ABSTRACT

In the United States, the causes and even the meanings of poverty are disconnected from the causes and meanings of global poverty. The Routledge Handbook of Poverty in the United States provides an authoritative overview of the relationship of poverty with the rise of neoliberal capitalism in the context of globalization.

Reorienting its national economy towards a global logic, US domestic policies have promoted a market-based strategy of economic development and growth as the obvious solution to alleviating poverty, affecting approaches to the problem discursively, politically, economically, culturally and experientially. However, the handbook explores how rather than alleviating poverty, it has instead exacerbated poverty and pre-existing inequalities – privatizing the services of social welfare and educational institutions, transforming the state from a benevolent to a punitive state, and criminalizing poor women, racial and ethnic minorities, and immigrants.

Key issues examined by the international selection of leading scholars in this volume include: income distribution, employment, health, hunger, housing and urbanization. With parts focusing on the lived experience of the poor, social justice and human rights frameworks – as opposed to welfare rights models – and the role of helping professions such as social work, health and education, this comprehensive handbook is a vital reference for anyone working with those in poverty, whether directly or at a macro level.

part I|87 pages

From the production of inequality to the production of destitution

chapter 1|8 pages

Beyond Coincidence

How neoliberal policy initiatives in the IMF and World Bank affected U.S. poverty levels 1

chapter 2|7 pages

The Discursive Axis Of Neoliberalism

Debt, deficits, and austerity

chapter 3|7 pages

Deindustrialized Small Cities and Poverty

The view from Camden

chapter 6|19 pages

The House Always Wins

How state lotteries displace American tax burdens by class and race

chapter 7|8 pages

Predatory Financial Services

The high cost of being poor in America

part II|77 pages

Discourses of poverty

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

chapter 9|7 pages

The Problematic Conceptualizations And Constructions Of Poverty

Select global analysis

chapter 12|13 pages

Welfare Dependency And Poverty

Neoliberal rhetoric or evidence-informed choice?

chapter 13|18 pages

Babies As Barriers

Welfare policy discourse in an era of neoliberalism

chapter 14|9 pages

We Are The 99 Percent

The rise of poverty and the decline of poverty stigma

part III|244 pages

From the welfare state to the neoliberal state

section Section I|59 pages

Transformation of the welfare state

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

chapter 18|10 pages

Poverty Reduction Through Education

An analytical framework for cash transfers for education

chapter 19|8 pages

Students That Lag Or A System That Fails?

A contemporary look at the academic trajectory of Latino students

chapter 20|6 pages

The New Two-Tiered Education System In The United States

Expanding and commodifying poverty and inequality

section Section II|109 pages

Transformation of the welfare state

chapter 21|10 pages

Neoliberal Globalization

Social welfare policy and institutions

chapter 25|10 pages

Countering Urban Poverty Concentration In The United States

The people versus place debate in housing policy

chapter 26|11 pages

Privatizing The Housing Safety Net

HOPE VI and the transformation of public housing in the United States

chapter 27|11 pages

Poverty De-Concentration Priorities In Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Allocation Policy

A content analysis of qualified allocation plans

section section III|72 pages

Transformation of the welfare state

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter Chapter 31|8 pages

Managing The Neoliberal City

“Quality of life” policing in the twenty-first century

chapter 32|10 pages

The Rise Of Incarceration Among The Poor With Mental Illnesses

How neoliberal policies contribute

chapter 34|9 pages

A People's History Of Legal Aid

A brief sketch

chapter 35|11 pages

Surviving Gender-Based Violence In The Neoliberal Era

The role of the state in transforming poor women from victims to survivors

chapter 36|8 pages

Systemic And Symbolic Violence As Virtue

The carceral punishment of African American girls

part IV|81 pages

Global poverty and the lived experiences of poor communities in the United States

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter 428|8 pages

Paths Into Homelessness

An examination of structural factors

chapter 42|7 pages

Breaking The Silence

Homelessness and race 1

chapter 44|8 pages

The Neoliberal Diet

Fattening profits and people

chapter 45|9 pages

Grounding Grandma

A qualitative discussion of home maintenance policies for aging in community

part V|57 pages

Organizing to resist neoliberal policies and poverty

chapter Chapter 47|9 pages

The Poverty Of “Poverty”

Re-mapping conceptual terrain in education and counseling beyond a focus on economic output

chapter 48|10 pages

Legitimizing And Resisting Neoliberalism In U.S. Community Development

The influential role of community development intermediaries

chapter 49|9 pages

Too Legit To Quit

Gaining legitimacy through human rights organizing

chapter 51|9 pages

From The Self To The Social

Engaging urban youth in strategies for change

chapter 52|7 pages

Migrant Civil Society

Shaping community and citizenship in a time of neoliberal reforms

part VI|29 pages

Reframing poverty in the era of globalization

chapter 53|8 pages

Creating A Sustainable Society

Human rights in the U.S. welfare state

chapter 54|9 pages

Returning To The Collective

New approaches to alleviating poverty