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

Kelso, William A.

ISBN 10: 0814746586 / ISBN 13: 9780814746585

Published by NYU Press, 1994

About this Item

A Critical Exploration of American Poverty Policy. Examine the evolving socio-political landscape of American poverty with this incisive academic study by William A. Kelso. Published by New York University Press, Poverty and the Underclass delivers a rigorous comparative analysis of the competing perspectives surrounding poverty and welfare policy in the late 20th century. Kelso systematically evaluates structural, behavioral, and laissez-faire models, offering an indispensable framework for understanding how changing public perceptions directly shape welfare reform and social policy. Academic & Sociological Value: A vital text for political scientists, sociologists, policy analysts, and university research libraries focusing on American welfare reform, urban studies, and social policy. Bibliographic Detail: First Edition / First Printing (1994). Published by New York University Press. Hardcover with dust jacket. ISBN-10: 0814746586 / ISBN-13: 9780814746585. Condition Report: Dust Jacket: Present with surface rubbing, edge wear, and faint shelf dulling consistent with light storage. Color and typography remain clear and fully legible. Binding & Boards: Hardcover cloth boards are square, rigid, and tightly bound. Corners and edges are sharp, showing virtually no bumping or shelf wear. Interior & Text Block: The interior text block is exceptionally clean, bright, and completely unmarked?entirely free from student highlighting, ink margin notes, or dog-eared pages. An exceptionally clean-texted, sharp hardcover copy of an essential work in modern American social policy scholarship.

Seller Inventory # VV902

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Poverty and the Underclass: Changing Perceptions of the Poor in America
• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814746586
• ISBN 13: 9780814746585
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Weight: 1.1 pounds

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.