Assignment:
Scenerio:
You have been hired as the social and cultural aide to the mayor of a large city. Your job is to bring a sociological perspective to city affairs. In other words, you will be expected to get to know the social groups and institutions that exist in your city, to analyze how they interact with each other, to identify the needs that they will expect city government to satisfy and to help shape public policies. Public needs can vary from routine services, such as police and fire protection, to more specialized services, such as day care for working mothers, city beautification, or artistic programs that help preserve the cultural identities of the groups that comprise the city's population.
Since you are relatively new to the area, you intend to begin work by getting as complete a picture of your city as possible. Fortunately, you have excellent sources of information, including the U.S. Census Bureau. Later, you plan to identify major business and civic organizations that can provide assistance to city officials. Finally, you will want to find ways in which city officials can work with these organizations to combat poverty, crime and other urban problems
You are meeting with a few members of city council and the agenda is focused on social services for the poor. You find yourself engaged in a heated debate. Some members cite that the culture of poverty thesis suggests that the poor are largely responsible for their own poverty. Others argue that this attitude essentially blames the victim and that, instead, poverty is caused by society's unequal distribution of wealth.
Please help me with the following:
Which position do you agree with and why? Support your position with facts wherever possible.
You will need to write 2 to 3 pages.