• Think about the issue of poverty. The basic idea of theSocial Problemstextbook is that social problems, like poverty, are not primarily caused by or the result of personal decision-making or character. What are twosocialcauses of poverty in our world? How do these factors end up causing or continuing to maintain an impoverished class of citizens?
• Nonetheless, we tend to fall into the commonly held view that poverty is the result of personal decision-making and character. How does this happen? What factors blind us to the social reality of poverty? What common beliefs, opinions, or assumptions about work and action work to hide the social reality of poverty from us?