Poverty and precarity Books

Book SynopsisWhen middle-class residents fled American cities in the 1960s and '70s, government services and investment capital left too. Countless urban neighborhoods entered phases of precipitous decline, prompting the creation of community-based organizations to bring resources back to the city. This book examines such organizations that drive urban life.Trade Review"This is a valuable work that will influence the way sociologists understand the cycle of development of poor, urban neighborhoods. Nicole Marwell makes a unique contribution with an analytic strategy that emphasizes the important role played by community-based organizations, actors that have been generally ignored in urban sociology." - Mitchell Duneier, author of Sidewalk"

Read more less

Book SynopsisA close-up look at the hows and whys of policing poverty in the contemporary United States.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat circumstances or behaviors turn poverty into a cycle that perpetuates across generations? The answer to this question carries especially important implications for the design and evaluation of policies and projects intended to reduce poverty. Yet a major challenge analysts and policymakers face in understanding poverty traps is the sheer number of mechanismsnot just financial, but also environmental, physical, and psychologicalthat may contribute to the persistence of poverty all over the world. The research in this volume explores the hypothesis that poverty is self-reinforcing because the equilibrium behaviors of the poor perpetuate low standards of living. Contributions explore the dynamic, complex processes by which households accumulate assets and increase their productivity and earnings potential, as well as the conditions under which some individuals, groups, and economies struggle to escape poverty. Investigating the full range of phenomena that combine to generate pove

Read more less

Book SynopsisCan governments do anything right? This work argues that federal, state, and local governments can and should do a great deal. It analyzes government programmes that affect Americans' food, housing, health care, education, jobs and wages, incomes and taxes.Trade Review"[A] deft and detailed defense of government activism to alleviate poverty and extreme inequality in the US.... [T]he detail with which [the authors] present their views and the richness of the overall vision make this a compelling treatise.... A sterling contribution to the ongoing discussion of what this country might or should become." - Kirkus Reviews "Since the mid-1970s, many Americans have contended that government cannot solve the social and economic problems we face. Page and Simmons are more optimistic. In this well-written book, they argue that many government programs, here and abroad, have reduced poverty and inequality.... This timely, thoughtful book presents a strong case for greater government action." - Library Journal

Read more less

Book SynopsisSocial workers produced thousands of case files about the poor during the interwar years. Analyzing almost two thousand such case files and traveling from Boston, Minneapolis, and Portland to London and Melbourne, this study examines how these stories of poverty were narrated and reshaped by ethnic diversity, economic crisis, and war.Trade Review"Peel has written the first work of twenty-first-century history, and it stands as a model of how historians think and write multivocal accounts of the past. Convincing, provocative, and a pleasure to read." (Daniel Walkowitz, New York University)"

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne out of five children, and one out of two single mothers, lives in destitution in America today. The feminization and infantilization of poverty have made the United States one of the most dangerous democracies for poor mothers and their children to inhabit. Why then, Valerie Polakow asks, is poverty seen as a private issue, and how can public policy fail to take responsibility for the consequences of our politics of distribution? Written by a committed child advocate, Lives on the Edge draws on social, historical, feminist, and public policy perspectives to develop an informed, wide-ranging critique of American educational and social policy. Stark, penetrating, and unflinching in its first-hand portraits of single mothers in America today, this work challenges basic myths about justice and democracy.

Read more less

Book SynopsisLays out the underlying logic of contemporary poverty governance in the United States. This book argues that poverty governance - how social welfare policy choices get made, how authority gets exercised, and how collective pursuits get organized - has been transformed in the United States by two significant developments.Trade Review"Disciplining the Poor is a landmark book on the governance of poverty in the United States, the most important such work since Piven and Cloward's Regulating the Poor, written a generation ago, and an exemplar of multi-method social science research." (Andrea Louise Campbell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)"

Read more less

Book SynopsisScholars have made urban mothers living in poverty a focus of their research for decades. Offering an analysis of how faith both motivates and at times constrains poor mothers' actions, this book reveals the ways it serves as a lens through which many view and interpret their worlds.Trade Review"Living Faith offers a thoughtful parsing of religious 'coping' as a multidimensional and multidirectional phenomenon. It usefully conceptualizes religious practices that are salient to the book's subjects as well as to broader religious publics. This highly original treatment of the role of religion in the lives of low-income women will be read widely, and for a very long time, by students of inequality, religion, gender, urban institutions, welfare policy, and more." (Omar McRoberts, University of Chicago)"

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA sweeping intellectual history of the welfare state's policy-in-waiting. The idea of a government paying its citizens to keep them out of povertynow known as basic incomeis hardly new. Often dated as far back as ancient Rome, basic income's modern conception truly emerged in the late nineteenth century. Yet as one of today's most controversial proposals, it draws supporters from across the political spectrum. In this eye-opening work, Anton Jäger and Daniel Zamora Vargas trace basic income from its rise in American and British policy debates following periods of economic tumult to its modern relationship with technopopulist figures in Silicon Valley. They chronicle how the idea first arose in the United States and Europe as a market-friendly alternative to the postwar welfare state and how interest in the policy has grown in the wake of the 2008 credit crisis and COVID-19 crash. An incisive, comprehensive history, Welfare for Markets tells the story of how a fringe idea conceived in economics seminars went global, revealing the most significant shift in political culture since the end of the Cold War.Trade Review"The strengths of Jäger and Zamora’s historical approach are indisputable. They amply demonstrate what others have only hinted at—the depths of the political-economic and cultural shifts that led to the ascendence of market fundamentalism in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Their history is both broad and deep. Certainly it will become the authoritative account of the origins of UBI." * Jacobin *"Though meticulously researched, Welfare for Markets is a slim volume of succinct and lucid argumentation." * Boston Review *"Welfare for Markets [dismantles] the mythological history of UBI, which presents it as a timeless ideal of social justice backed by enlightened thinkers through the ages: Thomas More, Thomas Paine, Orestes Brownson, Charles Fourier and GDH Cole, among others. According to Jäger and Zamora Vargas, the supposed progenitors of basic income were anything but." * New Statesman *"[There] are vital insights that can be gleaned from Welfare for Markets, which deftly surveys many of the philosophical and political quandaries that basic income poses." * American Affairs *"Welfare for Markets [describes] how shocks to twentieth-century capitalism turned basic income into an ideal tool for deconstructing and rethinking social policy." * Journal of Economic Literature *"Welfare for Markets is a well-chosen title for an illuminating analysis of the intellectual history of basic income." * Counterfire *"[Jäger and Zamora Vargas] have teamed up again with this carefully researched historical reference that examines public welfare proposals from diverse ideological perspectives. They show that capitalist free markets do not benefit all individuals...This eye-opening work should be considered as a first purchase." * Library Journal *"Welfare for Markets is a stimulating and comprehensive book that fulfils the promise of offering 'a global history of basic income'...Anton Jäger and Daniel Zamora Vargas explore, in time and space, the different proposals for guaranteed income in order to unfold the worldviews that underpin them." * Œconomia *"At once a fascinating intellectual history of the idea of Universal Basic Income, and a trenchant but well-reasoned and nuanced critique of it: this book must be read by anyone who is interested in or affected by one of the central policy tropes of our times." -- Jayati Ghosh | University of Massachusetts Amherst"No book in recent memory offers a comparable analysis of the multiple, sometimes outright contradictory uses of social policy in modern capitalism: the incredible variety of purposes, left and right, progressive and reactionary, to which social reformism can be put. This is history of ideas in its best, embedded in a social history that does not shy away from taking on the vexing relationship between ideas and interests — full of surprising turns, and great fun to read." -- Wolfgang Streeck | Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies"From Gracchi to Trump, leftists to rightists, monarchists to republicans, legalists to revolutionaries, one idea has been supported by these diverse thinkers, politicians and philosophers in some form or at some time. It is the idea of guaranteeing minimal income to all citizens. It was utopian in poor societies, it is feasible in today's rich societies, and it already exists in some variation. But can it be pushed further, to include all and be delivered regardless of circumstances? Anton Jäger and Daniel Zamora take us into an intellectual journey on which we shall meet almost every thinker we know, but they will be, most of the time, traveling with rather unexpected intellectual companions. Enjoy the ride!" -- Branko Milanovic | City University of New York"While pundits focus on enemies such as central planning, trade unions, and public ownership, they evade conversations on the limits and contradictions of capitalism but Welfare for Markets does not hold back. This brilliant book on the intellectual history of basic income is a necessary step and a must-read!" -- Carolina Alves | Girton College, University of Cambridge"On the surface, this book is an intellectual history of the concept of universal basic incomes. And the book is indeed a brilliant account of the genealogy of just this idea. But far beyond that, Welfare for Markets is an analysis of the relation between social welfare, the real production and provisioning of goods, and money. Welfare for Markets is a beautifully written book that allows us to step outside our troubled times to see visions for the future with new eyes." -- Isabella Weber | author of "How China Escaped Shock Therapy" | University of Massachusetts Amherst"Welfare for Markets is a brilliant historical account of universal basic income as the Trojan Horse for politics seeking to dismantle the welfare state and to replace the collective provision of public goods with grants for markets." -- Daniela Gabor | University of the West of England, BristolTable of ContentsIntroduction: Welfare without the Welfare State Chapter 1 An Anti-Mythology Chapter 2 Milton Friedman’s Negative Income Tax and the Monetization of Poverty Chapter 3 Cash Triumphs: America after the New Deal Order Chapter 4 The Politics of Postwork in Postwar Europe Chapter 5 Rethinking Global Development at the End of History Epilogue: Basic Income in the Technopopulist Age Acknowledgments Notes Archives Consulted Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisLate-Life Homelessness is the first Canadian book to address this often neglected issue. Drawing from a four-year ethnographic study of late-life homelessness in Montreal, Canada, Amanda Grenier uses a critical gerontological perspective to explore life at the intersection of older age and homelessness.Trade Review"Amanda Grenier critically and intelligently unpacks how declining social commitments and responses has led to disadvantage that culminates in unequal aging. This book is a clarion call to pay attention to an issue many refuse to acknowledge: the growing group of aging homeless Canadians. The scholarship and methodology used are exceptional. In fact, it is one of the best ethnographies I have read in a long time." Kelli Stajduhar, University of Victoria

Read more less

Book SynopsisLate-Life Homelessness is the first Canadian book to address this often neglected issue. Drawing from a four-year ethnographic study of late-life homelessness in Montreal, Canada, Amanda Grenier uses a critical gerontological perspective to explore life at the intersection of older age and homelessness.Trade Review"Amanda Grenier critically and intelligently unpacks how declining social commitments and responses has led to disadvantage that culminates in unequal aging. This book is a clarion call to pay attention to an issue many refuse to acknowledge: the growing group of aging homeless Canadians. The scholarship and methodology used are exceptional. In fact, it is one of the best ethnographies I have read in a long time." Kelli Stajduhar, University of Victoria

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe primary theme of this collection of essays is that the cities' basic problems are poverty and racism, and until these concerns are addressed by bringing about racial equality, creating jobs, and instituting other reforms, the generally low quality of urban life will persist. Gans argues that the individual must work to alter society. He believes that not only must parents have jobs to improve their children's school performance, but that the country needs a modernized New Deal, a more labor-intensive economy, and a thirty-two hour work week to achieve full employment. Other controversial ideas presented in this book include Gans's opposition to the whole notion of an underclass, which he feels is the latest way for the nonpoor to unjustly label the poor as undeserving. He also believes that poverty continues to plague society because it is often useful to the nonpoor. He is critical of architecture that aims above all to be aesthetic or to make philosophical statements, is doubtfu

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAnyone who wants to end poverty should take seriously the powerful and provocative arguments of The Aid Trap. Even if R. Glenn Hubbard and William Duggan don't convince you to embrace their new Marshall Plan, you will come away with a deeper appreciation for the limits of charity, the dangers of top-down planning, and the importance of creating a vibrant and open business sector. -- J. Gregory Dees, Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business R. Glenn Hubbard and William Duggan make a persuasive case that international aid flows have been grossly misdirected. In trying to do good, those in the developed world may actually have ended up doing substantial harm to the developing world. Hubbard and Duggan instead argue that aid flows should be redirected towards encouraging business and entrepreneurship. This is a timely and readable book about how to solve one of the most challenging problems of our time. -- Raghuram G. Rajan, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business The authors' willingness to confront conventional wisdom and examine and energetically attack the problem are refreshing and necessary. Publishers Weekly The Aid Trap is not about the failure of conventional aid but provides the outline of a solution that can work if taken seriously. It is that rare prescriptive book, and the world must pay attention. -- Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Glenn Hubbard and William Duggan's considered analysis of The Aid Trap adds a new and important dimension to the on-going development debate. This book, grounded in logic and supported by evidence, presents reasonable and sustainable steps that will move Africa forward. -- Dambisa Moyo, author of Dead Aid: Why Aid In Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa A few years ago, we in Mauritius set out to make it easier for our own people and foreign companies to do business in our country. The result has been far more prosperity for our people. Other countries want to learn from our experience. I am pleased to see that there is now a book that can help. The Aid Trap makes a strong case and offers concrete steps for countries not to rely exclusively on the aid world and join the business world instead. I hope this book has a wide impact on the minds, hearts, and actions of national leaders, multinational and local businesses, aid agencies, and concerned citizens around the world. -- Honorable Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius Offers a different and logical, if emotionally counter-intuitive, approach to foreign aid. -- Sarah Lynch Forbes The authors point to the burgeoning economies of China and India as evidence that thriving businesses are the key to ending poverty. Chronicle of Philanthropy The Aid Trap articulates a constructive set of ideas about how to reform foreign aid. Economist The Aid Trap does a good job of both highlighting problems with the current aid structure and prescribing solutions. -- Reuben Abraham Alliance Magazine The Aid Trap the well-entrenched myth that development aid willerase global poverty. d-sector.org [The Aid Trap] offers a refreshing perspective on the current effort to end world poverty. -- Bennett Grill African Affairs The Aid Trap is a concise, beautifully written, stimulating, profound, and up-to-date reminder to all of us who are deeply concerned as to just why our traditional aid programs continue to fail us. -- Joseph Keckeissen Journal of Markets & Morality

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is the first to assess emerging market-based social change approaches comparatively, focusing specifically on social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, fair trade, and private sustainable developmentTrade ReviewA timely and original conceptualization, this groundbreaking book analyzes the most recent trends in market-oriented approaches to social development. Through a rigorous assessment of corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, private sustainable development, and fair trade, Steven G. Anderson delivers a sound understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches. A stimulating analysis full of invaluable insights, this work is a must-read for social change agents. -- Neil Gilbert, University of California, Berkeley This is a terrific book that brings social entrepreneurship into perspective as one of many ways to achieve social impact and innovation. Anderson has done a masterful job in pulling together the fragmented literature on social innovation. He avoids the standard cheerleading that characterizes so many market-based approaches to solving global poverty and other seemingly intractable problems. Not only does he offer a set of clear-headed recommendations for harvesting thoughtful interventions but he is respectful toward all sides of the ongoing debate about what does and does not merit consideration as social innovation. -- Paul C. Light, New York University There is nothing quite like this book. It should make an important contribution to the academic literature on markets and social change and to our broader thinking about social policy and the comparative advantages of businesses, nonprofit organizations, and hybrids. -- Diane Kaplan Vinokur, University of Michigan A useful guide for scholars who are interested in the implications of public-private partnerships and various market-based strategies for nonprofits or social service organizations. -- Wonhyung Lee Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector QuarterlyTable of ContentsAcknowledgments 1. Introduction to Market-Oriented Social Development Approaches 2. Developing Social Change Models 3. Corporate Social Responsibility 4. Social Entrepreneurship 5. Private Sustainable Development 6. Fair Trade 7. Market-Based Social Change Models: Reflections on Strengths, Limitations, and Directions for Social Change Advocates Notes References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThrough interviews with couples and observations and participation in marriage education courses, Jennifer M. Randles challenges assumptions about marriage and critically examines the effects of such classes. She ventures inside healthy marriage classrooms to reveal how they reflect broader issues of culture, gender, governance, and inequality.Trade ReviewA useful, policy-relevant, and balanced treatment of how government-funded marriage and relationship education really works on the ground. -- Shawn Fremstad, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress The growing income gap in America has brought with it a marriage gap. Children are born at every class level but increasingly the rich marry and the poor don't. In 2002 President Bush set up the Healthy Marriage Initiative to teach poor unmarried parents to show empathy, listen actively, avoid violence, and marry. Participants loved and learned from the program, but discovered in its underlying ideology a focus on choice (to be or not to be nice to your partner) and silence about options (to get useful training and well paid work). In this beautifully researched, wise, important book, Randles tackles one of America's most important dilemmas and points to urgently needed solutions. -- Arlie Hochschild, author of The Second Shift and Strangers in Their Own Land This monograph is a must read for a sophisticated analysis of America's attempt to promote marriage as a poverty reduction strategy. With in-depth ethnographic research and smart theoretical arguments, Randles shows that the classes themselves were often operationalized differently than policymakers had intended. But in the end, even improved relationships have to contend with the lack of jobs and opportunities, which are the root cause of poverty. -- Barbara J. Risman, professor of sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago Jennifer Randles's Proposing Prosperity is crucial reading for scholars of family and social policy. She combines essential policy background with ethnography of marriage promotion classes that just might help "true believers" recognize what is sorely missing from these seemingly kind-hearted projects. Bonus: Her clear and vivid text means my college students in family and social policy classes will read it this year. -- Virginia Rutter, co-editor, Families as They Really Are An eye-opening account of what federal marriage education programs look like on the ground and why they have been so ineffective in their goal of strengthening marriage. A well-researched and highly useful book. -- Andrew Cherlin, Johns Hopkins University Randles's astute interviews and observations reveal why, despite good intentions on all sides, classes designed to 'improve' the relationship skills of low-income couples fail to address their real-life barriers to intimacy and stability. An incisive, compassionate, and engrossing work. -- Stephanie Coontz, author, Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage In this important and valuable book, Jennifer Randles immerses herself in state-run relationship classes, and shows they teach more about the politics and ideology of marriage promotion than about solving the pressing problems poor families face. She exposes the irony that, although relationship skills training may be useful, it won't address the problems of family inequality. -- Philip Cohen, University of MarylandTable of ContentsAcknowledgments 1. Introduction: Learning and Legislating Love 2. Rationalizing Romance: Reconciling the Modern Marriage Dilemma through Skilled Love 3. Teaching Upward Mobility: Skilled Love and the Marriage Gap 4. Intimate Inequalities and Curtailed Commitments: The Marriage Gap in a Middle-Class Marriage Culture 5. The Missing "M Word": Promoting Committed Co-Parenting 6. Men, Money, and Marriageability: Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Through Marital Masculinity 7. "It's Not Just Us": Relationship Skills and Poverty's Perpetual Problems 8. Conclusion: Family Inequality and the Limits of Skills Notes References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis that extends from the Civil War to the present, this book seeks to isolate the underlying causes of persistent rural poverty. It take a hard look at current and past programs to alleviate rural poverty and uses their failures to suggest alternatives that could improve the well-being of rural Americans.Trade ReviewThis book covers the historical development of rural poverty research and policy, brings together the core theoretical literature, and addresses significant substantive issues including food insecurity, race, migration, and housing. The breadth is remarkable. No other volume exists today that draws the literature together so comprehensively and engagingly. -- Linda Lobao, The Ohio State UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I. Geography and Demography of Rural America1. Where Is Rural America and Who Lives There?, by Kenneth M. Johnson2. Poverty in Rural America Then and Now, by Bruce Weber and Kathleen MillerPart II. Key Concepts and Issues for Understanding Rural Poverty3. Measures of Poverty and Implications for Portraits of Rural Hardship, by Leif Jensen and Danielle Ely4. How to Explain Poverty?, by Ann R. Tickamyer and Emily J. WornellPart III. Vulnerable Populations in Rural Places5. Changing Gender Roles and Rural Poverty, by Kristin SmithCase Study: In re Bow, Nevada Supreme Court (1997), by Lisa R. Pruitt6. Racial Inequalities and Poverty in Rural America, by Mark H. HarveyCase Study: Engaging Black Geographies—How Racism Continues to Produce Poverty within the Black Belt South, by Rosalind P. Harris7. Immigration Trends and Immigrant Poverty in Rural America, by Shannon M. Monnat and Raeven Faye ChandlerCase Study: Immigration and New Rural Residents, by J. Celeste LayPart IV. Community and Societal Institutions8. Rural Poverty and Symbolic Capital: A Tale of Two Valleys, by Jennifer ShermanCase Study: Symbolic Capital and Sources of Division in “Golden Valley,” California, and “Paradise Valley,” Washington, by Jennifer Sherman9. The Old Versus the New Economies and Their Impacts, by Brian Thiede and Tim SlackCase Study: Buoyancy on the Bayou—Louisiana Shrimpers Face the Rising Tide of Globalization, by Jill Ann Harrison10. Food Insecurity and Housing Insecurity, by Alisha Coleman-Jensen and Barry SteffenCase Study: Food Insecurity and Hunger in the Rural West, by Sarah Whitley11. The Environment and Health, by Danielle Christine Rhubart and Elyzabeth W. EngleCase Study: The Environment and Health, by Michael Hendryx12. Education and Information, by Catharine Biddle and Ian MetteCase Study: Education, Economic Disadvantage, and Homeless Students in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale Gas Region, by Kai A. Schafft13. Crime, Punishment, and Spatial Inequality, by John M. Eason, L. Ash Smith, Jason Greenberg, Richard D. Abel, and Corey SparksCase Study: Violence Against Women in America’s Heartland, by Walter S. DeKeseredy and Amanda Hall-SanchezPart V. Programs, Policy, and Politics14. The Safety Net in Rural America, by Jennifer Warlick15. The Opportunities and Limits of Economic Growth, by Gary Paul Green16. Politics and Policy: Barriers and Opportunities for Rural Peoples, by Ann R. Tickamyer, Jennifer Sherman, and Jennifer WarlickContributorsIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisBeneath the surface of Manhattan’s Riverside Park run railroad tunnels, disused for decades, where over the years unhoused people took shelter. The sociologist Terry Williams ventured into the tunnel residents’ world, seeking to understand life on the margins and out of sight.Trade ReviewIn Life Underground, Terry Williams meets Fyodor Dostoyevsky in the netherworld of New York City, unearthing the everyday lives of the city’s misbegotten bottom dwellers, immortalizing them for posterity. Richly observed and well-written, this book is a must-read for anyone who cares to truly understand the lives of those at the end of the line. -- Elijah Anderson, author of Black in White SpaceLife Underground provides unique documentation of the lives of homeless people living in underground tunnels and other spaces beneath the streets of New York City. No other work studies in so much detail the lives of people who might be considered the worst off of the city's worst off. -- Thomas J. Main, author of Homelessness in New York City: Policymaking from Koch to de BlasioTerry Williams has once again written a beautiful ethnographic piece, offering us a profound sociological work on 'shelterless life' below and at the margins of one of the richest but also socially polarized cities in the world: New York. Based on interviews, field notes, maps, journals, dream records, and a photographic register, Williams makes visible the living conditions of a population that is all too often invisibilized: homeless people. Their voices and life experiences are at the center of this research work together with the neoliberal transformations of said city. A fascinating and illuminating book that everyone should read, especially those who want to understand, challenge, and put an end to the housing crisis - in New York and globally. -- Ana Cárdenas Tomažič, Institute for Social Research (IfS), Goethe University FrankfurtTable of ContentsPrologueAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Descent2. Genesis3. Underground Ecology4. Men Underground: Bernard, Kal, and Jason5. Working Life6. Food: Restaurants and Soup Kitchens7. Women Underground: Tin Can Tina8. Beatrice and Bobo9. The Tagalong10. The Rabbit Hole 11. Reflections on Life Under the StreetEndnoteEpilogue: Mediating the Underground: Bernard’s ExitAppendix A: Income and Housing in New York City, 2002–2014Appendix B: Behavior Mapping and CartographyAppendix C: Interview Questions for Bernard, Princeton University, 2012Appendix D: Bernard’s Dream and PostcardAppendix E: Legacies of Harm: Policy and PolicingAppendix F: Where Are They Now?NotesIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is an incisive and compelling portrait of the functioning—and failings—of California’s conservatorship system, drawing on hundreds of interviews with professionals, policy makers, families, and conservatees.Trade ReviewA heartbreakingly insightful ethnographic deep dive into the failure of mental health care in the United States that everyone refuses to pay for—and for which no public authority takes responsibility. Barnard strategically takes us through each dysfunctional interstice of California’s iconically mismanaged mental health system that manages to maximize costs, minimizes benefits, and tortures everyone involved—especially people with psychosis spectrum disorders whose lives are cut short by the public/private bureaucratic quagmire that has been waging war on itself for the past half century. -- Philippe Bourgois, author of In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio and co-author of Righteous DopefiendVivid case studies and probing interviews humanize this journey through the fraught terrain of involuntary care. Barnard pulls few punches in describing the more offensive stretches of the roadmap but avoids veering into unalloyed condemnation or praise. His thoughtful exploration yields reasons for hope that our better angels might prevail. -- Roderick Shaner, MD, former medical director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental HealthThe subject and title of Conservatorship is perhaps the most important yet least studied power of domestic governance. As Alex Barnard's meticulous study of California’s system for protecting those most disabled by mental illness shows, this power is left to a largely unaccountable and invisible system of local and market actors. At a time of much interest in new legal solutions to our severe crisis of unhoused, untreated, and mentally ill citizens, Barnard’s findings suggest the priority of addressing our even deeper crisis of authority. -- Jonathan Simon, author of Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of FearIn California, the state has abdicated its authority over the conservatorship process by delegating state functions to a fragmented field of actors. Cutting through overly simplistic accounts of conservatorship, Barnard uses rich data and sharp theory to delve into the pitfalls of this abdication of authority. -- Josh Seim, author of Bandage, Sort, and Hustle: Ambulance Crews on the Front Lines of Urban SufferingConservatorship delivers the kind of critical analysis that...would require California politicians, more comfortable with increasing budgets than investigating outcomes, to expose themselves to more blame. * City Journal *I recommend this very comprehensive book to anyone who is interested and ultimately frustrated by how our state has failed so many it purports a desire to help. * Southern California Psychiatrist *Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: The Other Magna CartaPart I. The Conservatorship Continuum1. Outpatient2. Crisis3. Emergency Room4. Inpatient5. Public Guardian6. CourtPart II. Care and Coercion Under Conservatorship7. Locked In8. Stepped Down9. Neglect and Abuse10. Stabilization and RecoveryPart III. Reform11. Paving a New Pathway12. Asylum for the Dying13. Sharing Authority, Restoring AutonomyConclusion: Beyond MiraclesMethodological AppendixChronology of “Abdicated Authority”Glossary of Terms, Procedures, and FacilitiesAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is an incisive and compelling portrait of the functioning—and failings—of California’s conservatorship system, drawing on hundreds of interviews with professionals, policy makers, families, and conservatees.Trade ReviewA heartbreakingly insightful ethnographic deep dive into the failure of mental health care in the United States that everyone refuses to pay for—and for which no public authority takes responsibility. Barnard strategically takes us through each dysfunctional interstice of California’s iconically mismanaged mental health system that manages to maximize costs, minimizes benefits, and tortures everyone involved—especially people with psychosis spectrum disorders whose lives are cut short by the public/private bureaucratic quagmire that has been waging war on itself for the past half century. -- Philippe Bourgois, author of In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio and co-author of Righteous DopefiendVivid case studies and probing interviews humanize this journey through the fraught terrain of involuntary care. Barnard pulls few punches in describing the more offensive stretches of the roadmap but avoids veering into unalloyed condemnation or praise. His thoughtful exploration yields reasons for hope that our better angels might prevail. -- Roderick Shaner, MD, former medical director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental HealthThe subject and title of Conservatorship is perhaps the most important yet least studied power of domestic governance. As Alex Barnard's meticulous study of California’s system for protecting those most disabled by mental illness shows, this power is left to a largely unaccountable and invisible system of local and market actors. At a time of much interest in new legal solutions to our severe crisis of unhoused, untreated, and mentally ill citizens, Barnard’s findings suggest the priority of addressing our even deeper crisis of authority. -- Jonathan Simon, author of Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of FearIn California, the state has abdicated its authority over the conservatorship process by delegating state functions to a fragmented field of actors. Cutting through overly simplistic accounts of conservatorship, Barnard uses rich data and sharp theory to delve into the pitfalls of this abdication of authority. -- Josh Seim, author of Bandage, Sort, and Hustle: Ambulance Crews on the Front Lines of Urban SufferingConservatorship delivers the kind of critical analysis that...would require California politicians, more comfortable with increasing budgets than investigating outcomes, to expose themselves to more blame. * City Journal *I recommend this very comprehensive book to anyone who is interested and ultimately frustrated by how our state has failed so many it purports a desire to help. * Southern California Psychiatrist *Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: The Other Magna CartaPart I. The Conservatorship Continuum1. Outpatient2. Crisis3. Emergency Room4. Inpatient5. Public Guardian6. CourtPart II. Care and Coercion Under Conservatorship7. Locked In8. Stepped Down9. Neglect and Abuse10. Stabilization and RecoveryPart III. Reform11. Paving a New Pathway12. Asylum for the Dying13. Sharing Authority, Restoring AutonomyConclusion: Beyond MiraclesMethodological AppendixChronology of “Abdicated Authority”Glossary of Terms, Procedures, and FacilitiesAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisRADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER''I couldn''t put it down. . . an important book, raw and simple enough that you can''t help but feel it deeply'' James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd''s LifeTalented and ambitious, Monica Potts and her best friend, Darci, were both determined to make something of themselves. How did their lives turn out so different? Growing up gifted and working-class in the foothills of the Ozarks, Monica and Darci became fast friends. Bonding over a shared love of learning, they pored over the giant map in their classroom, tracing their fingers over the world that awaited them, vowing to escape their broken town. In the end, Monica left Clinton for university and fulfilled her dreams. Darci, along with many in their circle of friends, did not. Years later, working as a journalist covering poverty, Monica discovers what she already intuitively knew about the women in ArkanTrade ReviewThink Elena Ferrante and My Brilliant Friend. Potts is excellent at showing how the political sentiments that white, poorly educated women uphold ultimately circumscribe their lives. In many ways it's a universal story: rural Britain fits this mould too -- Francesca Angelini * The Sunday Times *The Forgotten Girls rings with authenticity, a powerful, personal analysis of how women in poor, white, religious societies suffer. This, it struck me, isn't just an American story; it's the American story -- Melanie Reid * The Times *A modern classic on deprivation and the fine margins that exist between a life of plenty and one of relentless hardship * Prospect Magazine, Best Books of the Year *A deeply moving story of growing up in America's Bible Belt. I thought about it for days afterwards -- Francesca Steele * I News *The Forgotten Girls is a lament for lost opportunities and wasted lives; a controlled expression of rage at a system that fails so many even as it exploits their despair -- Stephanie Merritt * The Observer *At its heart an intensely moving, personal story of unbreakable friendship, this, like Tara Westover's Educated, is a book that packs a much wider resonance at a time when the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider across the world. It asks vital questions about life chances; and the seeming randomness of who gets them, and who doesn't -- Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller, Non-Fiction Book of the Month *This is a patient, heartfelt description of the dark side of the American dream, a once vibrant community abandoned by global capitalism, and prey to any demagogue promising to 'Make America Great Again' * The Tablet *Not everyone can live the American Dream in the Land of the Free, as Monica Potts discovers when she returns to her Arkansas hometown to investigate the drop in life expectancy in women in rural areas. In The Forgotten Girls, she reconnects with an old friend who has fallen into a common cycle of poverty and opioid abuse. This autobiographical tale tells a very different American Story, rife with systemic injustices and societal constraints -- Rhiannon Thomas * Radio Times *Tender, perceptive, important - and heartbreaking -- Lee ChildI couldn't put it down. . . American culture has a toxic forgetting at its heart, a forgetting about communities that have lost their way and a blindness to why they fail. It made me think of so many people's lives in small towns and rural areas in Britain -- a powerful reminder that when you forget about people and consign them to eternity in failing places, then you create something deeply harmful for all of us. It is an important book, raw and simple enough that you can't help but feel it deeply -- James Rebanks, author of English PastoralA tender memoir of a lifelong friendship and a shocking account of hardship in rural America, The Forgotten Girls is beautifully written, painstakingly researched and deeply affecting -- Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the TrainThe Forgotten Girls is much more than a memoir; it's the unflinching story of rural women trying to live in the most rugged, ultra-religious and left-behind places in America. Rendering what she sees with poignancy and whip-smart analyses, Monica Potts took a gutsy, open-hearted journey home and turned it into art -- Beth Macy, author of DopesickBeautiful and hard, a deeply reported memoir of a place, a friendship, a childhood and a country riven by systemic injustices transformed into individual tragedies. Monica Potts is a gifted writer; I read this extraordinary story of friendship and sisterhood, ambition and loss in rural America in one sitting; it is propulsive, clear and really important -- Rebecca Traister, author of Good and MadMonica Potts tells a compelling story of grief and friendship rooted in the cycles of generational pain in rural Arkansas. Her story of growing up in Clinton, needing to leave, and the compulsion to return to a place of love and disappointment is a devastating tale of the suffering writ large across the dislocated American heartland. -- Helen Thompson, author of DisorderA deeply personal memoir of childhood. Potts has created a complicated tribute to her friend and to a generation 'set up for failure' -- Katy Guest * The Mail on Sunday *A troubling tale of heartland America in cardiac arrest, of friendship tested, of meth and Sonic burgers and every other kind of bad nourishment, of what we have let happen to our rural towns, and what they have invited on themselves. A personal and highly readable story about two women in a small cranny of America, but which offers an illuminating panorama of where our country stands -- Sam Quinones, author of DreamlandIn a landscape where writing grounded in true events is expected to be either objective reporting about events from which the writer is fully detached or confessional lived experience, Monica Potts has created a rare mix of reportage and memoir that brings the best of both forms to bear on an empathetic and nuanced examination, told from an insider's perspective, of what it means to be working class, white, and female in America today -- Emma Copley Eisenberg, author of The Third Rainbow GirlA masterly labour of love. In its unflinching exploration of character, circumstance and destiny, it's perfect. * Prospect Magazine *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe poor boy who made his fortune . . . not just once but twice.Little Jeff Pearce grew up in a post-war Liverpool slum. His father lived the life of an affluent gentleman whilst his mother was forced to steal bread to feed her starving children. Life was tough and from the moment Jeff could walk he learned to go door to door, begging rags from the rich, which he sold down the markets. Leaving school at the age of fourteen, he embarked on an extraordinary journey, and found himself, before the age of thirty, a millionaire.Then, after a cruel twist of fate left him penniless, he, his wife and children were forced out of their beautiful home . . .With nothing but holes in his pockets, Jeff had no alternative but to go back down the markets and start all over again. Did he still have what it took? Could he really get back everything he had lost?A Pocketful of Holes and Dreams is the heartwarming true story of a little boy who had

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Poverty is a very exacting teacher and I had been taught well''The post-war urban jungle of the Glasgow tenements was the setting for Molly Weir''s childhood. From sharing a pull-out bed in her mother''s tiny kitchen to running in terror from the fever van, it was an upbringing that was cemented in hardship. Hunger, cold and sickness was an everyday reality and complaining was not an option. Despite the crippling poverty, there was a vivacity to the tenements that kept spirits high. Whether Molly was brushing the hair of her wizened neighbour Mrs MacKay, running to Jimmy''s chip shop for a ha''penny of crimps or dancing at the annual fair, there wasn''t a moment to spare for self-pity. Molly never let it get her down as she and the other urchins knew how to make do with nothing.And at the centre of her world was her fearsome but loving Grannie, whose tough, independent spirit taught Molly to rise above her pitiful surroundings and achieve her dreams.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisFenwick analyzes poverty alleviation strategies in Brazil and Argentina to show how federalism affects the ability of a national government to sustain a conditional cash transfer program.Trade Review"This carefully crafted study offers us critical insights on how institutional design affects both governing elites and the poor. It deserves a broad audience among policy makers, academics, and activists." —Nancy Bermeo, Nuffield Chair of Comparative Politics, University of Oxford"Tracy Beck Fenwick makes a compelling argument about the conditions that either facilitate or retard one of the most important social policy innovations of the contemporary period, which is the turn toward the use of conditional cash transfers to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Her core interest in how different levels of government interact in the provision of social services has become a question of great import. With respect to the recent literatures on decentralization, federalism, and subnational governments in Latin America more generally, Avoiding Governors is by far the most sophisticated attempt yet to integrate municipal governments more directly into the theoretical frameworks we use to study intergovernmental relations.” —Kent Eaton, University of California, Santa Cruz"This book puts into stark relief an argument that has only been made implicitly so far: that governors are to be avoided if federal governments in Latin America are to successfully put forth antipoverty policies. The question or pursuit is well stated: to examine why Brazil and Argentina had differing outcomes from similarly designed CCTs. The answer the author provides is that differences in federalism are key: While the setup in Brazil is such that the federal government can bypass governors, the national government in Argentina does not have the opportunity within its federal system to truly bypass the provinces and put through national policy in an equitable fashion throughout the territory. Rather, municipalities in Argentina are captured by the provincial level." —Wendy Hunter, University of Texas at Austin“Fenwick’s very useful book compares the implementation of anti-poverty programs in Brazil and Argentina. . . Fenwick also makes the interesting (and counterintuitive) argument that the extreme party fragmentation in Brazil may have actually been an advantage there.” —Choice“Fenwick’s book is a superb example of the power of political science to offer penetrating insights by coordinating the nuances of policy, history, and institutional configuration.” —Hispanic American Historical Review

Read more less

Book SynopsisUsing data from local surveys, interviews, and rational statistics, this is a comparative study of two Central American cities similarly positioned in the world economy. It explores how development and state policies have affected the lives of people working in the informal economy.Trade Review“This book is a very useful contribution both to Latin American and Caribbean studies and to the sociology of development. The author has an excellent grasp of theory, providing insightful syntheses of the literature on the state in development and on the informal economy. In this empirically rich study, he explores the important issue of whether or not state regulation of the labor market is positive for employment and incomes. He broadens this issue to include the question of the state’s developmental role in the economy. Basically, his purpose is to show that the state can have a positive developmental role and that its regulatory actions can reduce unemployment and raise incomes. He is thus arguing against a body of economic thinking that views economic development and wealth creation as best achieved by allowing market forces to have free play and by reducing the state’s regulatory actions.”—Bryan Roberts,University of Texas“From the standpoints of theory, methodology, and data alike, this book is a major contribution to the multidisciplinary fields of international development and comparative urbanization, social stratification, and social policy. It will prove important to academic and policy specialists in these fields as well as quite useful in upper-level undergraduate courses and graduate seminars. [Its empirical analysis is highly competent as well as clear and insightful. It represents an admirable and successful effort to deploy theory and methodology judiciously to illuminate the interplay of state policy and social inequality in Latin America. The conclusions emphasize not only the pernicious general consequences of neoliberal policy but also substantial variation in the degrees and forms of the consequences in the context of distinctive national institutional patterns].”—Richard Tardanico,Florida International University“This book ought to set the standard for future research on Latin American labor markets. The title accurately describes this short book’s contents, but it does not suggest how carefully and interestingly Itzigsohn develops his arguments about the relationships among informal labor market, the global economy, and national governments’ efforts to control and ameliorate the workings of national and labor markets, with particular attention to firms and maze of inconsistent definitions and conflicting hypotheses of the extensive literature with clarity, succinctness, and a refreshingly critical but judicious stance.”—F.S. Weaver Choice“[Itzigsohn] quite effectively uses multiple methods to show how and why the informal economies vary across these two countries. Overall, this book offers a compelling account of these differences, and empirical and theoretical insights for those who study the informal economy and development.”—Matthew McKeever Contemporary Sociology“[Itzigsohn] quite effectively uses multiple methods to show how and why the informal economies vary across these two countries. Overall, this book offers a compelling account of these differences, and empirical and theoretical insights for those who study the informal economy and development.”—Matthew McKeever Contemporary Sociology“Although the author has a definite point of view on development models—and on the deficiencies of neoliberal theory—this is a serious, balanced book, not an ideological polemic. His conclusions flow from the results of his research, not from ideological dogma, and when some of the results are not congenial to his viewpoint, he still reports them fairly. It also comes through clearly that he feels deeply about the fates of the workers he met and cares more about helping them than about scoring theoretical points.”—William A. Douglas Perspectives on Political Science

Read more less

Book SynopsisAddresses the success and failures of the Union de Colonos Independientes (UCI), a community organization in Guadalajara, Mexico. Critiques the civil society concept and questions the strategy of political democratization as a way to assert control over the global economy.Trade Review“Shefner provides a fascinating account of popular sector organizing in a poor Mexican community from 1994 through 2004. This is an important period in Mexico’s history, and Shefner does a splendid job of immersing the reader in his own process of personal engagement and re-engagement with the people he has known for more than ten years. The result is a study that addresses critical issues in Latin American politics today, including the impact of transitions to democracy on civil society and the pervasive endurance of clientelism.”—Philip Oxhorn,McGill University“This highly readable yet scholarly account of political and social mobilization among low-income irregular settlements in Guadalajara draws upon the author’s fieldwork from the mid-1990s through the present. Shefner successfully weaves the story of urban social movements against the backdrop of Mexico’s democratic opening and strengthening of civil society. The qualitative methodology is especially impressive, making extensive use of participant observation and key informant interviews. An excellent addition to the literature.”—Peter M. Ward,C. B. Smith Centennial Chair in U.S.-Mexico Relations, University of Texas at Austin“This volume is a finely wrought piece of scholarship that will appeal not only to students of civil society but also to scholars (and critics) of neo-liberalism, globalization, democratization, patron-client relations, and urban transformation in Latin America and other parts of the global south.”—Ebenezer Obadare Contemporary Sociology

Read more less

Book SynopsisTells the story of an indigenous peoples' movement in the state of Guerrero, the Consejo Guerrerense 500 Anos de Resistencia Indigena, that gained unprecedented national and international prominence in the 1990s and yet was defunct by 2002.Trade Review“This is an outstanding contribution to critical analysis of indigenous movements in Mexico, not simply because it offers an ethnographically grounded diagnosis of the difficulties that confront organizations with militant origins that try to work through institutional channels, but also because it provides a long-term historical perspective that enables us to grasp seldom-discussed continuities between the old ‘official indigenism’ and more recent developments. The insights that this study offers into the contradictory visions and practices of state functionaries and indigenous intellectuals and activists alike make it essential reading for anyone interested in multicultural Latin America.”—John Gledhill,University of Manchester“In this historically grounded work, Overmyer-Velázquez ably demonstrates the ways in which both the state and indigenous organizations in Guerrero used the figure of the folkloric Indian to frame, motivate, and pursue their goals over time. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the region, she narrates the evolution of a regional indigenous movement as it interacts with state agencies and officials and attempts to build alliances and strengthen its base of support. Not enough attention has been paid to indigenous organizations in Guerrero, which is surprising given their importance to larger Indian organizations on the national level in Mexico. This engaging and eminently readable book will be of great interest to scholars and students in a range of fields, including anthropology, sociology, political science, and public policy.”—Shannan Mattiace,Allegheny College“Rebecca Overmyer-Velázquez has written a highly readable and lucid account of the rise of one regional indigenous movement organization, the Guerrero Council 500 Years of Resistance, and its subsequent decline, mirroring the general fortunes of Mexico’s Indian movement more broadly.”—Shannan L. Mattiace The Americas“Rebecca Overmyer-Velázquez has written a highly readable and lucid account of the rise of one regional indigenous movement organization, the Guerrero Council 500 Years of Resistance, and its subsequent decline, mirroring the general fortunes of Mexico’s Indian movement more broadly.”—Shannan L. Mattiace The AmericasTable of ContentsContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction: The Nationalist Indian in a Neoliberal Age1 The Anti-Quincentenary Campaign in Guerrero, Mexico: Indigenous Identity and the Dismantling of the Myth of the Revolution2 Indigenista Dreams of the Mexican Indian3 Indian Populists: The Indigenous Movement and theGuerrero Council, 1991–20004 Opportunities and Obstacles: Contextualizing the Guerrero Council’s Work in the 1990sConclusion: The Exhaustion of the Indigenous Movement: What Comes Next?ReferencesIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Ensign's devotion to her subjects is palpable, as are the rigor of her research and the care she has shown in telling the stories of marginalized people long dead or still alive." * Crosscut *"[Skid Road] unearths the layers of Seattle history underlying our current housing crisis. Centering long-silenced perspectives of those in the margins of society, the provocative read is informed by Ensign's own lived experience of homelessness and over three decades of her work providing primary health care to unhoused populations." * Seattle Met *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFirst published in 1999, Worlds Apart examined the nature of poverty through the stories of real people in three remote rural areas of the United States: New England, Appalachia, and the Mississippi Delta. This edition provides fresh insights into the dynamics of poverty, politics and community change.Trade Review"What stories Mil Duncan has to tell! In this new edition of her classic Worlds Apart, she offers sage advice about how to begin to reverse the dangerously growing divide between rich and poor in our country."—Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone and Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis"A mosaic of intimate portraits revealing the social, economic, and political isolation of rural poverty, Worlds Apart is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the root causes of inequality in America."—Darren Walker, president, Ford Foundation"The classics don't get out of date. Cynthia Duncan's unflinching account of rural poverty, updated and still fresh, combines a journalistic punch and elegant analysis. The gripping stories of Appalachian feudalism, Mississippi racism, and Maine decency make this a book you can't put down."—Peter Edelman, author of So Rich, So Poor: Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America"The impossible happened. The first edition of Worlds Apart, which has long been viewed as the classic introduction to rural poverty, is now an even more powerful demonstration of the role of local institutions in generating poverty. Another instant classic."—David B. Grusky, director, Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe shift toward automation is about to create a tsunami of unemployment. Not in the distant future--now. One recent estimate predicts 13 million American workers will lose their jobs within the next seven years-jobs that won''t be replaced. In a future marked by restlessness and chronic unemployment, what will happen to American society?In The War on Normal People, Andrew Yang paints a dire portrait of the American economy. Rapidly advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and automation software are making millions of Americans'' livelihoods irrelevant. The consequences are these trends are already being felt across our communities in the form of political unrest, drug use, and other social ills. The future looks dire-but is it unavoidable?In The War on Normal People, Yang imagines a different future -- one in which having a job is distinct from the capacity to prosper and seek fulfillment. At this vision''s core is Universal Basic

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A mesmerising book, full of story, truth, pain, lyricism, humour and astonishment: the stuff of a difficult life, fully lived, and masterfully transformed into art'' SALMAN RUSHDIE''Intimate and wise, poignant and compassionate, redemptive and raw. You have to read this beautiful book'' CHERYL STRAYED, author of WildAn electrifying, dazzlingly written reckoning and an essential addition to the conversation about race and class, Survival Math takes its name from the calculations that award-winning author Mitchell S. Jackson made to survive the Portland, Oregon, of his youth. This dynamic book explores gangs and guns, near-death experiences, sex work, masculinity, composite fathers, the concept of ''hustle'' and the destructive power of addiction - all framed within the story of Jackson, his family and his community. Mitchell S. Jackson presents a microcosm of struggle and survival in contemporary urban AmericTrade Review'An unforgettable mix of sharp humor, wide interrogation, and indelible tragedy. Jackson's mesmerizing voice and style draws you into the survival calculations for millions of American kids and families, revealing a need-to-know reality for all of us' * Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black *An extensive and illuminating look at the city of [Jackson's] childhood, exploring issues like sex, violence, addiction, community, and the toll this takes on a person's life * Buzzfeed, Most Anticipated Books of 2019 *Vivid and unflinching ... Mitchell's memoir in essays chronicles the struggles of friends and family with drugs, racism, violence, and hopelessness and puts a face on the cyclical nature of poverty * Boston Globe, Most Anticipated Books of 2019 *"A dynamic, impressive debut memoir from the Whiting Award-winning author of The Residue Years (2013)... A potent book that revels in the author's truthful experiences while maintaining the jagged-grain, keeping-it-a-100, natural storytelling that made The Residue Years a modern must-read." * Kirkus Reviews *Jackson's musings skillfully illuminate the bloodlines, both inherited and earned, that pulse through the body of America's gang-graffitied carceral state * Tyehimba Jess, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olio *'Survival Math is the best memoir I've read in ages. With honesty, insight, and a tremendous amount of heart, Mitchell S. Jackson takes us deep into the stories that made, ruined, and saved him. I had the feeling while reading it that I'd never read anything quite like it before. It's intimate and wise; poignant and compassionate; redemptive and raw. You have to read this beautiful book' * Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild *Survival Math should be praised for many reasons--its literary integrity, its cinematic pace, its creativity and candor. But what I find most striking about this work, what I think distinguishes it, is its heart * Jason Reynolds *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A mesmerising book, full of story, truth, pain, lyricism, humour and astonishment: the stuff of a difficult life, fully lived, and masterfully transformed into art'' SALMAN RUSHDIE''Intimate and wise, poignant and compassionate, redemptive and raw. You have to read this beautiful book'' CHERYL STRAYED, author of WildAn electrifying, dazzlingly written reckoning and an essential addition to the conversation about race and class, Survival Math takes its name from the calculations that award-winning author Mitchell S. Jackson made to survive the Portland, Oregon, of his youth. This dynamic book explores gangs and guns, near-death experiences, sex work, masculinity, composite fathers, the concept of ''hustle'' and the destructive power of addiction - all framed within the story of Jackson, his family and his community. Mitchell S. Jackson presents a microcosm of struggle and survival in contemporary urban America - an Trade Review'An unforgettable mix of sharp humor, wide interrogation, and indelible tragedy. Jackson's mesmerizing voice and style draws you into the survival calculations for millions of American kids and families, revealing a need-to-know reality for all of us' * Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black *An extensive and illuminating look at the city of [Jackson's] childhood, exploring issues like sex, violence, addiction, community, and the toll this takes on a person's life * Buzzfeed, Most Anticipated Books of 2019 *Vivid and unflinching ... Mitchell's memoir in essays chronicles the struggles of friends and family with drugs, racism, violence, and hopelessness and puts a face on the cyclical nature of poverty * Boston Globe, Most Anticipated Books of 2019 *"A dynamic, impressive debut memoir from the Whiting Award-winning author of The Residue Years (2013)... A potent book that revels in the author's truthful experiences while maintaining the jagged-grain, keeping-it-a-100, natural storytelling that made The Residue Years a modern must-read." * Kirkus Reviews *Jackson's musings skillfully illuminate the bloodlines, both inherited and earned, that pulse through the body of America's gang-graffitied carceral state * Tyehimba Jess, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olio *'Survival Math is the best memoir I've read in ages. With honesty, insight, and a tremendous amount of heart, Mitchell S. Jackson takes us deep into the stories that made, ruined, and saved him. I had the feeling while reading it that I'd never read anything quite like it before. It's intimate and wise; poignant and compassionate; redemptive and raw. You have to read this beautiful book' * Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild *Survival Math should be praised for many reasons--its literary integrity, its cinematic pace, its creativity and candor. But what I find most striking about this work, what I think distinguishes it, is its heart * Jason Reynolds *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAlthough the absolute number of poor people in the world has declined significantly in recent decades, poverty reduction continues to be a very important issue. There still are very large numbers of poor people, relative poverty is an increasingly concerning problem, and progress on poverty reduction varies enormously from one part of the world to another. Factors contributing to poverty reduction include economic growth, economic integration, and specific poverty-reduction programs, which are often initiated by Western countries. This book considers poverty reduction from a global perspective. Development and Poverty Reduction looks at a wide range of specific subjects, across all continents. It highlights in particular how the issues are perceived from a non-Western perspective and especially how the rise of China is both having a profound impact on poverty reduction globally and also changing the overall way in which development and poverty reductionare approached.Table of ContentsPART I: Background discussions. 1 Introduction: poverty reduction in comparative perspective, Yongnian Zheng and Jiwei Qian. 2 The state and development: the two political economy models of China and the West, Yongnian Zheng. Part II: America. 3 Poverty in the US and its causes, Douglas J. Besharov and Douglas M. Call. Part III: Africa. 4 Development and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, Tony Addison, Ville Pikkarainen, Risto Rönkkö, and Finn Tarp. 5 An overview of recent trends in official development assistance: contradictory new directions in the relationship between DAC donors and China, Mark McQuinn. 6 Africa’s quest for poverty alleviation: lessons from and reflections on the role of China, Humphrey P. B. Moshi. 7 Strengthening Sino-African poverty alleviation collaboration through knowledge sharing, Michael Mitchell Omoruyi Ehizuelen. Part IV: Southeast Asia. 8 Poverty reduction experiences of Southeast Asian countries, Peter Warr. 9 Economic development and poverty reduction in Southeast Asia, Yap Kioe Sheng. Part V: East Asia. 10 The rise of China and its implications for economics and other developing countries, Justin Yifu Lin. 11 Poverty reduction in East Asia: a continuing development challenge, John Wong. 12 The impact of economic development on the social structure of the Japanese rural community, Yoshihisa Godo. 13 The urban informal sector and development in China: institutions and feedback effects, Jiwei Qian.

Read more less

Book SynopsisUnder the rule of the current economic order, social injustice is ever-increasing. Issues such as poverty, inhumane working conditions, inadequate wages, social insecurity and an unhealthy labor market continue to persist. Many states are also unable to produce policies capable of resolving these problems. The characteristics of the capitalist system currently render it unable to provide social justice. In fact, on the contrary, the system reinforces these injustices and prevents economic and social welfare from reaching the masses. Many Muslim scholars have analyzed and, indeed, criticized this system for years. This book argues that an alternative and more equitable theoretical and practical economical order can been developed within the framework of Islamic principles. On the other hand, the experiences of societies under the rule of Muslim governments do not always seem to hold great promise for an alternative understanding of social justice. In addition, the behaviors of Muslim individuals within their economic lives are mostly shaped by the necessities of daily economic conditions rather than by the tenets of Islam that stand with social justice. Until 1990s, studies of Islamic economics made connections between finance and the notion of social justice, but work conducted more recently has neglected this issue. It is therefore evident that the topic of social justice needs to be revisited in a more in-depth manner. Filling an important gap in existing literature, the book uniquely connects social justice and Islamic finance and economics on this topic. Theory, practice and key issues are presented simultaneously throughout this book, which is based on the writings of a number of eminent scholars.Table of ContentsList of illustrations List of tables List of contributors Foreword Preface1 Social Justice in Islam: An Introduction TOSEEF AZID & LUTFI SUNAR2 A theory of justice in Islam MASUDUL ALAM CHOUDHURY3 Social justice, market, society and government: an Islamic perspective TOSEEF AZID, OSAMAH HUSSAIN Al RAWASHDEH & MUHAMMAD OMER CHAUDHRY4 Contractual freedom, market economy and social justice in Islam: the "invisible hand" of God-man’s agency relationship (Khilafah)VALENTINO CATTELAN5 How can Islamic banks achieve social justice? KHOUTEM BEN JEDIDIA 6 How social aids affect people’s willingness to work: developing a social aid framework within the context of IslamOMER FARUK TEKDOGAN &MEHMET TARIK ERSALAN 7 The role of waqf in socio-economic life in terms of poverty alleviationHUSNU TEKIN 8 Interest and social justice: the impact of real interest rate on income inequalityOZAN MARASL 9 Productive zakat as a mechanism of social justice in IndonesiaAIMATUL YUMNA 10 Potential zakat collectible in OIC countries and poverty gap SALMAN AHMED SHAIKH & QAZI MASOOD AHMED 11 Pursuing social justice through Islamic micro-takaful in the informal economy: social capital matterYULIZAR D. SANREGO 12 ConclusionTOSEEF AZID & LUTFI SUNAR Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe problem of poverty is global in scope and has devastating consequences for many essential aspects of life: health, education, political participation, autonomy, and psychological well-being. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Poverty presents the current state of philosophical research on poverty in its breadth and depth. It features 39 chapters divided into five thematic sections: Concepts, theories, and philosophical aspects of poverty research Poverty in the history of Western philosophy and philosophical traditions Poverty in non-Western philosophical thought Key ethical concepts and poverty Social and political issues The handbook not only addresses questions concerning individual, collective, and institutional responsibility towards people in extreme poverty and the moral wrong of poverty, but it also tackles emerging applied issues that are connected to poverty such as gender, race, education, migratTable of ContentsPhilosophy and Poverty: Introduction Gottfried Schweiger and Clemens Sedmak Section 1: Concepts, theories and philosophical aspects of poverty research 1. Monetary poverty Clemens Sedmak 2. Capabilities and Poverty Yuko Kamishima 3. Social Exclusion and Poverty Gideon Calder 4. Philosophy, poverty, and inequality: normative and applied reflections Katarina Pitasse Fragoso and Marie-Pier Lemay 5. Epistemology, philosophy of science, and poverty research Clemens Sedmak 6. Ethics in poverty research Ann Mitchell Section 2: Poverty in the history of philosophy and philosophical traditions 7. Poverty in Graeco-Roman Philosophy Lucia Cecchet 8. Poverty in Medieval Philosophy Hans Kraml 9. Poverty in modern European philosophy from the Renaissance to the 20th century Alessandro Pinzani 10. Utilitarianism and Poverty Brian Berkey 11. Liberalism and poverty Borja Barragué 12. Critical Theory and Poverty David Ingram 13. Marx and Poverty Arash Abazari 14. Feminist Philosophy and Poverty Christine M. Koggel Section 3: Poverty in non-Western philosophical thought 15. Decolonial Approaches to Poverty Robin Dunford 16. Poverty and African Social and Political Thought Uchenna Okeja 17. Poverty in Chinese Philosophy Jifen Li 18. Poverty in Indian Philosophy through the lens of the Religious and the Secular: An Exposition Shashi Motilal 19. Poverty in Islamic Philosophy Muqtedar Khan and Mohammed Ayub Khan 20. Poverty and Latin American Philosophy Eduardo Mendieta Section 4: Key ethical concepts and poverty 21. Duties and Poverty Stephanie Collins 22. Poverty and human dignity: What is the relationship? H.P.P. (Hennie) Lötter 23. Entitled to A Good Life Without Qualification: How Poverty Wrongs Those Experiencing It Cindy Holder 24. Recognition and Poverty Monica Mookherjee 25. Autonomy and Poverty Akira Inoue 26. Empowerment and Poverty Jay Drydyk, Diana Velasco, and Kerry O’Neill 27. Poverty and Human Rights Anandita Mukherji and Abigail Gosselin Section 5: Social and political issues 28. Global justice and poverty Vincent Fang 29. Poverty and Social Justice Valentin Beck 30. Welfare State and Poverty Cristian Pérez Muñoz 31. Why Racialized Poverty Matters — and the Way Forward Michael Cholbi 32. Poverty, health and justice Sridhar Venkatapuram 33. Development Policy and Poverty Lori Keleher 34. Climate Change and Poverty Darrel Moellendorf 35. Migration and Poverty Alejandra Mancilla 36. Education and Poverty Julian Culp 37. Gender and Poverty Susan P. Murphy 38. The Economy and Poverty Irene Bucelli 39. Child Poverty Gottfried Schweiger

Read more less

Book SynopsisA conversation in a prison cell sparks an ambitious undertaking to attack the roots of long-term poverty.Trade Review"Earl Shorris was the most authentic and radical of educators: he thought the poor were human, entitled to know as much as anyone else. Told with verve and humor, this memoir might inspire a revolution." -- John R. MacArthur, president and publisher, Harper’s"To read The Art of Freedom is to learn what should be the first and fundamental purpose of an American education. More instructive than any academic analysis or government policy paper, Earl Shorris’s book furnishes both the how and the why to empower the nation’s public schools." -- Lewis Lapham, editor, Lapham’s Quarterly"Earl Shorris was one of a kind and his story should inspire us all." -- Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus, The Nation"Shorris demonstrated, in 17 short years, that well-designed and well-taught courses can ‘pierce the structure of the surround of force’ that holds poor people down. Many changes must be made before the culture of the streets becomes a culture of learning. But Earl Shorris has earned the right to rest in peace." -- Glenn C. Altschuler - San Francisco Chronicle

Read more less

Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • From an award-winning journalist, a poignant and gripping immersion in the life of a young, homeless single mother amid her quest to find stability and shelter in the richest city in AmericaLONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD • “Riveting . . . a remarkable feat of reporting.”—The New York Times Camila is twenty-two years old and a new mother. She has no family to rely on, no partner, and no home. Despite her intelligence and determination, the odds are firmly stacked against her. In this extraordinary work of literary reportage, Lauren Sandler chronicles a year in Camila’s life—from the birth of her son to his first birthday—as she navigates the labyrinth of poverty and homelessness in New York City. In her attempts to secure a safe place to raise her son and find a measure of freedom in her life, Camila copes with dashed dreams, failed relationsh

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn his withering dissection of the origins and misuse of the term underclass to stereotype and stigmatize the poor, Herbert J. Gans shows how this ubiquitous label has relegated a wide variety of people,welfare recipients, the working poor, teenage mothers, drug addicts, the homeless, and others,to a single condemned class, feared and despised by the rest of society. Probing the deep psychological, social, and political reasons why Americans seek to indict millions of poor citizens as undeserving, Gans calls for a cease-fire in the undeclared war against the poor. He concludes with a set of innovative, job-centreed policy proposals and a multifaceted educational plan to stop the endless flow of new recruits into America''s untouchable caste.Table of ContentsLabeling the Poor; The Invention of the Underclass Label; The Dangers of Underclass and Other Labels; The Undeservingness of the Poor; Policies Against Poverty and Undeservingness; Joblessness and Antipoverty Policy in the Twenty-first Century

Read more less