Experiencing Poverty Voices from the Bottom

by Eitzen, D. Stanley; Smith, Kelly Eitzen

• ISBN13: 9780205547951
• ISBN10: 0205547958
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-29
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This collection of readings provides the voice, the presence, and the perspective of the poor who live on the margins and are generally invisible to the middle and upper classes. The goals of this reader are twofold: (1) to bring the realities of the lives of the impoverished as close to the reader as possible (2) to get the reader to listen carefully to these voices of the poor in order to enhance their understanding of: How the poor became poor. How the poor are treated by individuals and organizations in the community. What keeps the poor poor. How the poor manage day-to-day. What theory of causation best explains poverty. The consequences of the welfare-to-work federal legislation. The best solutions for ending poverty.

Author Biography

D. Stanley Eitzen is professor emeritus in sociology from Colorado State University, where previously he was the John N. Stern Distinguished Professor.  He recieved his Ph.D. from the Unitsity of Kansas.  Among his books are: Social Problems, which was awarded the McGuffey Longevity Award for excellence over multiple editions in 2000 by the Text and Academic Authors Association, and Diversity in Families (both co-authored with Maxine Baca Zinn), Solutions to Social Problems: Lessons from Other Societies (with Graig S. Leeham) ,  Paths to Homelessness: Extreme Poverty and the Urban Housing Crisis (with Doug A. Timmer and Kathryn Talley), Sociology of North American Sport (with George H. Sage,) and Fair and Foul: Rethinking the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport.  He has served as the president of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport and as editor of The Social Science Journal.

 

Kelly Eitzen Smith received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Arizona in 1999.  She is currently the director of the Center for Applied Sociology and a lecturer at the University of Arizona.  At the Center for Applied Sociology she has conducted research in the areas of day labor, homelessness, poverty, urban housing and neighborhood development. Her sociological interests include gender, family, sexuality, stratification, and social problems.  She is the co-author of Experiencing Poverty, 1/e, Social Problems 11/e, and In Conflict and Order 12/e (forthcoming).

Table of Contents

Preface	p. viii
Poverty in the United States and the Sociological Imagination	p. 1
The Extent and Distribution of Poverty in the United States	p. 3
The Sociological Imagination	p. 8
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 9
Theories of Poverty: Why Are the Poor Poor?	p. 11
Theories of Poverty: Who or What Is to Blame for Poverty?	p. 13
Individual Theories/Cultural Explanations	p. 13
Structural Explanations	p. 15
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 17
Poverty or At Home in a Car	p. 18
The Armstrongs: An Oral History of a Homeless American Family	p. 24
Feeling Trapped	p. 28
No 40 Acres and a Mule: An Interview with a Displaced Black Farmer	p. 30
Notes of a Racial Caste Baby	p. 35
Reflection Questions for Part II	p. 40
Poverty and Vulnerability	p. 41
One Step Away	p. 43
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 44
A Veteran Speaks of the Forgotten Wounded of Iraq	p. 46
On the Margins: The Lack of Resources and the Lack of Health Care	p. 51
Personal Voices: An Unnatural Disaster	p. 57
The Domino Effect	p. 59
Reflection Questions for Part III	p. 62
Living on the Economic Margins	p. 63
Survival and Finances	p. 65
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 66
Ain't No Middle Class	p. 68
The Working Poor	p. 84
Discrimination/Racism/Stigma	p. 88
The Stigmatizing of the Impoverished	p. 89
The Consequences of Stigmatizing the Impoverished	p. 89
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 90
The Dynamics of Welfare Stigma	p. 91
Sunset Trailer Park	p. 99
Migrants and the Community	p. 106
At a Slaughterhouse	p. 109
Parenting in Poverty	p. 121
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 121
The Empty Christmas	p. 123
Karla	p. 125
Vinela Tejada: Custodian, Vanderbilt Hall, Harvard Medical School	p. 127
Reflection Questions for Part IV	p. 130
The Impact of Societal Institutions on Individual Lives	p. 131
Housing/Homeless Shelters/Neighborhoods	p. 133
Living in Poor Neighborhoods	p. 134
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 135
Shelter	p. 137
The Residents of Rockwell Gardens	p. 140
The Welfare System	p. 144
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996	p. 144
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 145
Welfare As They Know It	p. 147
Money: Milwaukee, Summer 1999	p. 151
Trapped in the Double-Bind of Welfare	p. 153
Schools and Schooling	p. 162
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 162
Seventh Grade Disaster	p. 164
Always Running	p. 166
Work and Working	p. 172
Wages	p. 172
Alienation	p. 172
Risk	p. 173
Sweatshops	p. 173
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 173
Looking for Work, Waiting for Work	p. 175
Chicken Run	p. 181
The Story of a Garment Worker	p. 186
Frank Morley: Custodian, Littauer Center for Public Administration	p. 189
Reflection Questions for Part V	p. 192
Individual and Collective Agency and Empowerment	p. 193
Changes from the Bottom Up	p. 195
Notes and Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 196
Surviving Chicago's Toxic Doughnut	p. 197
Welfare Rights Organizing Saved My Life	p. 200
Josefina Flores: A Veteran of the War in the Fields	p. 204
How Predatory Lending Victims Fought Back and Won	p. 207
Reflection Questions for Part VI	p. 211
Afterword	p. 213
The Forgotten Children of Affluent America	p. 213
Reflection Questions for the Book	p. 218
Glossary	p. 219
Web Sites	p. 221
Index	p. 224
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