A Study of The Structural Nature of Poverty and Violence in the New River Valley Olivia D. Thompson Radford University May 2014
The structure of poverty is a community issue that affects the New River Valley in a substantial way. In this paper you will find how the structural nature of poverty has impacted the New River Valley. You will find that the lack of resources that this community has creates an impoverished town and how poverty plays into domestic violence. The research that has been conducted was an interview of one of the workers at the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley. The Women's Resource center is a shelter for women and their children who have finally escaped from an abuser. The WRC helps women out of their current situation by helping them find housing. Furthermore, the WRC serves the poor community because it is indeed poverty that is the cause of abused women left with no place to go. During this interview key themes rise relating to inability to find housing, lack of financial stability of women, and it's high correlation to maintaining abusive relationships. My research suggests that poverty is the main cause of women not leaving the abusive situation sooner, and according to Marybeth Holsifer of the WRC, "the lack of access to opportunity and loss of job also increase the tendency for abusers to become abusive after job loss" (Holsifer 2014). The data that was acquired from the interview helps to shed light on the stressful nature of poverty, that can often lead to violence. When taking this notion out of the New River Valley and taking a macro level look at society, correlations can be made as to why crime and violence tend to be more prevalent in certain groups of people. While many mistakenly stereotype certain groups such as blacks as being more violent, and how men are usually victimize women, the real blame should be placed not on the individuals, but rather poverty itself. As the most violent areas, are strongly correlated with being the most impoverished areas as well. Past Literature On The Structural Nature of Poverty Karen Christopher, et. al.'s research of "The Gender Gap in Poverty in Modern Nations: Single Motherhood, the Market, and the State shows that while comparing eight wealthy nations, with the exception to Sweden, women and single mothers face substantially higher poverty rates then men. Men
are also less likely to be single with child. This research suggests that women in poverty is a systemic issue. Because, "in many families, some individuals are supported entirely or partly by the market income of a spouse/partner or other family member", women who experience domestic violence in the hole are less likely to leave their situation for lack of financial stability, and dependence upon their partner. (Christopher et. al. 2002). Rank, et. al., research provides insight into the structural nature of poverty and how the most common perspective of poverty is that it is based in one's individual choices and subsequently, an individuals failings. Rank et al, explain that poverty is the result of a much deeper systemic issue. This research suggests with longitudinal studies that poverty is structural in nature because of three main points. 1) "the inability of the labor market to support various family sizes above different poverty thresholds" 2) "the ineffectiveness of the social safety net to prevent poverty" and 3) "the widespread life course risk of poverty". (Rank et. al. 2003) These three concepts explain why those with less social capital, and economic stability have a harder time having upward movement in society because of factors that hold them back once they are already impoverished. It also suggests that the system itself creates poverty. This research is crucial when understanding the prevalence of poverty in the New River Valley. Based on research that has been included, it can be said that women are at a greater disadvantage then men, and low socio-economic status perpetuates poverty, which perpetuates violence in the community. The wealth gap is much larger than the income gap because of a generational affect on families. Hart and Risly's famous study noted in Annette Lareau's book, "Unequal Childhoods", allowed Hart and Risly into the homes of three distinct classes of people, of forty-two families, so as to research the correlation between a parents social-capital and success in life and their child's. They found that, "vocabulary growth differed sharply by class...and the children's I.Q.s correlated closely to their vocabularies" (Lareau, 2003). While this research provides data to determine that social-capital has a
direct generational affect on intelligence, which perpetuates poverty and disadvantage in many spectrums, my data suggests that when the factor of trauma or violence is present in an impoverished home, children are actually more intelligent in a different way. Perhaps intelligence should be determined on multiple scales, but who is to say which one of better. The children of mother's at the WRC are quoted publicly on the WRC website and while the verbal content is low, the emotional content is high and often sound much older than they are. Data According to New River Community Action, whose mission is to help create programs to better disadvantaged communities, the Women's Resource Center was established originally as a program created by New River Community Action. The Women's Resource Center has since become a separate organization, but still holds the same mission to help people in this community who need it the most. The Women's Resource Center allows women and children who have escaped from abusive and violent domestic situations, to live in the shelter for up to ninety days and then strives to help women find lowincome housing in the New River Valley for up to two years. The interview ran about twenty to twentyfive minutes long and after a qualitative analysis of the data common themes became present. Themes of "abuser unemployment", "struggle to access low-income housing", and "parentified children" found themselves throughout the data. These themes all correlated to poverty and how in the end lack of resources is, "the main reason they can't get out" of their situation sooner, and how loss of job can create stressful situations and provoke abuse. (Holsifer 2014). Non-interviewed qualitative data also was taken from the Women's Resource website, which contains direct quotations from children who have stayed at the shelter. Holsifer explained that the number of children varied all of the time, but currently about half of the women in the shelter have children and half of the women do not. Holsifer agreed that children much of the time, "have to take on the roles of the parents" and "sound much smarter at times than other
children their age". This promotes the idea that perhaps the experiences they have had actually have aided to their intelligence, in some way at least, or have had to make them "grow up differently, faster" (Holsifer 2014). While much of my data explained that poverty directly correlates to women finding themselves in the abusive situation to begin with, data about the New River Valley specifically was gathered. Part of the WRC's work is to help find women low-income housing in the NRV. According to Holsifer, "low-income housing in the New River Valley has greatly disappeared and turned into affordable housing, which [she laughs] isn't very affordable". The WRC has eight apartments that women and families can move into as well for up to two years, but that is not nearly enough to fulfil their needs as a resource center. (Holsifer 2014). Reflecting on Data and Research When looking back at Christopher et. al.'s research, we can see how women are already more at risk of poverty then men, and receive less earnings. Women in the New River Valley who have come to the WRC cannot support themselves or their children. When asked who the women put the blame on for their situation, Holsifer says that often times, they blame themselves. When looking at the "Structural Vulnerability Perspective" of Rank et. al., my data backs up this theory as women take on their position often as being an individual failing. Holsifer explains also that because of, "abuser power-dynamic" the abuser will, "often put blame on the woman" and is a very powerful psychological motivator. The "abuser power-dynamic" is no different then the structure that Rank is referring to. An abuser, creates a structure that creates a victim, and then blames the victim, just as our system creates losers. While Hart and Risly's data concluded that having a lower socio-economic status meant having a lower IQ which leads to a domino affect that can help determine future success, I think there is
something to said for a certain type of "cultural capital" or experience which leads to knowledge, for children who have experienced violence in the home. These children also come from lower socioeconomic status families, but often times have wisdom of experience that many children their age do not have. Maybe it is a stronger sense of duty or responsibility that is higher. But this is research that has been left for future research. Overall this was a very formative experience for me and left me with an understanding that poverty increases the risk of violence in a community, usually toward women. I also have taken from this experience a greater understanding of how women are already at disadvantage economically, especially women with children, and because of the structural nature of poverty, women can easily become trapped in a bad situation. All people in impoverished conditions are extremely trapped systemically in their position. Concluding Thoughts This research was conducted to look at the nature of poverty as a whole, and take a more in depth look at poverty in my surrounding community of the New River Valley. Key themes of a lack of resources including, money, food, housing, and jobs were prominent as a key feature to the New River Valley. Abuser power dynamic correlates to the systemic nature of poverty in creating victims or losers of its own accord. Low socio-economic status are causes of less knowledge and support to find proper resources but research is to be done on the aiding of intelligence factor that children obtain when they must take on parental responsibilities at a young age. The themes discussed are reasons why women become trapped in a situation and poverty being the "main reason they can't get out" ("Holsifer 2014"). The New River Valley has very little low-income housing and very few resources to help people who have no job or income.
References Christopher et. al. (2002) The Gender Gap in Poverty in Modern Nations: Single Motherhood, the Market, and the State Sociological Perspective 2-29 Lareau, A. (2003) Unequal Childhoods: Class Race and Family Life. University of California Press 41-43 Rank, M.R. et. al. (2003). American Poverty as a Structural Failing: Evidence and Arguments. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare 3-28 http://www.swva.net/nrca/nrca-history.html April 28, 2014 http://wrcnrv.org/howYouCanHelp/wfs_quotes.shtml April 28, 2014