Week 2 – Poverty and Capabilities

Hi all!

This week we’re discussing these two readings:

  1. Sen, Amartya. 1999. “Development as Freedom.” Oxford University Press: New York (Introduction and Chapter 1)
  2. Aber, J. Lawrence, Bennett, Neil G. Conley, Dalton C. Li, Jiali. 1997. The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development. Annual Review of Public Health. 18(1): 463-483

Carefully go over my PowerPoint presentation with voiceover where I explain important ideas and concepts covered in the readings. (To listen to the voiceover you need to go to presentation mode)

Watch this interview with Amartya Sen where he discusses the main ideas in the book:

Finally, watch the two videos below to think about the definitions of poverty in different societies:

Lecture Posts Questions:

On the comments section below, address the following questions (answers should be at least 100 words in length and posted by Sunday – This is how participation points are assessed (worth 30% of your final grade!) Please save your comments in a safe document before attempting to post it.

  1. From my PowerPoint presentation, what isn’t clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
  2. From the reading, what is not clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
  3. Summarize the main takeaways from Sen’s interview? What are your thoughts on the issues discussed?
  4. Based on the two videos on child poverty, how is poverty different in the two societies shown? How do you think that this will impact individual and social development differently in both countries?

22 thoughts on “Week 2 – Poverty and Capabilities

  1. Meghan Ndiaye

    1. On slide 7 when you mentioned bad institutions are you talking about like jails/prisons? I was not sure what you’re talking about because I can’t think of any bad institution besides that or maybe like high crime neighborhoods which are usually located in poor neighborhoods.

    2. Both readings were quite interesting. Sen gave me a point of view that I never thought about and the second reading just made me see that I am not wrong about the way I feel when it comes to the health of children. America’s healthcare is pretty expensive and since that is the case and not much is not being done about it I feel that everyone under the age of 18 should receive free healthcare especially those living under the poverty line. No need to worry about any type of insurance because at the end of the day sometimes insurance does not always pay for everything.

    3. Sen feels that the individual freedom leads to social change and progress however individual freedom depends on certain social opportunities. From what I gathered according to Sen if the country is a democracy then certain things won’t take place such as a famine. I kind of had a hard time understanding what he was saying because Sen and the guy interviewing him just kept talking over him. I had the subtitles on but the subtitles on You tube are not really accurate.

    4. Poverty is different in the two societies shown because from one video you can tell who is living in poverty but from the other one you can’t. In the video Malawi Child Poverty, you can tell that Nyamiti is poor. Her and her siblings are sleeping on the floor in a hut. She goes to school with no shoes or food in her belly and walking around barefoot. In the other video the student David is well dressed in his uniform and looks clean. You can’t tell that he and his family is poor because of the way he looks but by his story. At one point they only received 5 pounds for the week which isn’t much and there’s no heat in his house. I feel that since Nyamiti is living in a third world country it will be difficult for her family to lift off from where they are. Her county is going to need a lot of help from other organizations. Because of that individual and social development of Nyamiti is going to be delayed. For David it is another story. The help he will receive will be directly from his country’s government and not really from an outside organization. There’s even a law or whatever you call it; Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says “Every child has the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their social, physical and mental needs”. Individual and social development would be pretty good.

  2. Azizah Al-Antri

    From the powerpoint presentation, everything seemed clear and the readings were summarized well. I also appreciate the maps, charts and graphs that were displayed so that we can look at different variables such as GDP, education, human rights violations, global hunger, etc. in each country of the globe with a visual perspective.

    Amartya Sen discussed the development as freedom in his book and explained that to achieve development in a society such as education, health, economic growth, human rights, etc. we must eliminate the unfreedom that a society may face such as lack of food, lack of healthcare and sanitation, discrimination, denial of political liberty and civil rights, etc. Through his explanation, I realized how far behind many countries are even today on development because they still have many forms of unfreedom. Even though the U.S. itself is considered a developed country, slaves and segregation still existed less than a century ago, and discrimination in various forms still exist today. There is also immense economic inequality between the people despite the country being so rich. For a society to have development of freedom, all the forms of freedom must exist and strengthen one another. The article, “The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development” discussed how long-term poverty that is experienced in childhood can be detrimental to their health and development. However, even though there is a negative effect, it is difficult to measure poverty and there may be different ways to operationalize it. Premature infants and infants with a low birth weight that grow up in poverty suffer neurological deficits, deficits in language comprehension skills, and visual recognition acuity. I think it’s important that it’s not only poverty that negatively affects the child’s development, but also how poverty can cause parental stress, income insecurity, bad parenting, etc. which can then negatively influence a child’s development.

    In Amartya Sen’s interview, he discussed different points that some were also mentioned in his book, “Development as Freedom.” He said that individual freedom can lead to social change and progress, but it really depends on the social, political and economic opportunities that are available. Freedom of different kinds complement each other. However, he mentioned how the U.S. is a wealthy country with a booming economy, yet there is massive income inequality and wealth disparity between the rich and poor. There is also a lack of health care and insurance despite the country’s wealth, and there is a difference in mortality rates between social class and race. In fact, Sen claims that African Americans are deprived compared to American White people when it comes to income, but aren’t absolutely deprived compared to third world countries. However, in America itself, the life expectancy of African Americans is very low. I agree with Sen and think it’s unacceptable that the U.S. is supposed to be one of the greatest countries in the world, yet there are so many economic and social issues that we still face. Another point he made is how the friendliness of the democratic climate can help with economic growth and political freedom, rather than the harshness of a totalitarian climate. He talked about how famines don’t typically occur in democratic countries, because they are likely to stop it and have incentive to do so, unlike totalitarian and dictatorship countries. The public voice of a democratic country won’t stay quiet if there’s a famine, and it is apparently easy to stop one anyways.

    Poverty shown in the first video is called multidimensional poverty, which is worse than income poverty. Deprived children lack basic necessities for survival such as clean water, nutrition, education, and health. The child from Malawi in the video lives in a rural village and gets by throughout the day with a bowl of porridge provided by her school, and says that all she wants is clothes, books, shoes, and food, which are basic things that any child should have. She is deprived of those things, but she still shows promise and dedication as a student. Poverty shown in the second video gives us a different perspective of what poverty can also look like. Although the UK is a developed country, there are 4 million children that are living in poverty. However, poverty experienced there isn’t extreme like in the first video with Malawi. The UK child in the video that lives below the poverty line talks about how he has to go to sleep cold on winter days because there is no heating. Although poverty explained here is not the same as the first video where there is no proper education, food clothing, clean water, etc., in the UK, this is what poverty looks like. It is a relative description of poverty because he is comparing himself to others and sees that he is lacking in certain necessities than others. However, he is not starving or malnourished, and he still has clothes, shelter, and is receiving an education, so he isn’t experiencing multidimensional poverty. I think that when it comes to individual development, the people of Malawi are seriously lacking it more than the people in the UK. The children in Malawi are lacking the nutrition and health they need to grow and develop, which can negatively affect their individual development. Some children in the UK may be living in poverty, but it isn’t as severe, and it is not the majority of the population like in Malawi. The negative effects in development will carry on to society because the people and their well-being are not being cared for. That means they will never enhance their capabilities and reach their full potential and capacity of development. This will also negatively affect the social development of the people in Malawi much more than the people in the UK. That is why the social development of Malawi as a society is far worse than the UK.

  3. Anthonio Roye

    1. From my PowerPoint presentation, what isn’t clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
    The PowerPoint was really clear, concise and summed up the different meanings of poverty (lacking basic need for survival/ lacking specific needs for a specific region). It further gave a clear explanation as to why poverty is not equal to inequality which is the distribution of things between categories. Poverty is determined by factors like corruption, unequal and bad intuition but it leads to poor health outcomes, limited social cohesion and political participations, making these dependent and independent variables respectively. It further explains how factors such as economic growth, human rights, educational and health indicators etc. impacts developmental freedom and how poverty, poor economic opportunities etc. promoted unfreedom.
    The PowerPoint pictorially explained how unfreedom is a big part of the world’s ability to better life expectancy, decrease hunger, decrease human rights violation, improving standard of livings, GDP per capita and income distribution. In a global comparison, most of the bad sides of these above factors were more prevalent in the African continent. Unfreedom also takes into account famine, undernutrition, poor healthcare status, denied civil rights etc. and though we all believe poverty is increasing over the years, statistical evidence has shown that poverty has drastically declined over the past 2 decades. Though the global decrease, we cannot turn a blind eye to the continued detrimental impact it has on the higher mortality and morbidity seen in children. Most of these children (majority seen in black non hispanics) are also born with a lower birth weight, which is known to affect their neurological and development milestones.
    To help combat poverty, the basic model was used that had control and economic variables with their impacts or outcome. I believe every household need are different and to decrease poverty the government needs to pay attention to at risk groups, especially African Americans, provide them with adequate resources to complete tertiary institutions, higher paying jobs, healthcare insurances and equality. That is, give each group what they need (Equity). This will give the people an increased life expectancy, living a more peaceful, healthy and meaningful life.

    2. From the reading, what is not clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
    The reading Poverty on Child Health broadly covers the many issues poverty has on children. These include delayed or never developed development milestones and cognitive impairments resulting in lower educational capabilities etc. for these children; all stemming from socioeconomic inequality. It discussed that even with more research on the negative influence of poverty (basic model), there is still no one specific, accepted method identified on how to tackle poverty.
    In the Amarya Sen reading, he believes that the government should focus more on the freedom (education, health, human rights) of the people rather than the general wealth of a country and freedoms of different kinds will complement each other, making a more well-rounded (educated and healthy) population. He believes that it is the democratic nature of a government that can prevent famine and that public education, poverty relief and healthcare insurance can increase the longevity of one’s life. That is, the public opinions are very important on how the economy should be managed. He compared a dictatorial country (China) and a democratic country (India) abilities to avert famine, and India was able to do so, because the people had a voice which impacted the way the government manages the economy to avoid famines. On the other hand, millions of people died from the Chinese famine in 1958 and 1961 due to mismanagement of the economy by the government.
    I believe promoting equity is a big way to combat poverty. We should have public discussions and the public opinions from groups, especially the ones at risk, and provide them with higher paying jobs (decrease unemployment), provide healthcare insurance, provide adequate resources for at-risk pregnant mothers and for these children to complete tertiary institutions. These will in turn decrease crime and violence, while promoting a more skilled, educated and healthy population which will further improve the economic status of the nation.

    3. Summarize the main takeaways from Sen’s interview? What are your thoughts on the issues discussed?
    Amarya Sen made a lot of contributions to the economy, social justice and social choice field. He discussed the issue of how public education; poverty reliefs and healthcare insurance can prolong the life of humans. A lack of these resources resulted in a famine that killed millions of people in dictatorial countries like China in 1958 and 1961 due to economic mismanagement. He believes that it is the democratic nature of a government that can prevent famine and draws on the comparison between China and India. He argued that even though both countries had famine, the democratic country (India) was able to overcome it and less people died. This is because in democratic countries, the government has to win the elections in order to lead and so they will have to face public criticisms, which is a strong way to boost the government to do better to prevent famine, in order to win another election. I am in agreement with him as public opinions and discussions are very important and by listening to them, political leaders can start practicing and promoting equity (give the people what they individually needs most to be successful) which can provide us with a world with people with less illnesses, proper healthcare insurance and prolonged lifespan, especially for at risk races like African Americans who have the lowest life expectancies than any other races.

    4. Based on the two videos on child poverty, how is poverty different in the two societies shown? How do you think that this will impact individual and social development differently in both countries?
    Poverty is not a single variable but an issue of many different variables that affect different people differently. In the videos, though they lack different things (the African child- food, water, clothing etc. and the child in the UK- heat), these things are seen as necessities in each specific region and without them they are considered to be in poverty.
    This impacts the children individually as they are less likely to get proper education, though they may have the personal mindset to do well, be of stunted growth due to undernutrition which can further affect brain functions, and decreased future employments for them as they are more likely to lack the required qualifications. Socially, these kids may feel left out by their peers, mocked/bullied for not having what others have and this can lead to an increase in short term relationships and friendships throughout their lives. These things can also affect their personalities and even lead more serious issues like depression and childhood suicide.
    How does someone use climate to determine poverty as seen in the UK even though they have all the necessities to survive. Should it be a determent factor?

  4. Samantha

    1. I didn’t have any questions about the power point. The most interesting parts to me were when you went over the graphs. I was surprised (but not shocked) to see the United States not ranking as high in life expectancy and ranking high in human rights violations. Amartya Sen goes into this in the video and in his book. It is also seen in the research paper. Although the book was published 22 years ago, the information is still relevant to our 2021 life.
    2. I personally enjoyed reading The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development because there was a lot of information that I didn’t know. Poverty doesn’t just, and should not just, encompass a person’s income. It should encompass other resources, such as a person’s wealth. Wealth is not often considered, but when looking at black and white families, there are drastic differences in their wealth. The most interesting finding to me is that for white families, their income has negative impacts on the development of their children, while for black families, it is the conditions of being in poverty. Development as Freedom was also interesting to read, but I personally had a harder time reading it because of its language. However, I understood that development grows as freedoms grow. Development means getting rid of the sources of unfreedoms, whether it be poverty of social deprivation. He notes that there isn’t as strong a connection between opulence and achievement as we think. There is a limit to the material world that will make us truly happy because it cannot give us longer lives. Having freedom also allows us two things of value, which is greater overall freedom and fostering the chance for better opportunities.
    3. The main takeaways from Amartya Sen’s interview is that the most basic thing that leads to social change is individual freedom, which connects to his statements that development requires the removal of sources of unfreedom. He notes that famines have not occurred in countries with democracies because people have a voice and there is news coverage. Democracies can very easily squash famines from happening. He feels the real inequality is not being able to live life the way you want to, in other words, not having the freedom to live life the way you want to. He wants people to have discussions and to bring attention to issues of unfreedom. For instance, he thinks that if issues like lack of healthcare is politicized in the U.S., then we’d see what happened in Europe. I agree with Sen when he says that individual freedom is important in social change. Without individual freedom, we would not have a voice to point out a problem and our voice would wield no power. If people didn’t have to worry about undernourishment, expensive medical bills or their next meal, they could live life the way they want to. I never considered the fact that every country has something that they lack that another country couldn’t survive without. For instance, the U.S. has no healthcare, but Europe can’t get by without that and in Europe they can get by with double digit unemployment, but the U.S. can’t. I’m also glad he brought up that in the U.S. African Americans are deprived, even if their incomes are more than that of a third world countries. They are deprived in comparison to American whites and the question asked is why.
    4. 63% of Malawi children are in poverty meaning they lack access to basic needs such as nutrition, clean water, health and education. Nyamiti only eats once a day, does not have shoes, a uniform or extra clothing. In the U.K., poverty could mean having to budget money to only buy essential items or not having enough heat to warm the house in the winter. In Malawi, this will impact social development because there’s less people to help the situation with her family and the other 63% of children that are poor. I think in terms of social and individual development, it is worse in Malawi because she is experiencing multidimensional poverty. There are more unfreedoms she has to overcome, but there aren’t many resources to allow her to overcome those unfreedoms. Her individual development will be impacted because she can’t do more than what her situation allows. She will continue to face many unfreedoms. Her life expectancy may not be as high as someone in the U.K. and won’t develop as much. For the child in the U.K., I think since he doesn’t face as many unfreedoms, he will be able to grow. He is still subject to the conditions of poverty in his situation and will have to work harder, but it won’t be as difficult as in Nyamiti’s circumstance. Socially, I think Nyamiti will have a harder time. The school that she goes to allows her to continue to go to school because she is poor, but I am not sure how far the education level of the school is. Aside from school, having career goals and someone to look up to, she does not have much. For the child in the U.K., he can develop more socially because (I think) it is mentioned by Sen that the U.K. provides more for the poor to make up for unemployment. Potentially, his family can continue to put him in school and he can get a job and have his own income.

  5. Justin Qu

    In this week’s PowerPoint Presentation, we talked about the causes and the different approaches to inequality in poverty. We also talk about development in one’s society. I was interested in the factors that led to social development such as the economy, education, health, technology, and human rights. I wanted to comment on the development and the requirement of removing major sources of unfreedom. I felt like this is a major issue today in third world countries where they do not have access to “freedom” to develop like other first world countries. Another thing I want to mention is the graphs that the professor showed us. It gave me a perspective on how different some parts of the world are, especially the data that illustrated the years of schooling. It caught my attention that the northern parts of the world have higher years of schooling count than the southern (Except for Australia). For the rest of the PowerPoint, everything was straight forward and helped me realize how important every aspect of a human’s life is. Something I was a little confused about was the Human rights data and how they measure it. I feel like America should be high as well in today’s measure because of the current events of police brutality.

    In this week’s reading on Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen gives a deep analysis of what it means to be free in society and the meaning of development. A point in the reading I want to talk about is Chapter 1: Poverty and Inequality. What was interesting was when he gives the example of the “missing women” phenomenon where researchers focus on the low idea that low incomes are the cause of high mortality rates in countries in Asia and Africa. Sen says instead of focusing on low incomes we should be examining the “demographic, medical, and social information” (Page 20). At the end of the sentence, he concludes that this method could reveal gender inequality. It is incredibly crucial that we look at what each society consists of because they are all different. Sen makes a good point that they all have a similar problem of gender inequality and deprivation in certain groups. It is just that there is more to deprivation than just low income there are many social factors as well.

    As for the second reading, “THE EFFECTS OF POVERTY ON CHILD HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT,” it was interesting to read on how poverty affects birth. One thing I wanted to emphasize is the Basic model they showed on representing the effects of poverty on child outcomes. The model illustrates that even before the birth of the child there can be factors that affect a child’s birth weight and childhood. Control Factors like the parents’ education, maternal age at birth of the child, the household all has an impact on how the child will develop. This model gave me a perspective on how much children depend on their parents in society. It determines why a child is in poverty, which is important in studying poverty in children.

    Some of the main takeaways from Sen’s interview are the certain types of markets, democracy, growth economics, and one’s working environment in society. He discusses each part of the world with diverse ways of living and the meaning of freedom in each one. What interests me is when he criticizes America and the lack of health care even though it is considered a rich country. He gives the different mortality rates in social classes and between different races. He says that an African American has a lower chance of surviving over the age of fifteen than a person in a country like India and China. He concludes this statement by saying the reason behind the high mortality rate is due to lack of health insurance which then affects education. To think that this was just twenty-one years ago we still see problems like this today where health insurance in America is lacking. Families struggle to pay medical bills, which then negatively impacts the child’s education and future.

    In the two videos, there are clear differences in poverty in the two societies. The first video tells a story in Malawi about a student named Nyamiti. We see the obvious environment she is in. She only eats one meal a day provided by her school. Nyamiti struggles to find meals, access to clean clothes, and school supplies. She lacks basic needs that every human should have access to. On the other hand, the next video is on the U.K they have a completely different approach to poverty. In the first part of the video, students are interviewed about what are the decent standards of living. They all say some sort of shelter, warmth, good education, someone to make their beds and to be loved. Here we see a contrast between the two societies, one is in desperate need of food, and the other not really worrying about access to nutrition. Students in the U.K are more focused on shelter and a decent place to live in.

    With dissimilar needs, students in Malawi have a tremendously lower chance of individual and social development than children in the U.K. In the U.K, they have all the necessities to survive and schooling. In Malawi, individuals will have a much tougher time in social development and individual development since they do not have access to health care and nutrition. In Malawi, they do not have a tremendous number of economic opportunities, they do not have institutions that will allow them to advance in society. As opposed to the U.K they have more options and opportunities for employment.

  6. Maria Victoria Ruiz Flores

    From my PowerPoint presentation, what isn’t clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
    I just wonder what are reasons as to why certain countries don’t demonstrate data, is there a factor or variable that doesn’t allow for accurate representation to be shown? I found it interesting to see those maps of poverty, education, and human rights, it brings into perspective the way we live vs the way the world is being lived. This year so much inequality has been brought to light or heightened in the U.S and we tend to only speak for the U.S but there are so much corruption and inequality in other countries in different regions that are justified by authority or forms of belief such as religion.

    From the reading, what is not clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
    The reading was very intense to me in the fact that it broadens up my idea of poverty. We often see poverty very narrow view. Equity is very important as he states and it is important to emphasize it in all rounds. For us to have equity it would mean the freedom of all terms, political, financial, educational, and health-wise.
    In The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development,” it emphasizes how poverty and disparity of essentials have long-term effects on a child which came to no surprise to me. Living in the south Bronx where there are high rates of asthma due to poor living conditions it all makes sense. Because there are malnutrition and bad air quality even from the fetus it all starts to affect a child.

    Summarize the main takeaways from Sen’s interview? What are your thoughts on the issues discussed?
    Sen’s discussed that overall freedom is the answer to social change. They are all conditions and overlapping of one another, economic freedom gives liberty and political freedom gives voice and education freedom gives opportunity, and so on. Inequality is funded on the dispirits of freedom to live and one of the major conditions is the gap in health inequality. I found it interesting to hear the discussion of democracy vs totalitarianism. It never was Brought to me that countries with totalitarian societies often suffer great disparities because they are limited in their voice by political freedom.

    Based on the two videos on child poverty, how is poverty different in the two societies shown? How do you think that this will impact individual and social development differently in both countries?
    The girl from the second video said “When people think about poverty, they think about Africa…” and that is exactly what I would think although I have lived in poor environments of my own, in comparison to those that suffer malnutrition and starvation, that don’t have the basic needs like clean water and shelter, I wouldn’t call my self poor. I think it is important to distinguish and understand that poverty comes in many forms and that one’s privilege can be another disparity due to the environment they are put into. Just the general factor of “missing out” on a product or essential puts you in the category of poverty. I think this gap of poverty between countries makes it hard to categorize poverty and make use of one big action, Different countries must understand their own poverty and reasons for such disparity for social development to happen.

  7. Tevin Ragwanan

    1. The PowerPoint presentation was very clear it went more into depth on poverty and how different societies viewed it differently. What I found interesting is that poverty doesn’t equal inequality, it has something to do with the wealth of the country. The wealthier the more resources that are available for those who are poor and the poorer the country the lack of resources available. The maps gave me a good idea of which country is struggling in certain aspects and which is not.

    2. In sen book called development as freedom has such an interesting take on unfreedom and we have to eliminate it to improve the quality of life and society as a whole. What was consider unfreedom is food, healthcare, civil rights, sanctions, etc. throughout his explanation of the whole unfreedom topic I realize the developed countries are still facing these issues especially discrimination and some essence of healthcare. To add to the explanation I think his idea good because it allows development even further which it will allow a developing country to help the undeveloped country progress better. The second reading called The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development further explains the experience and issues of poverty when it comes to children it displays that these children are getting lower Education and they don’t get equal opportunities compared to other children which leads to socioeconomic inequality in the future.

    3. In Sen’s interview he elaborates on a lot of interesting points when it comes to individual freedom which can lead to social change and progress. He points America is one of the greatest wealthiest countries in the world but he points out the huge gap between the wealthy and the poor. He also points out that health care is a problem and how African life expectancy is low due to not many of them can afford health care.

    4. Child poverty is such a glaring problem in society today and in both video demonstrates the difference in both societies when it comes to poverty. The first video called Malawi Child Poverty talks about a young girl name Nyamiti who lives in poverty. She goes to school every day hungry and tired also she can’t afford the school uniform, but she stays motivated due to her teacher’s encouragement, which helps her as an individual because she knows her teacher was in a similar situation as her. Also, She sleeps in a hut on the floor with her siblings. Throughout the video, you will notice Africa’s poverty is really below poverty and lack the resources to give to the people. In the other video. The Child UK poverty video showcases an opposite side to the children in poverty in Africa. The students in The UK have better living conditions and the children can go to school in uniform. There’s even a policy in Article 27 that states in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child say “Every child has the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their social, physical and mental needs”. This demonstrates that the child will live an honest life without worrying about being homeless but it’s up to their decision in life that will justify their social development and character as an individual.

  8. Katelyn Asciutto (she/her)

    1. I do not have any questions regarding the presentations. If anything, I felt like it helped clarify the readings. The chart explaining the definition of equality was helpful and I like how the examples of Marx and Weber were given because it made the chart easier to understand and refreshed my memory on the sociologists’ stances.
    The quote taken from the reading about freedom being both a requirement and product of development was also very interesting and I hope that’s something we will discuss more in the coming weeks. Having such a dependent relationship between development and freedom is a new concept to me and it would be interesting to learn more and where in that cycle we should start to make society a better, more equal and opportune place.

    2. Both readings were very informative and really opened my eyes to discrepancies and inequalities I didn’t really know existed. I thought Sen’s connections between freedom and development were interesting, although I found the piece to be a little confusing. I understood his explanations for how freedom towards things like education can directly affect one’s development and agree with him. I also think that having the freedom of choice is important for one’s growth and sense of self. Freedom in the economic world is also crucial for development, as money is a necessity for living independently. Being financially stable also allows for one to have more options and opportunities in life (i.e. taking a lesser paying job because it’s what they enjoy, taking a gap year to travel, invest in hobbies, etc.). As I read Sen’s work, I felt like I was understanding what he was saying, but I was having a hard time connecting all of his thoughts. I’m not sure if there was an overlap connecting all of his thoughts about different types of freedom together that I missed, or if each example is meant to stand on its own.
    I was saddened by the second reading, The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development. For a time, I wanted to become a neonatal nurse, and reading this work made me think about what the reality of that job might entail. Knowing the unfortunate state of the world where racism and classism are still present, I was still shocked at the results of the studies proving the differences seen in children of different ethnicities and socioeconomic classes at birth and how their life chances are affected by it. It’s hard to come up with a solution for how to prevent rates of infant mortality due to LBW or inadequate healthcare, just as it is difficult to completely eliminate poverty. However, I do think these are things that can be done, and I hope that if more people become aware of the effects of poverty that go beyond economic needs that change will come sooner than later so that all children are given a chance at a healthy and successful life.

    3. In this interview, Sen advocates for democracy as a means to expand individual freedom and lessen the racial and class inequalities we see in the world and throughout the United States. Using examples of democracies such as those found in the US and Zimbabwe in comparison to China and the Soviet Union, Sen explains how democratic nations, regardless of the wealth of the nation, have been able to avoid famine, while non-democratic nations, regardless of wealth, have often succumbed to it. The reason being, he explains, is that in a democracy, there is incentive to prevent such horrible events, because preventing or ending a famine would be beneficial to the leader’s ratings and potentially get them reelected. In tyrannical nations, there are no elections, so it doesn’t really matter how much the people like the leader or not.
    Having an adequate food supply is something Sen argues is crucial for one’s freedom. He raises the question of how free is a person if they are barely able to survive/surviving on the bare minimum? Throughout the interview, Sen echoes his book, saying that if we want to increase the development of the world, people need to be free, whether that be politically or economically free, or through educational and social opportunities.

    4. Based on the two videos, poverty comes across as relative to the living standards of one’s country. Nyamiti is in poverty by the standards of Malawi while David is in poverty by the standards of the UK, which are very different from each other. Nyamiti expressed her desire for school uniforms and food while David told his classmates about going to sleep cold having to be cognizant of how and where his family spends their money because it’s so tight.
    In regards to individual development, Nyamiti may not be receiving as good of an education as David, both because her hunger inhibits her learning abilities and because opportunities for a higher education appear to be scarcer in Malawi than in the UK. David may have access to more education, but that doesn’t mean his individual development may not hindered. In comparison to his classmates, he may not have equal educational opportunities, such as higher education, because of his family’s wealth and/or disposable income.
    Social development may also be impacted by child poverty because their individual struggles may prevent them from having the means to, for example, go to college and do research, or have the time to engage in social and political movements they’re passionate about. Because they live in poverty, a lot goes into ensuring they are meeting their basic needs to the best of their ability, so less time and energy is leftover to go into more public issues outside of their individual family unit.

  9. Joanel Sassone (He/Him/His)

    1. I have a question and a comment to slide 20 where there is a map showing the Human Development Index in 2017. The caption says that the “Human development index is a summary measure of key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, a good education and having a decent standard of living”. My question is what are the criticisms to the human development index? From the caption itself I can already see that there can be abritariness in what is defined as a good education and a decent standard of living that can sway in favor of Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, etc. Also how are they able to quantify these factors and do they all weigh equally in the final calculation?

    2. The readings were both compelling. I really enjoyed Sen’s definition of development. Until reading the chapters I would’ve never defined development as freedom because I associated development with modernization, more specifically the physical aspect (Roads, Plumbing/Sewage systems, Transportation, Buildings, Power/Electricity) and the abstract (Ideas of being more accepting to racial/religious minorities, women, LGBTQ, etc.). In my mind I never dug deeper than that causing me to leave out the political and economic factors that correlate to freedom as a whole. In the second reading I appreciated the inclusion of the concept of being “near poor”. In my experience I’ve come in contact with many people who deal with this issues. For example, in high school when applying for FAFSA some of my friends barely got any financial assistance because their parents’ income was considered to be high enough.In reality they couldn’t afford to pay for college out of pocket considering the other necessities they have in life. One of my friends who attends Lehman college gets her tuition covered by financial aid but receives not type of assistance for textbooks which can be very expensive especially for her major which is nursing. She was also forced to buy her own uniform and clinical materials for one of her classes. In order to pay for all this she had to find a part time job and use some of her savings. Also, I know many families who have lost their SNAP or Section 8 assistance because someone in the family got something as minor as a part-time minimum wage job. A part-time minimum wage job can increase the overall household income however it might not be enough to put the family in a place where they dont need to rely on SNAP or Section 8. In some cases, many low income families chose not to report all of their income or find ways to rearrange their household with other family members to avoid loosing government assistance.

    3. In the video, Amartya Sen states that political, economic and social freedom all compliment each other. He makes the argument that no famine has occurred in a democratic country. This happens because in a country that has elections people would obviously elect a leader who is going to resolve their issue whether it be famine or something else. In a country where people don’t have the freedom of speech or to elect leaders, the people won’t legally have the right to make decisions. Sen mentions that different freedoms have a relation to one another. An example of this is African-Americans. African-Americans have the right to vote and work like other Americans but still face voter suppression and racism when it comes to employment opportunities. African-Americans have a life expectancy that is lower than people in developing countries like India and China. Yet, the income of African-Americans is substantially higher than people in developing nations, This shows that African-Americans have some sort of freedom but not entirely especially in relation to other racial/ethnic groups in the United States. They can excel in some aspects but still have hurdles holding them back because of the racism that they are forced to confront in the political, economic and social spheres of the US. In consequence, racism limits their development.

    4. Poverty is different in both videos. Nyamiti is in poverty because the society she lives in is poor meanwhile David’s situation is more individual because the UK is a developed nation with resources to help it’s citizens who live in poverty. In relation to Nyamiti, David isn’t in poverty but in the UK standards he is. Nyamiti can’t afford a uniform for school, goes to school barefoot and relies on her school for meals. Since she doesn’t eat breakfast it is difficult for her to concentrate in school yet she is still a promising student. David’s family is of low income and has issues with heating in their home, which have caused David to feel sick. Poverty will impact individual and social development because Nyamiti’s development is dependent on what resources Malawi can bring together for it’s citizens. Whereas for David, the resources are already accessible to his country but aren’t tangible to him because of his social status.

  10. Karla Marin

    I found the Power Presentation to be very helpful especially after reading both articles. I found that it helped me better understand the concepts as well as clarifying any thoughts and concerns that I had in regard to the reading. The presentation taught me that poverty does not equal inequality, instead it taught be that poverty equals to deprivation of certain basic needs for survival or development.
    Both readings were well written and very informative, they read well and were very thought provoking. After reading “The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development,” I learned that being poor can mean a variety of things. For example, it can consist of unemployment, divorce, being a minority or even the neighborhood that you live in. I really liked how this article focused on how poverty can influence the development of children and how it can create a stress load on individuals, due to their financial insecurity and unemployment. Another thing that I found quite interesting about this article was that it shined light on the fact that poverty means different things for individuals especially when comparing whites and blacks. The article mentioned that for white’s poverty is based on family income while for blacks it’s based on low maternal education. Lastly, the article also stated that even though studies have shown that poverty does negatively impact child health and development there is no clear way that poverty can be operationalized.
    Amartya Sen’s article, “Development as Freedom,” focused on the idea that individual freedom is what can cause social change. That was the focal point of this article and it taught me that there is a huge inequality in this country due to the lack of freedom it provides such as economic opportunities. Sen’s article had similar ideas as to the first article in that African Americans are deprived of certain basic needs when compared to white individuals. One of his biggest concerns was that the U.S. is a rich country that has so much room to grow and help lower the inequalities that it faces.
    Sen’s interview also focused on individual freedom as well as the impact that it has on a country. Sen stated that individual freedom is conditional to certain opportunities such as political and social. One of the examples that Sen provided about inequality of basic freedom was the lack of healthcare and insurance that is found in this country despite it being a rich and resourceful country. The video also mentioned that due to the lack of insurance and healthcare there is a low life expectancy of African Americans. I find this to be concerning because that can be changed if the country would acknowledge this problem and provide better healthcare and insurance to those who need it.
    Both videos were very informative, and the first video helped me understand the different types of poverty that are known such as multidimensional poverty. The first video explained how this type of poverty is considered the deprivation that children have on basic needs and that this type of poverty is worse in comparison to income poverty. The second video also focused on the different kinds of poverty, but it wasn’t as severe as the first video. For example, it talked about poverty below the poverty line which doesn’t include malnourishment or proper education instead it shows how a bad living environment is a form of poverty but not multidimensional poverty.

  11. Mir Mohammod

    1. The powerpoint presentation was clear and easy to understand. I liked how everything was broken down which made it easier to understand. I also wanted to comment on the graphs and how the little marks added helped to emphasize the key points. Looking at the graphs helps to better show you what usually isn’t visible, but rather pushed aside.

    2. “Development as Freedom” by Senator Amartya explained the many different types of freedom while also explaining the importance of each. It was interesting to read how individual freedom is composed of other freedoms complementing each other.

    3. From Senator Amartya’s interview, the Senator talks about how he approached his findings by going behind the institutions. What he found was, the thing that leads to social changes and progress is individual freedom, but individual freedom is conditional. Senator Amartya talked about how democracy is overall better than totalitarianism because people tend to have more freedom. Senator also pointed out that freedoms work together by complementing each other and you can’t have individual freedom under a totalitarian state/country. When it comes to democracy, it has a role when it comes to individual freedom. Under democracy, representatives can work on various ways to work on fixing inequality of basic freedom. For the most part I think that Senator Amartya is on to something. When he went over individual freedom and how to have it, you have to have more than one type of freedom complementing each other, it started to make more sense. Individual freedom is the bigger picture and the goal, but this is only possible under a democracy because people can bring up issues they want resolved. Compared to totalitarianism, individual freedom would never be granted since power remains to a small few.

    4. The two societies shown in the videos show that poverty is prevalent especially within children. In the first video we learn that 63 percent of Malawi’s children are multidimensionally poor. In the second video, they show that the children in the UK experience income based poverty. In terms of the impact on individual and social development based on country, Malawi children are more likely to have a harder time moving up socially and individually than children in the UK. Multidimensional poverty deprives children of basic necessities, meaning it would be harder to live, learn and pursue.

  12. Stanley Lopez

    1-) I feel that the presentation was extremely clear, but it felt like a lot of information at times. I would love to expand on the causes of “Poverty”because I feel that the powerpoint only mentioned a few like “Bad institutions, corruption and inequality”. The graphs and maps were really helpful to fully understand the material. I also really liked the topic about Development, because it talked about things that need to be removed in order for “development” to happen.

    2-) I found both articles really informative and interesting. The article “Development as freedom” caught my attention from the beginning because it explains that development is the “real freedom” and barely thought of it that way, and it makes sense since the more we as a country developed, the more freedom we have.For example I feel that I have more freedom in the US than in my country of origin Dominican Republic, and this may be because of the difference in development in both countries. The other article “The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development” also caught my attention because it explains some of the consequences that children suffer from poverty, for example poverty can affect children’s life chances. Also, I learn about different types of poverty such as: Extreme poverty, poverty, and near poverty and how each type has its own effects on people’s lives.

    3-) One of the points taken from Sen’s interview is that all freedoms complement each other, and this is necessary to acquire “true freedom”. It also explains how democracy will stop a famine if it ever happens because people will use their voice and come together to stop it. Democracy has incredible power that some people may not know yet, and therefore in times of need that power will flourish. In the interview it stated that the problem of the US it’s not income inequality, but inequality of basic freedom, such as living happy, living with no illnesses, etc. And then they talked about the lack of healthcare in the US which causes this inequality. Something really interesting is that African Americans have a lower chance of survival compared to other races and this it’s due because of lack of insurance, lack of economic opportunities, etc.

    4-) For the video that’s based on the UK I feel that they suffer from economic poverty, meaning that they still have other essentials things like food, water, clothes and a decent place to live. In the video based on the Malawi, they suffer from multidimensional poverty which deprives access to nutrition, clean water, health care and education. This type of poverty creates worst circumstances for the individual. In the Malawi case they will most likely suffer higher consequences due to their circumstances because as it stated in the video, she only eats once a day which causes loss of concentration during school. UK suffers from economic poverty which still has it consequences but its a better situation than multidimensional poverty, lack of money will also affect them because they may not have enough money to buy school supplies, pay for heat, etc. Overall, both cases will have an effect on people, however, multidimensional poverty will have a greater effect.

  13. Enajia Clemente (she//her)

    The PowerPoint presentation was very clear and the summaries were able to understand. The graphs were very helpful and gave a better idea of what the change in poverty looked like. However, I do wonder since the poverty line that they speak of past the eighteen hundreds is the same poverty line that Orshanksy calculated during the Johnson Administration. Because in the Powerpoint the graph shows that the level of poverty has gone down but The last PowerPoint showed otherwise.

    In the interview, Sen and the iNterviewer go over his book and how he feels about markets within countries where there is democracy and countries where there isn’t a democracy. He speaks on how markets within a political environment that is a democracy allows for more individual freedom like American and the U.K. He elaborates by stating that these individual freedoms allow the people within these political environments to speak out against the injustices they may face.

    In the first video with the little girl from Africa on an individual level, her health will be stunted since she only eats one meal in a school week and eats whatever she can on weekends. Socially her development will probably be stunted outside of a community like her own since they do look out for each other as she said in the video. As for the young man in the U.K. for individual development, his health may also be affected because of his intake but his view on poverty may have a more negative connotation than the girl in Africa because in the U.K. the society is more individualistic and not as community-based.

  14. Lei Liu

    The explanation of week two’s PowerPoint is clear.Discussed the negative impact of poverty on children’s health and development.Also discussed the issue of poverty not equal to inequality, which refers to the distribution of things between or within categories.In the Birthweight and Infant Mortality chart, Non-Hispanic Black has the most influence on children. The impact of poverty on the birth weight of children cannot be ignored.The eradication of poverty and nutrition may help change these phenomena.
    In the reading of “Development as Freedom”, Sen, Amartya discussed the issue of poverty. It also mentioned that we should focus on human freedom (for example, education, health, human rights), rather than focusing on income and wealth, or spiritual satisfaction. In the reading of “The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development”, it was discussed that poverty has a negative impact on children’s health and development in many ways. For example, poverty (caused by multiple potential confounding factors) and newborn weight problems. Poverty not only affects children’s health, but also causes some problems in children’s future education. For example, the level of education is low (withdrawal from school due to poverty.).
    In the video Sen, Amartya discussed the importance of focusing on freedom over wealth. In today’s world with increasing wealth, people living in rich or poverty countries still have no freedom. They were deprived of their basic freedoms, meaning they did not live their own way. Although the United States is a rich country, it still lacks medical insurance (some people do not have medical insurance, this situation may cause some people or families to fall into economic poverty.) Political issues are also discussed, democratic countries will not have famine, because If a famine occurs, the public voices of democratic countries will not remain silent, and the famine will be easily stopped.
    In two videos, the differences between the two countries in child poverty are described. The first video tells about the life of a 9-year-old child in Malawi. She didn’t eat breakfast before going to school, but all she needed was uniform and shoes. In the second video, the students interviewed revealed that one third of poverty child in the UK. But what students need in the interview is warmth, care, love and education. The poverty of the two countries shows that Malawi’s development is relatively backward, poverty child are lack of food and daily necessities. In the UK, it is clear that they do not lack food, clothing and education. All they need is a warm indoor temperature.

  15. Yassine

    I feel the presentation to be very clear to me. I was having trouble at first accessing the voice over but eventually got ahold of it. I found there to be fewer words and more connections between ideas which made understanding the content better. The charts and line connected charts (they were in the beginning) were done very good.
    Both articles were informative as well as interesting. Most of this information is commonly known but the pieces go into depth about how freedom is the central process with development. The information had no twists and was very clear for the entire chapter. The reading made me realize how much more the world needs to be equal. It is definitely very far from it due to the number of factors that comply with poverty that exists. This includes economic, social, and political factors that impact the lives of people who suffer from a lack of freedom. It alters their development therefore stunting their growth.
    The main points followed by Sen’s review discussed how individual freedom is the source of social change in society. However, it is possible for factors to impact this making it hard to attain individual freedom. If you compare the mortality infant rates and the life expectancy between certain races and countries it is clear to see a huge difference in results. For example, White and Asians tend to have better living conditions growing up making it easier to develop and gain freedom. Another point discussed was about how a country developed around as democracy is less likely to be impacted by such things as famines that could potentially kill tons of people.
    Based on the two videos on child poverty it is clear to see the difference between the two versions of poverty. Nyamiti was acquiring water from drains for the public to take back home to shower. Nyamiti did not have access to food, books, clothes, and money. On the other hand, the UK’s version of poverty would be a dream life for Nyamiti. She would love to be in David’s shoes. Although David was considered poor and struggled to get some good sleep and money. This would severely impact individual and social development differently in both countries because of the starting point as well the potential factors that may hinder the development of people. Nyamiti is more likely to go through worse social, political, and economic impacts compared to David due to her situation.

  16. Cha-Neice Gordon

    1. The powerpoints have been very clear and precise in regards to the information being shared. I have no questions or comments. It for sure gave some clarification in regards to poverty.

    2. From the reading, everything is pretty clear and I have no comments.

    3. The main takeaways from Sen’ interview are how certain things can prolong the life of humans such as poverty reliefs and health care insurance. Another take away was the discussion of the issues in public education. Send has many strong beliefs, especially about the government and their democratic nature that can prevent famine. In regards to the majority of Sens public views and thoughts, I can definitely agree because it promotes health and a better life for the majority of the people as opposed to just one focused group such as the upper class.

    4. In the first video, poverty is shown as the deprivation of children’s needs in order to survive and live a well off life. In the second video. It focused more on the different types of poverty such as multidimensional. With that being, poverty is shown to be different in both videos. It will impact individual development and social development differently in both countries because Nymaiti’s entire world is living similar to her and may not receive a proper education which affects her social and individual life as well as the hunger affecting her focus and ability to learn. As opposed to David, in his country they have the things he needs but cannot access them because of his personal situation. In his situation, he lacks the same opportunities other children do because of their access to resources that he does not have which will affect his social life as well as individual.

  17. Eliezer Perez

    1) The presentation was very clear and easy to understand. It was interesting to see that the US ranks the highest in human rights violation among the rich developed countries. Living in the US, I can see Amartya Sen’s point about unfreedoms preventing development and I do think human rights violation in the US do that. It especially makes me think about the prison industrial complex in the US where people of color, particularly black men, are disproportionately represented. I think we really need to think of development as a process of expanding freedoms that people enjoy.
    2) Both readings were pretty clear. I found the child health and development very interesting because it reminded me of a paper I did for another class. One thing that I didn’t see in the reading is that a lot of babies with low birth end up needing to go NICU for some time, especially since most babies with LBW are born premature. Even with insurance, NICU leaves parents with a huge bill of thousands of dollars that they have to pay out-of-pocket. This is also considering that the average delivery for babies also cost thousands of dollars even with insurance. I think this is also another way in which poor parents rack up debt falling further into poverty, therefore affecting the child in the long run. I know that the article says that it has been hard to find a relation between race and LBW, so since this article is from 1997, I was wondering if there had been more research done on the matter? Also, access to prenatal care reduces chance of having a baby with LBW so this makes me wonder if there is a relation between race and access to prenatal care.
    3) The main takeaway from the Sen interview is the idea the relation between freedom, development and famines or poverty. He explains how countries with less freedom, such as countries with totalitarian regimes, are much more likely to have famine and it is much more difficult for them to recover from famine, while this is not the case with democracies. He also speaks how in the United States there is high inequality of freedom to live as one would like such as living long, happy, without illness, etc. He refers to how the lack of healthcare in the country, the difference in the mortality rates between different classes and races. He connects all this to lack of health care, education and other forms of unfreedoms like he mentioned in the reading.
    4) Both videos show very different scenarios of poverty. The first video which showed child poverty in Malawi, and this was a much more extreme poverty than the UK video, where the kids were poor relative to the rest of the country. For me, this showed that for a child to succeed in school they need much more than just the minimum amount of food or materials required to attend school. The kids in the UK video are undoubtedly better off than the kids in Malawi, but that doesn’t mean that their situation is ideal and that nothing should be done about it. For the children in Malawi both individual and social development is affected much more than for the children in the US. This lack of food and basic necessities as the child in Malawi describes is probably most definitely reflected on the mortality rate of children and adults in the country. I think is exactly what Sen said, the individual development is probably affected in that they are lead less happy lives, shorter lives and possibly with illnesses that we don’t give much thought to in the US. Socially, the quality of education is obviously lower than the UK’s and the child also describes how going to school hungry affects his focus and performance and education is obviously very important for the social development of a society. In the UK, social development is also affected but not as much as it in Malawi and same goes for social development.

  18. Mariyam Mohammed

    From my PowerPoint presentation, what isn’t clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
    The PowerPoint was very clear, and thank you for the great explanations. The 7th slide resonated with me the most because poverty is not a one-way issue. Instead, it was explained as independent and dependent values, which helped with the readings because, in the readings, we see there are consequences for poverty just as causes for poverty. Along with this slide, the graphs helped to understand and get an insight into the world and how each country is at different levels of its own issues. On the 14th slide, we saw life expectancy in 2015 and what surprised me was how the life expectancy in the US was similar to Sri Lanka (where I am from). It is instead a developing country, so I was surprised to see that. The maps and the charts were apparent and helped me understand where countries in the world stand in a sense.

    From the reading, what is not clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
    Sen’s idea of development is focused on the concept of individual freedom instead of other approaches such as real income or procedural liberty.
    Out of the two readings, “The effects of poverty on child health and development” intrigued me the most. Just because we see a pattern, Just as mentioned in the 7th slide of the presentation, there are consequences to poverty. If a child experiences being deficient in their early life, it is highly effective in their future. Not only wealth wise but behavior, development, and where they stand in the society. When poor parents cannot provide for their children in their early lives, such as unable to send them to school early on because they don’t have resources or don’t have enough money to provide books, it affects the child’s intellectual stimulation. Insecure emotional attachments are another disadvantage of poverty. There’s a high chance of children’s emotional health being at stake the more economic difficulty there is.

    Summarize the main takeaways from Sen’s interview? What are your thoughts on the issues discussed?
    Sen discusses the ideas he wrote in his books. Economic freedom gives people more liberty. Political freedom gives more voice, so he states how a country under democracy is likely to offer more freedom than a government under a dictatorship. He believes that if an individual is provided more freedom, they are highly likely to live longer. He mentions how lack of medical insurance plays. A considerable part in mortality of individuals in the US and specifically black men are in danger compared to people in Kerala, China, or Sri Lanka. At the end of the video, Sen mentions how vital it is not to know only some small aspect of people’s lives but rather get an insight into their lives and how they are helped achieve freedom in every part of their life. He emphasizes public discussion to be crucial to reach the freedom of individuals.

    Based on the two videos on child poverty, how is poverty different in the two societies shown? How do you think that this will impact individual and social development differently in both countries?
    It is surprising to see poverty in effect for an emerging country and a well-developed country. Nyamiti suffers daily because her family is unable to afford food and education, which are basic needs. Yet her family suffers because she lives in a rural area in a developing country. Compared to David in the UK, she cannot afford a uniform, but we see how David’s family only gets 5 pounds a week or so, and they are to survive in the cold, which then causes health issues. We see how Nyamiti woke up from the floor in a clay house, she walks in barefoot and gets water to clean from far away before going to school, and she is to wait for the porridge given at lunchtime in her school. That is the only food for her till the next day. The flour she gets for the house is leftover from the floor. And she mentions how the neighbors help her family because they pity them. From the first glance, we cant tell David is poor because he is well dressed; however, his family is below the poverty line. I believe Nyamiti will have to suffer longer because the while country she lives in suffer more, and it will take time to help such a vast population in poverty. Although UK kids are suffering in poverty, I believe their government can help the children (I do not know much about their resources) compared to Malawi children.

  19. Kimberly Figuereo (She/her)

    In the reading, Sen makes many important points about how there’s so much more to freedom than technological and social modernization. In order to really have freedom, we must remove the major factors of “unfreedom” which are tyranny, poor economic opportunities, systemic social deprivation, etc. There’s an overwhelming amount of people who lack even the most elementary freedoms which lead to people often not even being able to satisfy their hunger or receive the appropriate amount of nutrition, or even be able to afford medicine.
    There’s a substantial amount of neglect that Sen speaks on, and I couldn’t agree more with his perspective in the reading.

    In Sen’s interview, he once again touches on economic freedom and how with having economic freedom, comes more liberty. He speaks on the disparities between the wealthy and the poor and the incomes and equalities, and how the real problem lies in basic freedom. According to Sen, the lack of healthcare in American is a real issue (and still is) and it leads to there being many groups of certain economic status and races to not be able to have access to certain necessities and therefore not be able to live long due to illnesses. I couldn’t agree more with Sen’s points on healthcare and how it should become a political issue in order for us to see a change.

    Child poverty in Malawi is a substantially bigger issue than it is in the UK. These children are living in villages with barely any water or food. Nyamiti, a nine-year-old child, gives us a look into her typical day and it’s quite sad to see the circumstances in which she has to live in. She explains how she can’t afford a school uniform, and since she doesn’t have any food to eat before school, she can’t even concentrate on classwork and tests because she’s exhausted and starving. It was heart wrenching to hear that the only meal she’d have until the next day is the porridge provided at school. In comparison to child poverty in the UK, one may argue that Nyamiti has it one hundred times worse. Still, there are about 4 million children living in poverty in the UK. David is 10 years old and he explains how he lives in poverty in the UK and how he’d only have about 5 pounds a week and he’d have to sort out and prioritize how to spend it. Although heartbreaking, I have to say that the poverty presented in the second video is monumentally different from the first. Although David is also living below the poverty line, he still doesn’t entirely lack the fundamental things he needs. Unfortunately, Nyamiti’s individual and social development will suffer tremendously due to her lack of basic resources. David on the other hand, will certainly be delayed in his individual and social development, but not as much as Nyamiti.

  20. Luisa Fajardo

    1)The powerpoint was very clear. One thing that I felt was that the voice recording were being cut off but I don’t know if it was my computer acting up. The maps, charts and graphs that were displayed help understand the recordings and summarize the reading.
    2)The reading Poverty on Child Health broadly covers the many issues poverty has on children. The reading emphasizes how poverty and disparity of essentials have long-term effects on a child which to me it not much of a shocker coming from a country that is not as developed has the United States I have seen my fair share of child property.
    3)Sen advocates for popular government as an implies to grow person opportunity and reduce the racial and lesson disparities we see within the world and all through the United States. Utilizing cases of popular governments such as those found within the US and Zimbabwe in comparison to China and the Soviet Union, Sen clarifies how equitable countries, in any case of the riches of the country, have been able to dodge starvation, whereas non-democratic countries, notwithstanding of riches, have regularly capitulated to it.
    4)The two videos on child poverty are very different form one another although they deal with the same issues. Things have pt do with the differences in country that both videos take place. In the first video, poverty is shown as the deprivation of children’s needs in order to survive and live. In the second video, the students in The UK have better living conditions and the children can go to school in uniform. Based on the policies the UK has kids don’t have to worry about being homeless as opposed to the kids in the first video.

  21. Sharharra Pettway

    1. The powerpoint presentation was clear. One thing that stood out to me from the presentation was how poverty is both a dependent and independent variable. It’s a dependent variable because it’s a consequence caused by certain factors but is also an independent variable because it has consequences itself that affect people’s lives.
    2. The readings were clear. The reading, The effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development mentioned that poverty as an absolute measure be eliminated if every family had an income over the threshold but shouldn’t things like inflation and costs for goods be considered too. For example, yes families would be above the line of poverty but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will also be able to afford life’s basic necessities as well. If things like goods and services were made more affordable enough for everyone there wouldn’t be a need for a poverty line. I also found it interesting that poverty isn’t always constant but some groups are more likely to be in or at risk of persistent poverty than others. I found the idea of freedoms in a different perspective really interesting in the aspect of development and considering poverty in the Development as Freedom. For example
    3. There were many takeaways from this interview. One of them included freedom and how it is conditional to the way people are able to live their lives especially socially. For example economic freedom allows people opportunities for liberty by means of being able to provide and obtain goods, services and even favors if need be. Also most importantly it gives people the opportunity to be more free when it comes to how they can act, are treated by the public and how they can express political and personal views. Another was that freedom’s definition is different in different places and even the same types are of more importance in some places than others.
    4. The first video showed the life of a young girl in Malawi and she spoke about not being able to have enough food to eat on a daily and the meal at school is the only one she would eat for the day until when she goes to school again the next day. She also brings up that it makes it harder to concentrate in school because she is hungry.
    The second video shows that students are aware of poverty and that it also exists in countries that are considered to be well off. Also they are aware that even if it’s not affecting them directly, some of their classmates are dealing with it too. The video mentions financial struggles and how it affects their daily lives. In comparison, in poorer countries like the one in the first video people just are concerned with meeting their daily needs like getting enough food and focus more so on a daily activity like work or their education whereas in richer countries, people have a lot more to consider because the standards of living are different and require more, like they have to upkeep the home with electricity, heat and water alongside other bills and food.

  22. Sophia Youssef (Her)

    1. From my PowerPoint presentation, what isn’t clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
    From the PowerPoint presentation, I think it was very clear because of the diagrams shown. The images and graphs help me understand exactly what poverty and capabilities are established in the US. The images of the world with the color schemes help us figure out compared to the rest of the world what we need to make our own country better not only for its people but overall, as a nation for future generations. With the poverty and child health model for investigating the effect of poverty on children, outcomes show that everything between the parent and child affects its child’s health issues. That the two main reasons for poor children to exhibit higher morbidity rates are a lower odd of early intervention and the increased risk of accidents and illness.
    2. From the reading, what is not clear? Any thoughts or comments you would like to share?
    From the reading, Amartya Sen was discussing the perspective of freedom, which talks about how couples must discuss money with each other during their relationship. A couple of names Maitreyee and Yajnavanlkya asked themselves “how far would wealth go to help them get what they want?” She wondered if the world belonged to her then would she able to achieve immortality. Maitreyee’s rhetorical question has been cited over again in Indian religious philosophy to illustrate the nature of the human predicament and the limitations of the material world. While I was reading this, I thoroughly enjoyed what Amartya Sen had to say on wealth as well as breaking down freedom. He broke down each topic with a co-topic that tied to the other. Which I thought was a good contrast because you are able to see both sides of a problem. Sen was evaluating the development of different experiences, the motivation for such an approach of “development as freedom is to draw attention to important aspects of the development process.
    3. Summarize the main takeaways from Sen’s interview? What are your thoughts on the issues discussed?
    The main takeaways I got from Sen’s interview was that individual freedom is a very basic thing that leads to social change and progress, but he said that individual freedom is also conditional on certain social opportunities, political opportunities, economic opportunities. And that the freedoms of different kinds are the ones that complement each other. His statement “economic freedom gives you more liberty” I couldn’t have agreed more because when the economy is allowing you to have control of your income and property it allows you to live life to the fullest in a way you deem worthy. He also said political freedom gives the people a voice and democracy, civil rights, open media, etc. I never knew that in a totalitarian country they had more famines than countries with democracy because democracy guarantees a way of stopping these famines.
    4. Based on the two videos on child poverty, how is poverty different in the two societies shown? How do you think that this will impact individual and social development differently in both countries?
    One example of poverty was the most common example of children in rural Africa unable to have food, clothes, a proper education, and so much more. They just lack the basic necessities that we tend to overlook. These children in Malawi are suffering and unable to eat 3 times a day with an option of food to be digested. They are unable to even afford a school uniform. Watching a video like that really puts things into perspective because people don’t realize what they have and even if they do, they choose not to make an effort to help the ones who are less fortunate.
    In the second video, the child discusses how he has to put on more layers of clothing to help keep himself warm. The UK also said that there is a law Article 27 that discusses that every child has a right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their social, physical, and mental needs. I think this is a good way to help the children in poverty because although they might be “normal” they still have the basic necessities that every child needs, food, shelter, clothes, education, and a loving family.

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