| In the article entitled "The Uses of Poverty: The | | | | non-poor members. They include: making sure |
| Poor Pay All," sociologist Herbert J. Gans discusses | | | | that the menial work tasks of society will be |
| the strange alliance between the poor and the | | | | taken care of, the creation of jobs that provide |
| wealthy in American society. He states that the | | | | aid for the poor, and the existence of the poor |
| underprivileged in essence have kept several | | | | keeps the aristocracy busy with charitable works, |
| vocations in existence such as social work, | | | | thus demonstrating charity to the less fortunate |
| criminology, and journalism. These vocations serve | | | | and superiority over the elites who chose to |
| the double pretense of aiding the less fortunate | | | | spend their free time making more money. He |
| and protecting society from these same | | | | also give several alternatives to poverty such as |
| individuals. He compares his analogy with that of | | | | redistribution of the wealth in society, putting |
| Richard K. Merton, who applied the functional | | | | everyone on a more even playing field, but |
| analysis theology to explain the prolonged | | | | ultimately concluded that poverty will continue to |
| existence of the political machine in urban areas. | | | | exist because disturbing the unequal balance |
| Mr. Merton's reasoning was that the political | | | | between the poor and the wealthy in society |
| machine continued to exist because it served | | | | would prove to be dysfunctional for the affluent |
| several positive functions in society. Mr. Gans | | | | and that will not happen. |
| applies this same logic to the existence of | | | | In a hierarchical society such as in America, there |
| poverty in a society that had so much material | | | | will always be someone on the low end of the |
| wealth and concluded that poverty had 13 | | | | totem pole. |
| functions in society that was beneficial to | | | | |