poverty

Meaning: Poverty is a lack of the income or resources needed to meet basic needs or to take part in ordinary social life. Absolute poverty means falling below a fixed standard, such as the cost of food, shelter and clothing, often marked by a poverty line. Relative poverty means having much less than most others in the same society, so it can exist even when basic needs are met. Poverty is linked to social exclusion and limited social mobility. Explanations are often structural (labor markets, discrimination, unequal schools). Individual or cultural explanations also exist, but textbooks usually give structural factors more weight.

On the MCAT: Passages often relate low socioeconomic status or neighborhood poverty to outcomes such as health, education or life expectancy. Predict that greater poverty goes with worse outcomes, through unequal access to care, nutrition, housing and schooling. Questions may also ask about poverty among children, single-parent households or minority groups, or about the cycle of poverty passing across generations.

Common confusion: Students treat absolute and relative poverty as the same thing. Relative poverty measures inequality. If every income doubled, absolute poverty would fall, but relative poverty could stay unchanged.