Abstract
Rates of poverty in the United States are among the highest in the industrialized world. It is argued that a fundamental reason for this has been the traditional way we have conceptualized the issue of poverty—as largely the fault and responsibility of the individual, which in turn, has led to a lack of social and political will to address the problem. This chapter argues that in order to effectively address the issue of poverty, a fundamental change must occur in terms of how poverty is understood. Three key changes are discussed as part of such a shift. First, there is a need to recognize that poverty affects us all, rather than seeing it as germane to someone else. Second, poverty is largely the result of failings at the economic and political levels, rather than at the individual level. And third, the moral ground on which poverty should be understood is one of injustice and the need for social change, rather than that of individual blame. It is argued that these represent important building blocks on which to challenge and confront the paradox of poverty amidst plenty.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alesina, A., & Glaeser, E. L. (2004). Fighting poverty in the US and Europe: A world of difference. New York: Oxford University Press.
Anderson, S., Cavanagh, J., Collins, C., & Pizzigati, S. (2009, September). America’s bailout barons: Taxpayers, high finance, and the CEO pay bubble. Institute for Policy Studies.
Blow, C.M. (2011, December 3). Newt’s war on poor children. New York Times, p. A23.
Bourshey, H., Fremstad, S., Gragg, R., & Waller, M. (2007). Understanding low-wage work in the United States. Washington, DC: Center for Economic Policy and Research.
Brady, D. (2009). Rich democracies, poor people: How politics explain poverty. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cancian, M., & Danziger, S. (2009). Changing poverty and changing antipoverty policies. In M. Cancian & S. Danziger (Eds.), Changing poverty, changing policies. New York: Russell Sage.
Case, A., & Paxson, C. (2006). Stature and status: Height, ability and labor market outcomes. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 12466.
Dallek, R. (1991). Lone star rising: Lyndon Johnson and his times, 1908–1960. New York: Oxford University Press.
Drake, B., & Rank, M. R. (2009). The racial divide among American children in poverty: Reassessing the importance of neighborhood. Children and Youth Services Review, 31(12), 1264–1271.
Ermisch, J., Jantti, M., & Smeeding, T. M. (2012). From parents to children: The intergenerational transmission of advantage. New York: Russell Sage.
Esping-Andersen, G. (2007). Equal opportunities and the welfare state. Contexts, 6(3), 23–27.
Evans, G. W. (2004). The environment of childhood poverty. American Psychologist, 59(2), 77–92.
Feagin, J. R. (2010). Racist America: Roots, current realities, and future reparations. New York: Routledge.
Fligstein, N., & Shin, T. J. (2004). The shareholder value society: A review of the changes in working conditions and inequality in the United States. In K. M. Neckerman (Ed.), Social inequality. New York: Russell Sage.
Gilens, M. (1999). Why Americans hate welfare: Race, media, and the politics of antipoverty policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gosselin, P. (2008). High wire: The precarious financial lives of American families. New York: Basic Books.
Hacker, J. (2006). The great risk shift: The new economic insecurity and the decline of the American Dream. New York: Oxford University Press.
Holzer, H.J., Schanzenbach, D.W., Duncan, G.J., & Ludwig, J. (2007). The economic costs of poverty in the United States: Subsequent effects of children growing up poor. Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Paper no. 1327-07.
Hoynes, H., Page, M. E., & Stevens, A. H. (2006). Poverty in America: Trends and explanations. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(1), 47–68.
Jacobsen, L. A., & Mather, M. (2010). U.S. economic and social trends since 2000. Population Bulletin, 65(1), 1–16.
King, M. L., Jr. (1967). Where do we go from here: Chaos or community? New York: Harper and Row.
Krugman, P. (2007). The conscience of a liberal. New York: W. W. Norton.
McCord, C., & Freeman, H. P. (1990). Excess mortality in Harlem. New England Journal of Medicine, 322, 173–177.
O’Connor, A. (2001). Poverty knowledge: Social science, social policy, and the poor in twentieth-century U.S. history. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Pettit, B. (2012). Invisible men: Mass incarceration and the myth of Black progress. New York: Russell Sage.
Pew Foundation (2011). Wealth gaps rise to record highs between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics. Social and Demographic Trends, Pew Research Center.
Quillian, L. (2003). How long are exposures to poor neighborhoods? The long-term dynamics of entry and exit from poor neighborhoods. Population Research and Policy Review, 22(3), 221–249.
Rank, M. R. (1994). Living on the edge: The realities of welfare in America. New York: Columbia University Press.
Rank, M. R. (2004). One nation underprivileged: Why American poverty affects us all. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rank, M. R. (2009). Measuring the economic racial divide across the course of American lives. Race and Social Problems, 1(2), 57–66.
Rank, M. R., & Hirschl, T. A. (2009). Estimating the risk of food stamps use and impoverishment during childhood. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 163(11), 994–999.
Samuelson, P. A. (1948). Economics: An introductory analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Samuelson, P. A., & Nordhaus, W. D. (2001). Economics (17th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Sandoval, D. A., Rank, M. R., & Hirschl, T. A. (2009). The increasing risk of poverty across the American life course. Demography, 46(4), 717–737.
Sawhill, I. V. (2003). The behavioral aspect of poverty. The Public Interest, 153, 79–93.
Schwartz, J. (2000). Fighting poverty with virtue: Moral reform and America’s urban poor, 1825–2000. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Sharkey, P. (2008). The intergenerational transmission of context. American Journal of Sociology, 113(4), 931–969.
Sherman, A. (1994). Wasting America’s future: The Children’s Defense Fund Report on the cost of child poverty. Boston: Beacon Press.
Smeeding, T. M. (2006). Poor people in rich nations: The United States in comparative perspective. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(1), 69–90.
Soss, J., Fording, R. C., & Schram, S. F. (2012). Disciplining the poor: Neoliberal paternalism and the persistent power of race. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012, January 6). Bureau of Labor Statistics, News Release.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (2013). Income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States: 2012. Current Population Reports, Series P60-245. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Vyse, S. (2008). Going broke: Why American can’t hold on to their money. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2010). The spirit level: Why greater equality makes societies stronger. New York: Bloomsbury Press.
Wilson, W. J. (2009). Toward a framework for understanding forces that contribute to or reinforce racial inequality. Race and Social Problems, 1(1), 3–11.
Wolff, E.N. (2007). Recent trends in household wealth in the United States: Rising debt and the middle-class squeeze. Working Paper No. 502, The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rank, M.R. (2015). Challenging the Conventional Understanding of American Poverty. In: Bangs, R., Davis, L. (eds) Race and Social Problems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0863-9_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0863-9_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-0862-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-0863-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)