Persistent Poverty: The American Dream Turned Nightmare - Softcover

Ropers, Richard H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306437643 ISBN 13: 9780306437649

Publisher: Springer, 1991

Synopsis

Once heralded as ”the land of opportunity,” America has become, for increasing numbers of her inhabitants, a nation of disappointment and hardship. In a land characterized by innumerable economic, environmental and social problems, poverty is escalating to the point where approximately one-third of the population is composed of the poor and the near poor. Persistent Poverty provides a comprehensive and critical analysis of one of America’s most disturbing social problems.In a clear, uncompromising style, Richard H. Ropers, Ph.D., a noted authority on the plight of the poverty-stricken, unravels a skein of government inconsistencies in handling the mounting effects of poverty, homelessness, the welfare system, and the gradual polarization of our class system, resulting in the gradual erosion of the middle class. After examining various ”blame-the-victim” and ”blame the system” theories of inequality, Dr. Ropers asserts that such poverty results primarily from long-term economic, social, and political policies and is not necessarily derived from the supposed deviant behavior of the poor.With a staggering 70 million Americans living just above or below the poverty line, the author advises that urgent attention be paid to the structural roots of poverty in light of significant increases in the rate of crime, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, domestic violence, and unemployment. As an objective focus on the enormous scope of poverty, this groundbreaking work offers keen insights into the argument that despite substantial efforts to alleviate similar plights worldwide, the United States cannot provide sufficient care for her own impoverished citizens.Sociologists, educators, politicians, urbanologists, public officials, and concerned citizens will all benefit from this provocative and thoughtful appraisal.

About this title

Reviews

Ropers lays bare the severity and extent of persistent poverty in the country today, more clearly than any other writer since Michael Harrington in The Other America . He cogently argues that primary causes of poverty are low-paying jobs, lack of affordable housing and deindustrialization rather than welfare dependency, family pathology or other "blame-the-victim" explanations. He also criticizes America's overconcentration of wealth (one-half of 1% of the population owns at least 35% of the nation's wealth). A sociologist at Southern Utah University, Ropers surveys the erosion of the middle class and considers why women, children and the elderly make up the majority of the poor. Taking the Los Angeles County welfare system as an example, he shows that the so-called "safety net" is riddled with holes. Although it offers few concrete reform proposals, this concise and dispassionate report calls for a major reordering of national priorities.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0306437643
• ISBN 13: 9780306437649
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 267