New Introduction to Poverty : The Role of Race, Power, and Politics

by Kushnick, Louis; Jennings, James

• ISBN13: 9780814742396
• ISBN10: 0814742394
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

This collection of 17 essays examines poverty and its causes from a variety of angles. The common thread is a concern for the structural causes of poverty; the book therefore offers a welcome alternative to the dominant ideological views that portray poverty as a result of individuals' decisions, attributes and/or moral failings...The authors show the connections between capitalism, slavery and the development of state policies and ideologies that maintained the oppressed and exploited status of African Americans after the Civil War and constituted the basis for the emergence of white identity and privilege to the detriment of working class identities based on a recognition of the common plight of workers, regardless of skin color...this is an outstanding collection, useful for courses in social stratification, the sociology of work, and race and ethnic relations.--Science and SocietySince the end of the Second World War, poverty in the United States has been a persistent focus of social anxiety, public debate, and federal policy. This volume argues convincingly that we will not be able to reduce or eliminate poverty until we take the political factors that contribute to its continuation into account.Ideal for course use,A New Introduction to Povertyopens with a historical overview of the major intellectual and political debates surrounding poverty in the United States. Several factors have received inadequate attention: the impact of poverty on women; the synergy of racism and poverty; race and gender stratification of the workplace; and, crucially, the ways in which the powerful use their resources to maintain the economic status quo.Contributors include Mimi Abramovitz, Peter Alcock, Bonnie Thornton Dill, Raymond Franklin, Herman George Jr., Michael B. Katz, Marlene Kim, Rebecca Morales, Sandra Patton, Valerie Polakow, Jackie Pope, Jill Quadagno, David C. Ranney, Barbara Ransby, Bette Woody, and Maxine Baca Zinn.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Contributors
Introduction: Poverty as Race, Power, and Wealth	p. 1
Persistent Poverty in the United States: Review of Theories and Explanations	p. 13
Class, Race, Gender, and Poverty: A Critique of Some Contemporary Theories	p. 39
Reframing the Underclass Debate	p. 59
Unfinished Democracy	p. 75
Missing Links in the Study of Puerto Rican Poverty in the United States	p. 89
U.S. Urban Policy and Latino Issues	p. 105
White Uses of the Black Underclass	p. 119
Responding to Urban Crisis: Functions of White Racism	p. 147
The Shredded Net: The End of Welfare as We Knew It	p. 167
Racism and Poverty in Britain	p. 185
Black America, the "Underclass," and the Subordination Process	p. 197
Fighting Back: From the Legislature to the Academy to the Streets	p. 217
Savage Distributions: Welfare Myths and Daily Lives	p. 241
Race, Family Values, and Welfare Reform	p. 263
Women in the Welfare Rights Struggle	p. 287
The Working Poor: Lousy Jobs or Lazy Workers?	p. 307
The Black Poor and the Politics of Expendability	p. 321
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