Poverty and the Underclass: Changing Perceptions of the Poor in America.

Kelso, William A.:

ISBN 10: 0814746616 / ISBN 13: 9780814746615

Published by New York, London: New York University Press, 1994

About this Item

IX, 339 p. Binding slightly rubbed, top edge slightly graying, inside clean, pencil underlining on title page, otherwise free of markings. - Contents Preface vii Part I The Poverty Debate 1. Doesn't Anything Work? Is a War against Poverty Really Feasible? 1 2. Poverty: How Serious Is the Problem? 14 3. What Is Causing the Problem? An Overview 31 Part II Explaining Poverty: Individual Explanations 4. The Lack of Human Capital 49 5. The Lack of Entrepreneurial Skills 71 6. The Growing Instability of the Family 95 Part III Explaining Poverty: Motivational Explanations Accounting for the Growth of the Underclass 7. Rational Economic Explanations: The Liberal Version 8. Rational Economic Explanations: The Conservative Version 137 9. Cultural Explanations Part IV Explaining Poverty: Structural Explanations 10. The Barrier of Racial Discrimination 185 11. The Economy I: The Lack of Jobs 205 12. The Economy II: The Lack of High-Paying Jobs 13. The Economy III: Stagnating Productivity and the Lack of High-Paying Jobs 247 14. The View from the Left: Economic Exploitation and the Lack of Political Power 254 Part V The Changing Views of Poverty in America 15. Changing Perceptions of the Causes of Poverty: A Summary 273 16. Maybe Something Will Work after All: The Fight against Poverty Revisited Appendix: The Controversy over the Government's Definition of Poverty Notes Index. ISBN 9780814746615 Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 450.

Seller Inventory # 1242773

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Poverty and the Underclass: Changing Perceptions of the Poor in America.
• Publisher: New York, London: New York University Press
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814746616
• ISBN 13: 9780814746615
• Binding: Paperback.
• Condition: Gut
• Weight: 450 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • USA

About this title

Synopsis

Explains the failure―on both sides of the aisle―of the War on Poverty
The much-heralded War on Poverty has failed. The number of children living in poverty is steadily on the rise and an increasingly destructive underclass brutalizes urban neighborhoods. America's patience with the poor seems to have run out: even cities that have traditionally been havens for the homeless are arresting, harassing, and expelling their street people.
In this timely work, William Kelso analyzes how the persistence of poverty has resulted in a reversal of liberal and conservative positions during the last thirty years. While liberals in the 1960s hoped to eliminate the causes of poverty, today they increasingly seem resigned to merely treating its effects. The original liberal objective of giving the poor a helping hand by promoting equal opportunity has given way to a new agenda of entitlements and equal results. In contrast, conservatives who once suggested that trying to eliminate poverty was futile, now seek ways to eradicate the actual causes of poverty.
Poverty and the Underclass suggests that the arguments of both the left and right are misguided and offers new explanations for the persistence of poverty. Looking beyond the codewords that have come to obscure the debate―underclass, family values, the culture of poverty,―Kelso emphasizes that poverty is not a monolithic condition, but a vast and multidimensional problem.
During his Presidential campaign, Bill Clinton called for an overhaul of the welfare system and spoke of a new covenant to unite both the left and right in developing a common agenda for fighting poverty. In this urgent, landmark work, William Kelso merges conservative, radical, and liberal ideals to suggest how the intractable problem of poverty may be solved at long last by implementing the principles of this new covenant.

About the Author

William A. Kelso teaches political science at the University of Florida and is the author of American Democratic Theory: Pluralism and Its Critics.