SPSSI and Poverty: Reflections at Seventy‐Five

Abstract

This article highlights efforts by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and its members to increase understanding of poverty and social class, and to propose policies to reduce economic inequities. Our review is based on writings about poverty and social class published in SPSSI journals and newsletters, and other activities from SPSSI's beginnings in 1936 to the present. Both strengths and shortcomings in SPSSI's economic justice record are noted. Special attention is given to the 1930s and the 1960s -1970s, periods in which poverty was a salient topic in the United States. SPSSI's role in advocating for institutional change within the American Psychological Association is also considered. We close with a "wish list" for SPSSI's next 75 years.From the Great Depression to the current post-"welfare reform" landscape, social scientists have studied economic inequality and sought to inform antipoverty policy. The focus of anti-poverty initiatives and their perceived success remain highly contested, reflecting deep-rooted differences in both the perceived causes of economic inequality and potential remedies.

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