Actual aspects of poverty in a Slovak society
Slavomír Laca With a bit of exaggeration, we could also call human history "the history of poverty." Throughout history, poverty as a social phenomenon has accompanied individuals or even large social groups. Naturally, the perception of poverty gradually changed in this process. From the understanding of poverty by T. Aquinas, as a state given by God, who is in the world so that the rich have the opportunity to do acts of mercy and repentance, through Vives' developed system of community care for the poor through work, or Malathus's rejection of all measures to support poverty, to various concepts of state social policy implemented in the 20th century. Despite the changes that the content of this term has undergone in the past, one thing remains stable - poverty is understood as a state in which an individual lacks the means to realize his own needs. By poverty we mean inferior living conditions with serious individual and social consequences.
Poverty is a very complex and complex concept and is currently considered one of the most serious problems of the globalized world. Paradoxically, we know so much about poverty that we have trouble clearly and especially briefly saying what poverty actually is. Above all, the concepts that are related to each other are not always clearly defined: poverty, misery, inequality, powerlessness, lack, need. Differences between individual languages also play a role here, respectively the stability of professional terminology in them. There is no absolute and universally accepted definition or boundary that defines the concept of the poor. It is especially striking when defining poverty in economically developed countries, where the situation of basic life needs is ensured, especially food, clothing and a roof over the head. Poverty from this point of view is always defined in relation to the standard of the given society.
Poverty is present all over the world, in Europe, but also in Slovak society. Knowing how poverty and especially its causes are reflected in public opinion also deserves attention. It is a result of bad luck, laziness, lack of willpower, injustice in society, or even an inevitable part of progress. The frequency of these attitudes and opinions is more interesting if we put them in inter-generational comparisons and contexts. Poverty can be understood as an expression of extreme inequality, better said as a distance from a certain part of the population not only from the rich, but also from the entire rest of the population.
In today's world, inequality and poverty are constantly being created, and the gap between wealth and poverty is growing both globally and on the national scale of individual European states. Poverty is often associated with the concept of inequality, but these concepts are not identical, but related. Poverty is defined as "extreme inequality, or as the distance of a certain part of the population not only from the rich, but also from the rest of the population" (Mareš 1999, p.39). There is no general concept of poverty and the criteria of poverty depend on traditions and on the current concept of social justice. The broadest concept of poverty currently promoted by some international organizations includes, in addition to income, the availability of public services and the state of nutrition.
Poverty is commonly considered a social problem, other times it is considered a social deviation, also misery and social pathology. "Poverty is defined and measured differently in different concepts and approaches, but it is always inferior living conditions with special individual and social consequences" (Cantalamessa 1999, p. 45). More and more often, instead of the term poverty, the term social exclusion or social exclusion is used. Social exclusion is a broader concept than poverty, it expresses the risk of marginalization and exclusion for individuals and groups in several areas of life and always includes poverty. Conversely, poverty does not always mean exclusion (Schavel et al. 2008, p. 32). Poverty refers to the consumption standard, the achievement of low or inadequate material means. At the same time, social exclusion is always connected with social inclusion, which means that if people are excluded from one sphere, they are also included in another sphere (e.g. mothers are excluded from the labor market and are included in families).
There are several concepts of poverty and views on it. Some social or political concepts look at poverty, for example, from the point of view of insufficient access to education, health care or political power. "However, poverty is most often understood as a lack of finances and small material possessions. Not everything that is often considered to be material poverty is actually poverty" (Tvrdoň, Kasanová 2004, p. 52).
Poverty affects all aspects of human life, already in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, due to lagging industrialization, some areas of Slovakia were marginalized and characterized by poverty. The lagging behind, and thus the impoverishment of Slovakia's regions in the past, is also currently manifested in high unemployment, growing poverty and also socio-pathological phenomena. After 1989, the issue of poverty did not dare, but nevertheless came to the attention of the public. A certain cautious use of the term poverty is rather understood as an expression of the failure of social policy, rather than as a consequence of the operation of the market economy or part of social differentiation. In parallel with socio-economic inequalities, which are generally linked and concentrated regionally, spatial disparities are also deepening in Slovakia.
During the period of socialism, significant differences in the economic level of the regions were eliminated in Slovakia without an emphasis on economic efficiency. The incorrectness of the principle of equal redistribution between sectors and individual regions, as well as the "concealment" of regional inequalities, were clearly and sharply manifested then, and are still manifesting. Currently, the socio-economic situation has not improved, rather it has worsened. With the advent of the economic and financial crisis, unemployment has increased, and this has a great impact on the poverty of individual people.
For a long time, Slovakia belonged to the European countries with the lowest income inequality, but during the 1990s, income inequality gradually increased. From the point of view of international comparison, this is not a unique development trend occurring only in Slovakia and other post-socialist countries. Economic inequalities also grew in Western Europe, not excluding North America. With the development of society, the transformation processes in the Slovak Republic became more and more evident in emerging social and economic inequalities, which resulted in people's poverty. One of the most visible are socio-economic inequalities. These inequalities are manifested in income or property. They are in the differentiation of consumption behavior, lifestyle, living conditions in individual regions.
In the field of research and in some statistical measurements, the term poverty is used, and then it is most often associated with the income of an individual or a household, which is below a certain threshold. The most frequently quoted data are from Eurostat (European Statistical Office), which even Eurostat itself does not present as poverty, but only as a threat of poverty in our country.
According to the latest Eurostat measurement, Slovakia has the second smallest proportion of people at risk of poverty among the EU countries. and Slovakia threatens poverty for 11 percent of the population. In the comparison of the countries of the European Union, Slovakia, together with the Netherlands, occupied the second place. The Czech Republic has the least number of poor people in Europe. In all other states, the poverty rate is higher.
In the countries of the European Union, an average of 17 percent of people are at risk of poverty. Eurostat considers those people whose annual income does not reach 60 percent of the average income of an adult to be poor. This is a relative comparison. For example, a person who is on the poverty line in Luxembourg has more than four times more income than a Slovak on the poverty line, and this is something to consider whether it is good if such a poverty survey is carried out.
The most endangered population groups are children under 17 and seniors over 65. Poverty in Europe threatens a fifth of young people and 19 percent of pensioners. In Slovakia, according to Eurostat, 17 percent of young people and a tenth of seniors are at risk. The opposite situation is in the case of employed people. Among employees, six percent of people in Slovakia are at risk of poverty, eight percent in Europe.
The figure that Eurostat measured was the "poverty risk" - that is, what percentage of the population lives on an income below 60 percent of the average income in the country. Strictly speaking, income below this threshold does not mean that a person is really poor. However, it is possible to say that it is threatened by poverty - the level of income in the economy is, among other things, linked to the level of prices, therefore people with significantly below-average income have limited opportunities for consumption or access to services.
The survey shows that on average 16 percent of people in the European Union are at risk of poverty, i.e. about 72 million. However, the average hides significant differences between individual countries. The telling value of relative poverty is sometimes questioned - a "poor" person in a country with a higher average income is still richer, having a higher income than a portion of the "rich" in a country with a lower average income. And it is not important how many banknotes a person has in his wallet, but what he can buy with them.
Real poverty represents the lack of material needs necessary for daily survival, i.e. j. food, drinking water, clothing and adequate housing. "The limit of real poverty is expressed absolutely, i.e. through a certain fixed value, which is enough to ensure basic needs" (Waisová 2006, p. 59). A household is classified as poor if its income does not reach this fixed threshold. To identify a materially endangered group of people in Slovakia, we can use the system of social assistance to people in material need. Although the living wage is administratively defined, we consider it to be the limit when income and other resources are insufficient to achieve a minimum standard of living that is acceptable in our society.
Everyone has the right to live with dignity. Even though the European Union is one of the richest regions in the world, there are millions of people who live below the poverty line. Poverty and exclusion from society have an impact not only on the quality of life of individuals and their ability to integrate into society, but are also an obstacle to overall economic development.
Proposals for possible poverty alleviation
Last year was also the European Year of Poverty, which coincided with the financial, economic and social crisis. We must stop not only in Slovakia, but throughout Europe and the world, so that poverty becomes an incentive for common thinking. We should build Europe, and therefore Slovakia, as a country where people can live without the hardships caused by poverty and social exclusion. In thinking about this and formulating the commitment to strive for a society without poverty, it is necessary to:
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Don't simplify poverty and poverty eradication tools. Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon: it is not only insufficient financial resources and income either from employment or social benefits. Poverty is vulnerability, insecurity, lack of opportunity, injustice.
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Sign up at all levels to achieve the goal of alleviating and ending poverty and social exclusion and ensuring access to rights and dignity for all. Such determination requires breaking down stereotypes and not dividing the poor into those who "deserve help" and those "unworthy of our help".
- Various campaigns raising awareness of the structural causes of poverty and social exclusion and combating stereotypes about the poor. However, promoting the understanding of poverty as a violation of human rights is a difficult task not only in Slovakia, because for decades the image that poverty is a personal failure has been reinforced. Moreover, a large part of society suffers from insecurity and a greater or lesser degree of deprivation, and programs aimed at the social inclusion of the most disadvantaged understand it as something that is happening at their expense and at their expense.
- Participation and commitment to dialogue with poor people. Building a society in which everyone has a place is not possible without participation and commitment. Well-functioning representative democratic institutions are the basis for the protection of the public interest. Participatory democracy is also necessary so that the voices of people who experience poverty can be heard and that these voices can influence human actions, but also public opinion and gain its support for solving social issues in the form of strengthening equality in access to basic rights. It is necessary to strengthen the dialogue with poor people and with non-governmental organizations fighting against poverty. The fight against poverty and social exclusion is an integral part of efforts to overcome the crisis. It is often the more vulnerable who are affected by the consequences of the recession. Therefore, the European Year against Poverty and Social Exclusion should become a catalyst to raise awareness and create momentum for a more inclusive society, which is an integral part of the future Europe.
In Slovakia, throughout Europe and the world, we also need to open a debate about justice as equality of life chances for everyone, regardless of what family they were born into and what territory - continent - individual people live on. The social behavior of some poor people can be characterized by acceptance of the situation in which they find themselves, or by their rejection of it. The subjective perception of one's own poverty is important. People experience poverty as a shame and hide it if they can. In today's complexly organized society, we rarely have the lives of others in the palm of our hands, and this makes it easier to hide poverty. This also applies to poverty not only in Slovakia. Little is said about it and not always with understanding. We are slowly beginning to accept poverty as part of the social order.
Conclusion
In the presented article, we tried to outline how poverty is perceived in the Slovak Republic. The socio-economic situation of Slovak society and its various levels fairly faithfully reflects the events, turbulence and problematic nature of the current economic crisis in individual regions. Issues of poverty are beginning to resonate more and more in Slovak society. Defining poverty and measuring it becomes important. It is essential to determine who is actually poor, how and whether it can be measured at all. Answering these basic but not simple questions can move us as a society forward in solving the problem of poverty and the poor. The search for solutions carries a great responsibility for the lives of people who suffer from poverty, not only at the political level, in the creation of laws, but also at the social level. The phenomenon of poverty is present in the world and in Slovakia. Therefore, it is necessary to talk about it, to analyze it, to know its various forms, causes, effects, and above all to look for ways to solve and eliminate this problem.
Literature
CANTALAMESSA, Raniero: Poverty. Bratislava: Serafín, 1999. 109 p. ISBN 80-88944-08-2. MAREŠ, Petr: Sociology of inequality and poverty. Prague: Sociologické nakladatelství, 1999. 248 p. ISSN 80 – 85850 – 61 – 3. SCHAVEL, Milan; OLÁH, Michal; ONDRUŠOVÁ, Zlatica: Introduction to studies and history. Bratislava: VŠZaSP St. Elizabeth, 2008. 208 p. ISBN 80–969449–6–7. TVRDOŇ, Miroslav – KASANOVÁ, Anna: Poverty and Homelessness Nitra: Faculty of Social Sciences and Health Sciences UKF, 2004. 141 p. ISBN 80-8050-776-7. PASTERNÁKOVÁ, L.: Family – primary educational institution. In School Management 3/2010, p. 12-15. Bratislava: Iura Edition. ISSN 1336-9849. WAISOVÁ, Šárka: Poverty and wealth in the contemporary world. Plzeň: Vydavatelstvi a nakladatelství Aleš Čeněk, 2006. 160 p. ISBN 80-86898-86-5. Eurostat news release: [online]. Luxembourg: [2010] [cit. 2010-02-05]. Available from the WWW: Publications of the author of the article: PaedDr. Slavomír Laca, PhD
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