The undeserving poor : America's enduring confrontation with poverty / by Michael B. Katz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Katz, Michael B., 1939-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poor--United States.

Poor.

Poverty--United States.

Poverty.

Discrimination--United States.

Discrimination.

Economic assistance, Domestic--United States.

Economic assistance, Domestic.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (352 pages)

Edition:

Second edition / fully updated and revised.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

'The Undeserving Poor' is a history of the ideas that underlie America's enduring confrontation with poverty. The book shows that poverty remains a national disgrace in part because of the way we define and think about it - which, in turn, shapes the energy we put, or don't put, into its eradication. First published in 1989, The Undeserving Poor was a critically acclaimed and enormously influential account of America's enduring debate about poverty. Taking stock of the last quarter century, Michael B. Katz's new edition of this classic is virtually a new book. As the first did, it will force all concerned Americans to reconsider the foundations of our policies toward the poor, especially in the wake of the Great Recession that began in 2008.Katz highlights how throughout American history, the poor have been regarded as undeserving: people who do not deserve sympathy because they brought their poverty on themselves, either through laziness and immorality, or because they are culturally or mentally deficient. This long-dominant view sees poverty as a personal failure, serving to justify America's mean-spirited treatment of the poor. Katz reminds us, however, that there are other explanations of poverty besides personal failure.Poverty has been written about as a problem of place, of resources, of political economy, of power, and of market failure. Katz looks at each idea in turn, showing how they suggest more effective approaches to our struggle against poverty. The Second Edition includes important new material. It now sheds light on the revival of the idea of culture in poverty research; the rehabilitation of Daniel Patrick Moynihan; the resurgent role of biology in discussions of the causes of poverty, such as in The Bell Curve; and the human rights movement's intensified focus on alleviating world poverty. It emphasizes the successes of the War on Poverty and Great Society, especially at the grassroots level. It is also the first book tochart the rise and fall of the "underclass" as a concept driving public policy.A major revision of a landmark study, The Undeserving Poor helps readers to see poverty-and our efforts to combat it-in a new light.

Contents:

The undeserving poor: morals, culture and biology

Poverty and the politics of liberation

Intellectual foundations of the war on poverty and great society

Interpretations of poverty in the conservative ascendance

The rise and fall of the "underclass"

Epilogue : what kind of a problem is poverty?.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-997895-6

0-19-997878-6

OCLC:

862113762