America’s Struggle against Poverty in the Twentieth Century

Patterson, James T.

doi:10.2307/j.ctvk12r3m

Cited by 53 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…The unprecedented “graying” of the population is a profound demographic shift that is expected to accelerate with medical innovations and the aging of “baby boomers” (Christensen, Doblhammer, Rau, & Vaupel, 2009). This transformation has implications for issues of core concern to scholars of stratification ranging from the operation of labor markets (Harrington Meyer, 2014) to national politics (Quadagno, 1988a, 1988b), to the structure of families (Angel & Settersten, 2015), to the shape of gendered and increasingly globalized chains of care work (Cruikshank, 2009; Hochschild, 2003), and to the provision (or absence) of social insurance (Quadagno, 1999; Patterson, 2000). The often cited observation that contrary to circumstances in almost all previous eras of human history, most of us will spend more time caring for the aged than the young, puts the magnitude of this shift into perspective (Hochschild, 2003).…”

Section: Why Aging Is Of Central Importance For Stratification Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is new with old? What old age teaches us about inequality and stratification

Abramson

Portacolone

2017

Sociology Compass

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Aging is remarkably unequal. Who survives to grow old in America and the circumstances they face once there reflect durable racial, socioeconomic, and gender inequalities that structure our lives from birth. Yet within the field of social stratification and mainstream sociology proper, examinations of the rapidly growing population of older Americans are often relegated to a “gerontological” periphery. This essay posits that the failure to place aging as a core concern in stratification and inequality is a missed opportunity. We argue for the importance of reintegrating studies on the stratification of aging and explain why such a move is necessary. Specifically, we posit that (a) examining the aging population is necessary for understanding American inequality because aging is an outcome that is ubiquitous yet highly stratified; (b) aging and being seen as “old” in a youth-focused society are stratifying processes in their own right; and (c) later life provides for analytical comparisons that are illustrative of how key mechanisms of inequality structure and stratify. After examining insights provided by a new wave of research on the aging U.S. population, we revisit the implications for understanding inequality and stratification in a graying and unequal America.

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Section: Why Aging Is Of Central Importance For Stratification Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is new with old? What old age teaches us about inequality and stratification

Abramson

Portacolone

2017

Sociology Compass

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“…The fi rst explanation derives from human capital theory (Becker, 1993;Mincer, 1974;Schultz, 1961;Eberharter, 2001), based on traditional neo-classical economics. The literature (Blau and Kahn, 1994;Karoly, 2001;Patterson, 2000) emphasised women's lack of individual qualifications and human capital investments. The second explanation relates women's poverty to behavioural characteristics (Mead, 1935(Mead, , 1949, such as early pregnancy, loose sexual behaviour and poor marital decisions (Wilson, 1987;McLaughlin and Lichter, 1997).…”

Section: From Household Income To Individual Capability: An Alternatimentioning

confidence: 98%

A New Insight into Urban Poverty: The Culture of Capability Poverty amongst Korean Immigrant Women in Los Angeles

Shin

2008

Urban Studies

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This study analyses 'the culture of capability poverty' of 42 Korean immigrant women who live in Los Angeles to uncover the systemic road to gendered urban poverty. Through in-depth interviews, this research observes the interaction between sub-culture and capability in the subject's career domain, reinterpreting Lewis' culture of poverty thesis within Sen's capability approach. The subjects have developed their culture of capability poverty within that domain—such as low aspiration and heavy reliance on their Christianity—as a response to career-decision constraints including a strong woman's image, their childhood education and job market inequality. This paper concludes that, while their sub-culture is a positive life-strategy mechanism for dealing with their gender situation, it ultimately becomes lack of capability, poverty itself.

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“…James Patterson begins his sweeping history of America's struggle against poverty by observing: “Settlement house workers, muckraking journalists and social reformers sang a monotonous dirge about poverty in the half century before the Great Depression of the 1930s. That dirge repeated a powerful and recurrent theme—that poor people suffered mainly from a weakness in the economy, not from moral flaws” (Patterson, , p. 3). Yet poverty came to be understood as a result of personal moral flaws, not as a flawed economy, and its remedy was left to “charitable impulses” inherent in the Christian message.…”

Section: Poverty In the Context Of The American Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Two Legends of American Poverty: Breaking Out of Poverty's Historic Snare

Dobelstein

2017

Poverty & Public Policy

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Efforts to reduce poverty in America have been hobbled by poverty's historic explanation accompanied by a political reticence to accept its contemporary manifestation. Public policy has directed resources toward modifying personal behavior rather than attending the role macroeconomic decisions contribute to poverty. Whereas poverty could be understood within an environment of economic individualism independent of political choices, the Employment Act of 1946 gave Congress the authority to shape the economy, putting economic choices in the center of the political process, and poverty has become a consequence. Congress holds the political power to shape the economy, and the scope of its constitutional obligation to provide for the General Welfare Clause as stated in the Preamble and in Article 1, Section 8, was clarified in 1936 and applied to the Social Security Act in 1937, giving Social Security and Unemployment Insurance constitutional legitimacy. Social Security has assumed the growing burdens of poverty as America's economic individualism world has waned. Expanded extraordinarily over the past 80 years to enlarge its income maintenance protection, Social Security's twentieth‐century economic structure endangers its twenty‐first‐century obligations while Unemployment Insurance's byzantine financing and its administrative structure have failed miserably to address the problems of contemporary poverty.

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America’s Struggle against Poverty in the Twentieth Century

Cited by 53 publications

References 0 publications

What is new with old? What old age teaches us about inequality and stratification

What is new with old? What old age teaches us about inequality and stratification

A New Insight into Urban Poverty: The Culture of Capability Poverty amongst Korean Immigrant Women in Los Angeles

The Two Legends of American Poverty: Breaking Out of Poverty's Historic Snare

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