• The student should be able to explain the various ways of defining poverty and to describe the extent of poverty in the United States and in nations around the world.

• The student should be able to describe the social characteristics of those who have the greatest likelihood of being poor, as well as describe their social circumstances.

• The student should be able to explain why poverty exists, according to the functionalist, conflict, and interactionist perspectives, and to assess the research conclusions on this topic.

• The student should be able to describe the government and other programs that have been established to help alleviate the extent of poverty and evaluate the research on how well these programs achieve their goals.

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