Latent Social Problem

To many sociologists, latent social problems are conditions considered to be undesirable by many people. While the concept relies upon public judgments, exponents of the definition claim to be value-free. This questionable position is maintained in Merton's distinction between manifest and latent problems. The categories indicate the existence of unrecognized social problems while retaining the public's value perspective. Unlike functional analysis, which distinguishes between objective conditions and subjective interpretations, the manifest-latent social problems categories are limited to the latter. Current usage ignores the possibility that some perceived social problems may be trivial or spurious. Applying the scientific values and norms of sociology offers a possible alternative. The values of modern science may provide useful criteria for redefining the concept of social problems.

Poverty is a latent social problem that always comes in the midst of society, especially in developing countries. Poverty continues to attract the attention of various circles, both academics and practitioners. Various theories, concepts and approaches were continuously developed to uncover the curtain and possibly "mystery" about this poverty. In the context of Indonesian society, the problem of poverty is also a social problem that is always relevant to be studied continuously. This is not just because the problem of poverty has existed for a long time, but also because this issue is still present in our midst and even now the symptoms increasing in line with the multidimensional crisis that is still faced by the Indonesian nation.

CONCEPT OF POVERTY

Poverty is a concept that berwayuh face, bermatra multidimensional. Ellis (1984:242-245), for xample, shows that the dimensions of poverty related aspects of economic, political and socio-psychological. Economically, poverty can be defined as a lack of resources that can be used to meet basic needs and improve the welfare of a group of people. Resources in this context involves not only financial aspects, but also all kinds of wealth (wealth) which can improve people's welfare in a broad sense. Under this conception, then poverty can be measured directly by specifying the resource inventory acquired through the use of standards known as the poverty line (poverty line). This way is often called absolute poverty measurement method. BPS poverty line amounted to 2.100 calories per person per day is comparable to a certain income or he World Bank's approach is to use a U.S. dollar per person per day is an example of absolute poverty measurement. In politics, poverty is seen from the level of access to power (power). Power in this sense includes the order of a political system that can determine the ability of a group of people in reaching and using resources. There are three fundamental questions that bekaitan with access to these powers, namely (a) how people can utilize existing resources in the community, (b) how people can take part in decision-making use of available resources, and (c) how the ability to participate in community activities.
Socio-psychological poverty refers to lack of networks and social structures that support in  getting the chances increasing productivity. The dimensions of poverty can also be interpreted as the poverty caused by the presence of inhibiting factors that prevent or hinder a person in exploiting the opportunities that exist in society. Inhibiting factors generally include internal and external factors. Internal factors come from within the poor themselves, such as low education or any other problem.