Today's Lesson:
- What are the difficulties in defining "poverty"?
- What are the obstacles associated with the lowest social classes?
Defining Poverty
The debate about how to define poverty dates back more than 100 years to the beginning of the 20th century. Sociologist W.E.B DuBois may have been the first scholar to use the term poor related to a specific income. This 2019 analysis from the Annie E. Casey Foundation explains some of the most common terms used to describe poverty in the United States today: official poverty measure and the supplemental poverty measure, as well as extreme poverty, low income, and concentrated poverty.
The official poverty measure is the way that the government has defined poverty since 1965. It is an amount of income based on family size. More recently, experts believe that the income level that the government has used as a threshold is too low and the actual number of Americans living in poverty should be much higher. In any case, the official poverty measure threshold for a family of 4 in 2018 was $25,465. About 12% of Americans fall into this threshold! That's 39 million Americans! Thirty. Nine. Million. And that is the low end. Most experts agree that actual poverty should be a much higher threshold.
Besides the official number, there are other ways of calculating the actual number of people in poverty and these measure report higher numbers of poverty. And then there is a substantial number of Americans who do not qualify as impoverished but they are so low income that they are considered at-risk. They are working and getting by, but barely. One accident or unfortunate event can thrust them into poverty.
Poverty and location
Effects of Poverty
Health
The dynamics of social class that affect health are varied and complex. But recognizing them can be the first part of mitigating their effects as Americans with low income have a higher chance of dying at any age than a wealthy person. An accessible resource that is meant to engage communities and organizations is Unnatural Causes from the National Association of City and County Health Officials.
The official poverty measure is the way that the government has defined poverty since 1965. It is an amount of income based on family size. More recently, experts believe that the income level that the government has used as a threshold is too low and the actual number of Americans living in poverty should be much higher. In any case, the official poverty measure threshold for a family of 4 in 2018 was $25,465. About 12% of Americans fall into this threshold! That's 39 million Americans! Thirty. Nine. Million. And that is the low end. Most experts agree that actual poverty should be a much higher threshold.
Besides the official number, there are other ways of calculating the actual number of people in poverty and these measure report higher numbers of poverty. And then there is a substantial number of Americans who do not qualify as impoverished but they are so low income that they are considered at-risk. They are working and getting by, but barely. One accident or unfortunate event can thrust them into poverty.
Playspent Online Simulation
Living in poverty means many Americans have to make hard choices about their lives. Try the playspent website which guides readers through the difficult choices that those in poverty must make. When finished, please reflect on the simulation.
What happened in the simulation that made it difficult for you to be economically stable? Was there something that came up during the simulation that you had not thought about before?
Poverty and location
Poverty, like the other social classes, is segregated within the U.S. so we do not always notice it. Click on the map here.
Using the map from PovertyUSA above, what is the poverty rate for the United States? What areas of the country have the highest rates of poverty?
Using the map from PovertyUSA above, what is the poverty rate for the United States? What areas of the country have the highest rates of poverty?
Now on the poverty map, click on either the county where you are from or the county that LUC is in: Cook (Hint: it is the county at the bottom left of Lake Michigan :-)
Which county did you examine and what was the rate? Is that higher or lower than the US rate overall?
Effects of Poverty
Poverty affects each of the areas below. Review the evidence that shows how being low income affects the people in that area.
- Health
- Location/environment
- Criminal Justice System
Health
As the website explains,
Unnatural causes is a website and documentary about the connection between social class and health broadcast by PBS and now used by thousands of organizations around the country to tackle the root causes of our alarming socio-economic and racial inequities in health.The four-hour series crisscrosses the nation uncovering startling new findings that suggest there is much more to our health than bad habits, health care, or unlucky genes. The social circumstances in which we are born, live, and work can actually get under our skin and disrupt our physiology as much as germs and viruses.Among the clues:• It's not CEOs dropping dead from heart attacks, but their subordinates.• Poor smokers are at higher risk of disease than rich smokers.
Furthermore, research has revealed a gradient to health. At each step down the class pyramid, people tend to be sicker and die sooner. Poor Americans die on average almost six years sooner than the rich. No surprise. But even middle-class Americans die two years sooner than the rich.
Although more than a decade old, the documentary's premise is still sadly relevant. The website also contains recent updates and a discussion guide for viewing the documentary and engaging your community.
From Voices For Illinois Children, we see that the number of children in poverty has been increasing and the effects can be very damaging;
Growing up in poverty can have serious and long-lasting effects on children’s health, development, and overall well-being. The effects of poverty have a well-documented impact on young children’s developing brains. And children who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience harmful levels of stress, more likely to struggle in school, and more likely to have behavioral, social, and emotional problems than their peers.
Lead poisoning from the American Journal of Pediatrics;
Impoverished black children, for example, are twice as likely as poor Hispanic or white children to have levels of lead in their blood that is at least 2.5 micrograms per deciliter. Some researchers have found that even that small amount of lead is enough to cause cognitive impairment in children — especially the kind that impacts their reading ability.
Cardiovascular disease
from the National Institute of Health (NIH), Journal of Nutrition (2010);
Food insecurity was associated with self-reported hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Food insecurity was associated with laboratory or examination evidence of hypertension and diabetes. The association with laboratory evidence of diabetes did not reach significance in the fully adjusted model unless we used a stricter definition of food insecurity. These data show that food insecurity is associated with cardiovascular risk factors. Health policy discussions should focus increased attention on ability to afford high-quality foods for adults with or at risk for chronic disease.
from the NIH, journal of Current Cardiology Reviews (2009);
Once homeless, equitable access to both preventative and remedial health care is lacking and is associated with a higher than average burden of cardiovascular disease [CVD] risk factors, morbidity and mortality and is accompanied by disproportionately high health care costs.
Less access to healthcare, from the NIH, Journal of Community Health (2018);
Having a low-income presents a variety of problems for families and children, with access to health care being the most complex and prevalent. Although there are many challenges for low-income families to access adequate health care in the United States, the key barriers identified in this review of literature are a lack of education, complications with health insurance, and a distrust of health care providers. Each obstacle is influenced by a myriad of factors that affect vulnerable sub-groups of low-income families. Acknowledging the barriers that prevent access to health care for low-income families is the first step towards determining future sustainable solutions.
Ongoing research, however, is moving beyond correlation to test a causal relationship between growing up in poverty and development in key parts of the brain that govern learning and behavior. Findings suggest that aspects of poverty that affect brain development go beyond limited financial resources to include neighborhood violence, low-quality schools, environmental toxins, and unstable family life.
Low levels of household income are associated with several lifetime mental disorders and suicide attempts, and a decrease in income is associated with a higher risk for anxiety, substance use, and mood disorders, according to a new study.
The connection between poverty and diabetes including obesity and poor diet and sedentary lifestyle from the American Diabetes Association;
One reason may be that violence tracks with poverty, thereby preventing people from being active out-of-doors. Similarly, parks and sports facilities are less available to people living in poor counties (5), and people who live in poverty-dense regions may be less able to afford gym membership, sports clothing, and/or exercise equipment. There are multiple individual and environmental reasons to explain why poverty-dense counties may be more sedentary and bear greater obesity burdens.
Environment
From the CDC, here is an explanation of the social determinants of health;
Conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes.1 These conditions are known as social determinants of health (SDOH).We know that poverty limits access to healthy foods and safe neighborhoods and that more education is a predictor of better health.2,3,4 We also know that differences in health are striking in communities with poor SDOH such as unstable housing, low income, unsafe neighborhoods, or substandard education.
...early-life exposures to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a marker of traffic-related pollution, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a mixture of industrial and other pollutants, are positively associated with subsequent childhood asthma diagnosis...
From the Huffington Post, the poor are more likely to experience asthma and other health issues.
From the Florida Times Union;
...poor black children are more likely than poor white or Hispanic children to be diagnosed with asthma — another ailment that plagues poor children in Jacksonville and one that is linked to living in older, more industrialized areas. Poor white children, though, are more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke, or to be born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy than poor black or Hispanic children. And poor Hispanic children, it found, are twice as likely to have no place to go for health care, as compared to poor white or black children.
Ron Finley, guerrilla gardener, TED talk about being arrested for planting a vegetable garden in a poor neighborhood.
And Clint Smith, a Washington DC teacher explains in his slam poem the ways that location affects his students. As you watch, make a list of the ways that location affects them:
Criminal Justice
Poor people are more likely to enter the criminal justice system and remain there.
Poor people are more likely to enter the criminal justice system and remain there.
The connection between low income and the criminal justice system has been published about since 1979's The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison.
This is one revelation in William Chambliss's study called "The Saints and the Roughnecks" Chambliss argues that money was a key factor in preventing kids from getting into trouble. If you have enough money it helps you cover up the deviance. Do you think this applies to kids at our school (no names please). Who is deviant? How do they hide it? Does money play a role? Is everyone at school a "saint"? Another important revelation in Chambliss's research is that the kids who accept the label of "deviant" then act upon that label. In other words, if I think that everyone expects me to be deviant, I may accept that as the truth and then I act deviant. Once you are labeled as "deviant", that becomes a stigma or a badge of disgrace that you carry with you. Sociologists who study this perspective call it the labeling theory.
From Spotlight on Poverty and Georgetown University Law Professor, Peter Edelmen's book, Not A Crime To Be Poor;
In one of the richest countries on Earth it has effectively become a crime to be poor. For example, in Ferguson, Missouri, the U.S. Department of Justice didn’t just expose racially biased policing; it also exposed exorbitant fines and fees for minor crimes that mainly hit the city’s poor, African American population, resulting in jail by the thousands. As Peter Edelman explains in Not a Crime to Be Poor, in fact Ferguson is everywhere: the debtors’ prisons of the twenty-first century. The anti-tax revolution that began with the Reagan era led state and local governments, starved for revenues, to squeeze ordinary people, collect fines and fees to the tune of 10 million people who now owe $50 billion.
Nor is the criminalization of poverty confined to money. Schoolchildren are sent to court for playground skirmishes that previously sent them to the principal’s office. Women are evicted from their homes for calling the police too often to ask for protection from domestic violence. The homeless are arrested for sleeping in the park or urinating in public.
The chart below from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows the different stages of the criminal justice system. In each stage, a person of lower social class is more likely to progress through the system than a person of upper social class.
From the Prison Policy Initiative:
Far from offering people a "second chance," our criminal justice system frequently punishes those who never had a first chance: people in poverty. By focusing law enforcement on low-level offenses and subjecting criminal defendants to money bail and other fees, our country effectively punishes people for being poor.
Poverty is not only a predictor of involvement with the justice system: Too often, it is also the outcome. Criminal punishment subjects people to countless fines, fees, and other costs (often enriching private companies in the process). A criminal record, meanwhile, does lasting collateral damage.
POVERTY IN OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS TOO OFTEN TREATED AS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.
Take driver’s licenses for instance: A driver with a busted tail light will be assessed a fine. For many living in poverty, they cannot afford to pay. If left unpaid, most states will eventually suspend the driver’s license.
Unless the person lives in a city with reliable public transportation, they will have to keep driving to stay employed – putting themselves at higher risk of punishment. Driving on a suspended license leads to additional suspension time and fines, a criminal record, and possible jail time. A simple lack of money can have devastating impacts on one’s livelihood.
The collateral consequences do not end there. Someone who can’t drive has a hard time staying employed or finding another job. A study in New Jersey showed that 42% of drivers who had suspended licenses lost their jobs and could not readily find another. Eligibility for public housing is restricted or denied if the applicant has a criminal record, including misdemeanors such as driving with a suspended license. Local public housing authorities can be even more restrictive and evict occupants if a member of their family or another person residing in commits a crime, such as a misdemeanor drug offense.
For someone with low income, having a busted tail light leads to criminal consequences, loss of employment, and even homelessness.
From the American Bar Association,
In the United States, wealth, not culpability, often shapes outcomes. From what is defined as criminal behavior to how penalties are decided, our legal system punishes people who are poor in America far more often and more harshly than the wealthy.
No person in America should be locked up because they are poor. Yet, every day we see homeless people arrested for sleeping outside; parents who can’t afford to purchase their release from jail; and people who cycle in and out of jail because they can’t afford to pay old fines as their debt grows from new ones. Meanwhile, cities and counties fill their coffers from the fines and fees that are imposed on people who are struggling just to survive. We need a criminal justice system that puts people over profit and helps to make vulnerable people more stable, not less stable.
Housing and Eviction
Unhoused Individuals
One of the groups that is most noticeably affected by low income are people who are unhoused. In years past, these people were often referred to as "homeless" however in more recent years, "homeless" has taken on negative connotations and there are a number of alternative terms for what used to refer to "homeless". When speaking directly to someone who might be experiencing this, ask them if they have a term that they prefer and then, more importantly, ask them their name and refer to them by name. Some other terms that have become common include:
One of the groups that is most noticeably affected by low income are people who are unhoused. In years past, these people were often referred to as "homeless" however in more recent years, "homeless" has taken on negative connotations and there are a number of alternative terms for what used to refer to "homeless". When speaking directly to someone who might be experiencing this, ask them if they have a term that they prefer and then, more importantly, ask them their name and refer to them by name. Some other terms that have become common include:
- unhoused - a common alternative term that avoids the negative sounding suffix "less"
- houseless - which emphasizes that some people may not live in a house, but wherever they live, they may consider their "home," whether an encampment, shelter, or other place.
- unsheltered - often used to refer to individuals who have to live in a place that is exposed to the elements such as a bus stop or park, but it does not include those who are living in shelters or other temporary housing.
- people experiencing homelessness - this phrase is more cumbersome to write but it places the emphasis on the individual's humanity and the temporal nature of their situation as opposed to describing them through a fixed identity based their living situation.
- homeless people - as an adjective, some writing guides suggest that as an adjective it is an acceptable descriptive term, but "homeless" should not be used as a noun.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness provides a clickable map that shows the rates of homelessness in each of the 50 states:
And the site also includes details about subgroups who are living unsheltered:
Notably, LGBTQ+ individuals are particularly at risk, as are veterans of the US military. The National Network for Youthis dedicated to ending youth homelessness and they report that
those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ+) have a 120% higher risk of experiencing some form of homelessness. With up to 40% of the 4.2 million youth experiencing homelessness identifying as LGBTQ+ while only 9.5% of the U.S. population, LGBTQ+ youth disproportionately experience homelessness compared to their straight and cisgender peers. They are also more likely to experience assault, trauma, depression, and suicide when compared to non-LGBTQ+ populations while also being homeless.
Housing and living expenses cost more if you are poor, from the ASA's Society Pages,
Social science research demonstrates that the poor pay more for necessities like housing and food, and debt can have serious consequences beyond just financial. The poor pay significantly more for housing than others — sometimes 70% or 80% of their income. In 2018, low-income households paid over half their income for rent or lived in substandard housing. Further, landlords overcharge tenants in high poverty neighborhoods and those with higher concentrations of African Americans relative to the market value of the property. When families cannot afford basic needs they will make calculated tradeoffs to keep their housing, paying for rent instead of utilities to avoid eviction. Such tradeoffs often lead to compounded costs from late fees, and families living without water, electricity, or heat....Poor families tend to pay more for food, too....When poor people face fines and fees, their inability to pay or keep up with payments means they go further into debt. When these fees are part of the criminal justice system, failure to pay can also result in jail time.
Evicted by Matthew Desmond
The award-winning book Evicted from Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond shows how society profits off the poor and how lack of housing can lead families to spiral downward.In this groundbreaking book, Harvard sociologist and 2015 MacArthur “Genius” Award winner Matthew Desmond takes readers into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee, where families spend most of their income on housing and where eviction has become routine—a vicious cycle that deepens our country’s vast inequality. Based on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data, Evicted transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving a devastating, uniquely American problem.
Mercy Housing provides 6 ways that being poor costs more.
Poverty and Stigma
Morality and Health: News Media Constructions of Overweight and Eating Disorders (2010) by Abigail C. Saguy, Kjerstin Gruys Social Problems, Volume 57, Issue 2, 1 May 2010, Pages 231–250.
From the abstract:
In the contemporary United States, thinness is associated with high social status and taken as evidence of moral virtue. In contrast, fatness is linked to low status and seen as a sign of sloth and gluttony....news media in our sample typically discuss how a host of complex factors beyond individual control contribute to anorexia and bulimia. In that anorexics and bulimics are typically portrayed as young white women or girls, this reinforces cultural images of young white female victims. In contrast, the media predominantly attribute overweight to bad individual choices and tend to treat binge eating disorder as ordinary and blameworthy overeating. In that the poor and minorities are more likely to be heavy, such reporting reinforces social stereotypes of fat people, ethnic minorities, and the poor as out of control and lazy.
Other Resources:
Here is a link to the Stanford Center on Poverty where you can view slides about inequality in the USA.
Here is a link to 15 statistics about inequality in America.
Here is a an article from the Washington Post explaining the difficulty of defining the middle class.
Children in poverty:
Poor Kids, Frontline documentary (2017). 54 minutes online at PBS.
Twenty percent of the children in the US are growing up in poverty! That's 1 out of every 5 kids in the United States is living at the poverty level! Yes, you read that correctly - 1 out of every 5 children in the United States is living in poverty right now! That's a higher rate than 34 out of 35 Western countries.
Rural poverty:
Children of the Mountain (2009), 49 minutes.
Here is a link to the Stanford Center on Poverty where you can view slides about inequality in the USA.
Here is a link to 15 statistics about inequality in America.
Different types of poverty (suburban, urban, rural/climate-caused, ):
The Line, MediaEd documentary (2015) 48 minutes
Documentary about the varied types of people living at the poverty line. The first two are from Chicagoland. One is a white suburban Dad who lives in the western suburbs. The next is a black woman living in the city who moves to Oak Park.
The Line, MediaEd documentary (2015) 48 minutes
Documentary about the varied types of people living at the poverty line. The first two are from Chicagoland. One is a white suburban Dad who lives in the western suburbs. The next is a black woman living in the city who moves to Oak Park.
Children in poverty:
Poor Kids, Frontline documentary (2017). 54 minutes online at PBS.
Twenty percent of the children in the US are growing up in poverty! That's 1 out of every 5 kids in the United States is living at the poverty level! Yes, you read that correctly - 1 out of every 5 children in the United States is living in poverty right now! That's a higher rate than 34 out of 35 Western countries.
Here is an update from 2019 about how the families are doing 2 years after the end of the movie.
Rural poverty:
Children of the Mountain (2009), 49 minutes.
Diane Sawyer did a special report on Appalachia that highlighted the children affected by poverty. I think there is a tendency for us to blame the adults for their impoverished situation, but we forget that these adults were once children born into a world of difficulties and obstacles that led to an adulthood of poverty. You can hear Diane Sawyer talk about it here. Can you use your sociological imagination to see all of the social forces that limit those who are in poverty in America? Watch the excerpt below from 20/20 to see the complicated life of the rural impoverished American:
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