300048688-Economic Deprivation
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Section 1
Economic deprivation is a situation in which a person lacks the monetary resource to live at the same level of those around him or her (Stiles, Liu, & Kaplan, 2000). Studies conducted in the past separate between those living at the poverty level or below as being part of the economically deprived and those that are not. The conflict arises when the person lacking the resources becomes aware and begins to experience feelings of envy and injustice (Stiles et al., 2000). According to Stiles et al. (2000), one study showed that economic deprivation might lead to deviant behavior. The study followed 7,618 seventh graders for many years until their mid to late twenties, measuring deviant behavior that included violent crime, property crime and drug use. The results revealed that economic deprivation leads to negative feelings that in return lead to low self esteem. This then encourages attacks, avoidance or withdrawal to solve the problem (Stiles et al., 2000). Economic deprivation relative to friends, leads to violent crime and property crime; where economic deprivation relative to neighbors leads to drug use and property crime, both were dependent on negative feelings (Stiles et al., 2000). Messner and South (1986) stated that criminal motivation is affected more from a national level rather than from the local level like neighborhoods. It is difficult for someone to not see their economic situation relative to society when it is easily accessible (Messner & South, 1986).
Economic deprivation has an impact on IQ and behavior problems of children under the age of five (Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebaov, 1994). A study conducted by Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, and Klebanov (1994) showed that low cognition in children was due to the low income of the family household, especially if it was a single mother household. Although the IQ was increased slightly if the family lived in a more affluent neighborhood, those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods had no impact on their IQs (Duncan et al., 1994). Children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods displayed higher problem behavior. This was speculated to be due to the mothers allowing more aggressive behavior from their children to be able to defend themselves from others. Also, it was thought to be attributed to the children not being able to socialize with others outside the home (Duncan et al., 1994). Even after accounting for outside factors, the results showed that economic deprivation has an impact on development and behavior. Fergusson, Swain-Campbell, and Horwood (2004) stated that children born into low socio economic status families are three times more likely to commit crime later in life than those born into families with high socio economic status.
Economic deprivation might be difficult to measure with high accuracy. According to Duncan et al. (1994), problems arise when a study is conducted and the family might not fully report their whole income, therefore leading to inaccurate measures of income. Also the length of the poverty might lead to bias results, if the poverty is only transient or persistent. Duncan et al. (1994) showed that persistent poverty has a greater effect on children than transient poverty. Another problem that might affect accurate measures is the environment in which the economically deprived person resides in. For example, a neighborhood may provide better public services, like schools, parks, and police protection (Duncan et al., 1994). A neighborhood may also provide better role models or better monitoring of the children. In contrast, it can also increase the negative feelings if the deprived have to compete for resources or become more aware of their disadvantaged situation relative to their neighbors (Duncan et al., 1994).
According to Fergusson et al. (2004), economic deprivation in families give way for other problems. Problems include higher rates of physical punishment, child abuse, low attachment to parents, parental criminality, school problems, and associations with negative- influence peers as well as an increase in deviant behavior. Intervention must take place in order to prevent crime that arises from economic deprivation. Intervention reduces the exposure to negative family environment and deviant peer groups, as well as addressing the behavioral problems early in the person’s life (Fergusson et al., 2004).
Learning to cope with the negative feelings that result from economic deprivation might be another way of preventing crime due to this (Waters & Moore, 2001). Waters and Moore (2001) showed that coping solutions like the use of solution oriented techniques might be useful. For example, short term budgeting, long term financial planning, and alternative activities. The methods used to deal with the negative feelings of low self esteem and depression might not be very effective. Waters and Moore (2001) also stated that emotion focused coping solutions demonstrated to be related to higher depressive feelings.
Section 2
On February 28, 1979 Stanley “Tookie” Williams and three of his friends were in search of a place to rob. They found a convenience market in Whittier, California where Williams allegedly took Albert Owens to a back room and first shot a security camera, then proceeded by shooting Owens in the back of the head. The four men then robbed $120 dollars from the cash register. A month later on March 11, 1979, Williams broke into the office of the Brookhaven Motel in South Central Los Angeles, where he killed the Yang Family of three. He was arrested and convicted of the four murders which resulted in the death penalty. He was executed on December 13, 2005.
Section 3
Stanley “Tookie” Williams was deserted by his father before he reached a year old. His mother was a seventeen year old woman who struggled with racism at the time of Williams’ birth, which only added to the struggle with poverty. The economic deprivation experienced by Williams throughout his childhood could have predicted his behavior later in life. Economic deprivation leads to negative feeling and behavioral problems which might be a reason why he joined a gang at a young age. He was sixteen years old when he joined the gang called “crips.” Fergusson et al. (2004) stated that children born into low socio economic status families are three times more likely to engage in crime, and in the case of Williams, he was at higher risk than those born into high socio economic status families. Economic deprivation leads to negative feelings that in return lead to low self esteem. This encourages attacks, avoidance or withdrawal to solve the problem (Stiles et al., 2000). In this case it led to attacks, violent behavior that resulted in the death of four victims.
The violent attacks may have been prevented by early childhood intervention on Williams. If he would have been taught coping techniques for dealing with the negative feelings associated with economic deprivation. Also, if intervention had taken place at the home where the negative feeling might have began. For instance, the consequences that result from economic deprivation as identified by Fergusson et al. (2004), which are negative family environment and deviant peer groups, as well as behavioral problems early in the person’s life.
Section 4
Economic deprivation does not seem to apply to the Columbine Shooting, since both of the young men involved did not come from a low socio economic status. They came from two parent household and were considered middle class. Eric Harris drove a Honda and Dylan Klebold drove a BMW, which shows that being teenagers with a vehicle they were already in a better situation compared to many teenagers in the country. Since economic deprivation was not part of the issue in the lives of the shooters, there was not much that could have been done to prevent the violence using this topic.
References
Duncan, G. J., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Klebanov, P. K. (1994). Economic deprivation and early childhood development. Child Development, 65, 296-318.
Fergusson, D., Swain-Campbell, N., & Horwood, J. (2004). How does childhood economic disadvantage lead to crime? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(5), 956-966.
Messner, S. F., & South, S. J. (1986). Economic deprivation, opportunity structure, and robbery victimization: Intra- and interracial patterns. Social Forces, 64(4), 975-991.
Stiles, B. L., Liu, X., & Kaplan, H. B. (2000). Relative deprivation and deviant adaptations: The mediating effects of negative self-feelings. Journal of Research In Crime and Delinquency, 37(1), 64-90.
Waters, L. E., & Moore, K. A. (2001). Coping with economic deprivation during unemployment. Journal of Economic Psychology, 22, 461-482.
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