dental care.
C) entertainment, mortgages, and car payments.
D) all of these

Question 20

The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides health coverage for children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but whose parents don't want to purchase private insurance.

Question 21

Because of health issues, violence, poorly equipped schools, and fewer resources, poor children are less likely to succeed in school, impacting their ability to secure and maintain good jobs in adulthood. They will earn less money over their lifetimes, thus

A) perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
B) ending the cycle of dependence.
C) perpetuating the cycle of hope.
D) ending the cycle of hope.

Question 22

The culture of poverty may involve no more than a small portion of all families who live below the poverty line, but it generally continues regardless of

A) how many entitlements are received.
B) how much stigma is attached.
C) what is done in the way of remedial action.
D) when the welfare benefits are started.

Question 23

Schools attended by poor children are more likely to be in disrepair, overcrowded, and have

A) metal detectors at the door.
B) fewer resources.
C) better teachers to make up for crowding and disrepair.
D) more extracurricular activities to keep the kids off the streets.

Question 24

The federal government, under its Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, directly aids three categories of recipients. Which of the following is not a category aided by SSI?

A) Aged
B) Blind
C) Children under 18
D) Disabled

Question 25

The federal government under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program gives money to states to assist them in providing welfare payments to families with

A) children under 18 years of age.
B) more children than they can afford.
C) children under 5 years of age.
D) children with disabilities.

Question 26

In the Unites States, the most likely people to be poor are children. Which of the following is true of children in poverty in America?

A) Nearly one in five children lives in poverty.
B) Twenty-four percent of children under age six live in poverty.
C) Over 11 percent of the 24 million American children living in poverty live in families with incomes less than half the poverty level.
D) All of these

Question 27

The U.S. government, specifically the U.S. Census Bureau, defines poverty by using a series of income thresholds that vary by

A) geographic location.
B) family income.
C) family size.
D) family average age.

Question 28

Rather than a culture of poverty, it is probably more accurate to talk about a subculture of poverty. The prefix sub is used because most of the poor subscribe to the

A) "middle-class American work ethic."
B) "middle-class American way of life."
C) "upper-class American fantasy life."
D) "working-class American patriotism."

Question 29

Unemployment compensation programs are features of the Social Security Act. The costs of these programs are born solely by the

A) state.
B) worker.
C) federal government.
D) employer.

Question 30

Social insurance was not to be charity or public assistance. Instead, it relied on people's financial contribution through

A) voluntary payroll deductions.
B) compulsory payroll deductions.
C) voluntary purchase of U.S. Savings Bonds.
D) compulsory contributions to an IRA.

Question 31

Children born into a culture of alienation, apathy, and lack of motivation learn these attitudes themselves. Thus, the poor are prevented from exploiting

A) the government entitlements.
B) the welfare system.
C) each other.
D) any opportunities that are available to them.

Question 32

The purpose of public assistance programs is to alleviate: the idea is simply to provide a minimal level of subsistence to certain categories of

A) workers who made contributions to the program.
B) people who have voted for the party currently in power.
C) needy persons.
D) military veterans.

Question 33

Some people experience poverty because of involuntary unemployment, prolonged illness, death of the breadwinner, or other misfortune. But even when severe, which of the following is true once the external cause of poverty no longer exists?

A) The poverty worsens.
B) The poverty continues.
C) The poverty ends.
D) The poverty becomes generational.

Question 34

Conservatives also challenge the official definition of poverty: It does not include the value of

A) money earned without being taxed.
B) family debt.
C) family assets.
D) family future potential earnings.

Question 35

One problem with the poverty thresholds is that they do not vary geographically within the contiguous states. The impact of this is that in places with a high cost of living, which of the following is true?

A) More people are probably in poverty but do not meet the official definition.
B) Fewer people are probably in poverty but do not meet the official definition.
C) There is no effect associated with geographic variation.
D) The same numbers of people meet the definition, and they are poorer.

Question 36

The situational explanation thesis argues that poverty can be explained by the social conditions of the poor, particularly the differences in

A) innate drive to succeed.
B) financial resources that determine individual behavior.
C) the geographic location where the poor reside.
D) how much government assistance is available.

Question 37

Poor children's neighborhoods are more likely to be violent, and poor children are more likely to

A) have access to drugs, come in contact with gangs, and be pressured to join the military service.
B) have access to drugs, come in contact with gangs, and be pressured to commit crimes.
C) have access to drugs, come in contact with philanthropists, and be pressured to join the military service.
D) work harder to get out of poverty and escape the violence.

Question 38

The impact of poverty on children is enormous and can be life altering. Children who live in poverty often lack which of the following?

A) Adequate nutrition
B) Stable and safe housing
C) Quality health care
D) All of these

Question 39

Social Security is the most prevalent form of direct government benefit. Approximately how many baby boomers apply for these benefits each day?

A) 10 million
B) 5 million
C) 10 thousand
D) 5 thousand

Question 40

If in-kind benefits were "costed out," fewer persons might be classified as poor. Which of the following are in-kind benefits?

A) Free medical care under Medicaid and Medicare
B) Food stamps
C) Public housing
D) All of these

Question 41

What is meant by in-kind public assistance?

Question 42

TANF grant funds cannot be used for adults who have received welfare funds for more than five years, although state and local funds can be used. Which of the following is not true of states' ability to restrict funds?

A) They can deny aid to children born to welfare recipients.
B) They can deny welfare to unwed parents under age 18 unless they live with an adult and attend school.
C) They can opt to impose a longer time limit on benefits.
D) They can opt to impose a shorter time limit on benefits.

Question 43

Persons who are blocked consistently in their efforts to achieve life goals are most likely to express powerlessness and __________.

Question 44

It is feared that the culture of poverty idea may become an excuse for __________.

Question 45

Explain the concept of the sheltered homeless. Who are the members of this group?

Question 46

The sheltered homeless obtain housing in shelters operated by local governments or private charities. Most of the sheltered homeless come from

A) the streets.
B) mental institutions.
C) prisons.
D) other housing.

Question 47

What are the major reform provisions of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996? What are the primary differences between the Reform Act and the Aid to Families with Dependent Children that was part of the Social Security Act of 1935?

Question 48

Compare and contrast the concepts of social insurance and public assistance. Be sure to include examples of each.

Question 49

Unlike Medicare, Medicaid is a public assistance program designed for needy persons. Which of the following is not true of Medicaid?

A) Recipients must have made prior contributions.
B) Recipients must be eligible for welfare assistance.
C) Medicaid funds come to the states through the federal government.
D) Recipients are not required to have made prior contributions.

Question 50

How does design of the social insurance concept work to prevent poverty?

Question 51

Explain the basic features of the Social Security Act.

Question 52

Explain the concept of a federal entitlement.

Question 53

Deinstitutionalization was a reform advanced by mental health care professionals and social welfare activists in the 1960s and 1970s to release

A) chronic mental patients from privately run mental hospitals.
B) parents of children with chronic mental health issues from the burden of paying solely for long-term institutionalized care.
C) some dangerous criminals from jails to state-run mental hospitals.
D) chronic mental patients from state-run mental hospitals.

Question 54

_________ is the inability to control the events that shape one's life.

Question 55

The official definition of poverty emphasizes __________ levels; it seeks to describe poverty objectively as the lack of enough income to acquire the minimum necessities of life.

Question 56

What are the restrictions on TANF grant funds?

Question 57

Adults receiving welfare benefits are now required to begin working within two years of receiving aid. States can exempt from this work requirement a parent of a child under

A) 12 years of age.
B) 12 months of age.
C) 18 and still in school.
D) 5 years of age.

Question 58

The Welfare Reform Act replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with block grant funds called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The focus of welfare reform was on

A) assisting families with paperwork to determine eligibility for cash assistance and benefits.
B) moving welfare recipients off public aid and into jobs.
C) increasing the entitlement checks to the needy.
D) moving welfare recipients out of the public eye to help them avoid stigma.

Question 59

What was the premise behind the deinstitutionalization of mental patients?

Question 60

The __________ thesis argues that poverty can be explained by the social conditions of the poor.

Question 61

How are the poverty guidelines calculated in the United States? What are the problems associated with using this method to calculate poverty?

Question 62

Explain the concept of present-orientedness and describe how it may help to perpetuate poverty.

Question 63

Explain the relationship between deinstitutionalization, decriminalization, and the homeless populations?

Question 64

Why are political leaders more likely to advocate for and protect the programs that serve the elderly than they are to advocate for children? How has this lack of advocacy affected children in poverty in the United States?

Question 65

Explain how the in-kind public assistance program supplements are linked with the cash programs to meet the subsistence needs of America's poor.

Question 66

Present an argument for and one against the culture of poverty as the explanation for generational poverty in the United States.