ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the available evidence concerning the extent of intergenerational perpetuation of poverty. It deals with fatherless families and poverty and also examines the perpetuation of broken families. The chapter considers the extent to which there is intergenerational perpetuation of poverty and the many possible determinants of mobility into and out of poverty. There are two ways of analyzing intergenerational occupational mobility: inflow and outflow analysis. The relative size of the poor and nonpoor categories obviously depends upon the definition of poverty. The division between poverty and nonpoverty is usually made at what is considered a minimally adequate standard of living. The nonpoor parents can sometimes provide, in addition, places of employment or capital resources which can almost insure avoiding poverty. The relationship between the socioeconomic status of the family-of-origin and the economic status is not so great that being in poverty can be accounted for simply by the fact that one was raised in poverty.
