One Nation, Underprivileged Why American Poverty Affects Us All

by Rank, Mark Robert

• ISBN13: 9780195101683
• ISBN10: 0195101685
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Despite its enormous wealth, the United States leads the industrialized world in poverty. One Nation, Underprivileged unravels this disturbing paradox by offering a unique and radically different understanding of American poverty. It debunks many of our most common myths about the poor,while at the same time provides a powerful new framework for addressing this enormous social and economic problem. Mark Robert Rank vividly shows that the fundamental causes of poverty are to be found in our economic structure and political policy failures, rather than individual shortcomings or attitudes. He establishes for the first time that a significant percentage of Americans will experience povertyduring their adult lifetimes, and firmly demonstrates that poverty is an issue of vital national concern. Ultimately, Rank provides us with a new paradigm for understanding poverty, and outlines an innovative set of strategies that will reduce American poverty. One Nation, Underprivileged represents a profound starting point for rekindling a national focus upon America's most vexing social andeconomic problem.

Author Biography

Mark Robert Rank is the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis

Table of Contents

Part I The Nature of American Poverty
Disturbing Contrasts	3	(14)
Below the Line	17	(32)
Poverty as a Structural Failing	49	(36)
Part II A Cause for Concern
In Our Self-Interest	85	(38)
True to Values	123	(22)
Essence of Citizenship	145	(24)
Part III Creating Fundamental Change
A New Paradigm	169	(24)
Future Directions	193	(50)
From the Ground Up	243	(12)
Appendix A: Sources of Data	255	(12)
Appendix B: Additional Life Table Analyses	267	(14)
Notes	281	(20)
Bibliography	301	(46)
Index	347