How do functionalists define poverty?

Question

How do functionalists define poverty?

Answer 1

Doesn't need to be a genius to define poverty

Answer 2

I think poverty is when you wont get off your lazy but and work for a living.I think poverty is when you just blame everyone else for you being poor and re lie on the government to take care of you.That about sums it up.

Answer 3

I don't know about a direct "definition" of poverty by functionalists, but I do know that they thought it was necessary for some people to be poor. Functionalists were of the era when positivism and social darwinism were very popular, so they believed that people that worked the hardest succeeded the most. Everything in society had a purpose to them, so the threat of poverty in the reality of a competitive economy was a motivator for success. Sociologists now understand that this perspective has little to do with reality, and functionalism has since become very unpopular in sociology for its conservative ideology.