Part 2

Question 1

Understand the questions Iceland introduces in the introductory chapter:

Answer 1

If poverty will always be with us, then why have a “war” against it?
Is poverty the result of too much government or too little?
Is poverty a set concept, with a set threshold of measurement?
Does poverty matter for outcomes we should care about?
Is poverty about minorities?
Is poverty a fixed condition in individual’s lives?
Is poverty alleviation and the role of government a new debate?

Question 2

Given that Tammy works full-time and is not on welfare, how does Tammy’s story reveal the issue of drawing a poverty line?

Answer 2

She was working and making enough that she was hovering just above the poverty line, but didn’t qualify for assistance. So we can see her situation, and feel or know that she’s poor but isn’t according to federal statistics.

Question 3

According to Gibbs, what is a sociologist’s job?

Answer 3

Describe the poverty/society problem using tools available to the sociologists. Describing can be considered best, most important job and has value. 2nd job- If you have descriptions, you can get closer to explaining society. 3rd- Isolate social causes. Not focused on biology, psychology, etc; focused on how environment shapes one’s behavior. 4th- sharing findings.

Question 4

What is the “invisible hand”?

Answer 4

Idea that market works best when driven by self-interest. Innovation and societal improvement occurs because of this hand

Question 5

How might this idea promote the concept that “greed is good”?

Answer 5

Unleashes raw potential of free enterprise

Question 6

Is this the best we can do? What is the great U-turn?

Answer 6

Changed how we understand income inequality. Those in wealth are taxed less, CEOs get more executive pay. Return to performance for those at top is higher, taxation at the top is lower than it ever has been.

Question 7

In what ways are there “two Adam Smiths”?

Answer 7

He argued that there need to be social safety nets in society

Question 8

Absolute Poverty

Answer 8

A threshold (or poverty line) that remains constant over time. There is a subsistence level of income or consumption below which people should be deemed economically disadvantaged or deprived.

Question 9

Quasi-relative Poverty Measure

Answer 9

Comparative economic deprivation. Poverty is relative to a society’s existing level of economic, social, and cultural development.

Question 10

Capability Deprivation

Answer 10

Poverty is understood as the deprivation in the capability to live a good life

Question 11

Underclass

Answer 11

The lowest social stratum in a country or community, consisting of the poor and unemployed.

Question 12

Social Exclusion

Answer 12

Social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society

Question 13

Relative Poverty

Answer 13

A standard which is defined in terms of the society in which an individual lives and which therefore differs between countries and over time.

Question 14

Consumption

Answer 14

The using up of a resource.

Question 15

Hardship

Answer 15

Severe suffering.

Question 16

Understand the following concepts: Deserving vs. Undeserving Poor, Poverty vs. Pauperism

Answer 16

Deserving Poor- People poor not because of moral failings. Deserve Help
Undeserving poor-People who are poor because of their poor choices/moral failings.
Pauperism- Supported at public expense.

Question 17

Indoor vs. Outdoor relief

Answer 17

Outdoor relief was that kind of poor relief where assistance was in the form of money, food, clothing or goods, given to alleviate poverty without the requirement that the recipient enter an institution. Recipients of indoor relief were required to enter a workhouse or poorhouse.

Question 18

Situational vs. Intergenerational Poverty

Answer 18

.

Question 19

How have the rates of poverty changed over time based on the official threshold, subjective threshold, relative threshold, and SPM. Be able to label trend lines in Figure 1. Why do these differences in poverty rates matter?

Answer 19

Official threshold has stayed the same. Everything else has gone up.

Question 20

Be able to distinguish description from explanation using poverty statistics.

Answer 20

Description is just explaining the way the situation is, explaining is figuring out why it’s the way it is.

Question 21

Know the rates of poverty for all persons for each poverty measure.

Answer 21

.

Question 22

What is an argument for and against air conditioning, iphones, computers, as luxuries? Necessities?

Answer 22

Everyone needs these things to get by. They are survival tools. They do not determine whether or not you live in poverty. These things become the new standard of basic living.

Question 23

Why might “hardship” be an important way to understand poverty?

Answer 23

Because it makes the poor less of a statistic and makes them actual people.

Question 24

What are some broad geographical patterns of poverty in the US? Is there a relationship to race and place?

Answer 24

The patterns are pretty clear that where you live matters for the likelyhood of you growing up in poverty or not

Question 25

Is there a relationship between housing and homicides in Columbus? Why would anyone want to live in these places?

Answer 25

Because housing is affordable.

Question 26

What is poverty like in developing countries?

Answer 26

Poverty is about basic sustenance and survival. Extreme vulnerability to adverse events (disease/disaster) general inability to govern one’s circumstances.

Question 27

Is global poverty increasing over time?

Answer 27

No it is decreasing.

Question 28

Is global inequality increasing over time?

Answer 28

No it has stabilized.

Question 29

Which regions are changing the most? Which are changing the least?

Answer 29

East Asia

South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa

Question 30

What is the Marx perspective regarding rich and poor countries that has been applied to understand poverty in developing countries?

Answer 30

.

Question 31

What are the 6 general poverty trends in sub-Saharan Africa?

Answer 31

1.fiscal traps 2.geographic location 3. government failor 4. cultural barrier 5. geopolitics and conflict 6. demography

Question 32

Why do relative and absolute poverty rates of the US compared to other countries look so different?

Answer 32

.

Question 33

The “inheritance of possibility” will always occur, just as much as “poverty will always be with us.” But how does Figure 12 challenge the idea that the U.S. has reached its “equality of opportunity” potential? Why is mobility a more important issue than poverty?

Answer 33

.

Question 34

Why is Table 4 different than Figure 12? What is Iceland’s speculation for the .42 figure for the U.S.? What is the difference between relative and absolute mobility? What is the evidence from the Table 4 and Figure 3 (be able to spot the numbers for mobility rates in both the table and figure)? Explain the glass half empty, half full assessment of the American Dream from the video.

Answer 34

.

Question 35

What is the “Great Recession”? How long did it last? Was it a short recovery?

Answer 35

Longest downturn since the great depression. 2007-2009. No. In some aspects we are still recovering today.

Question 36

What are Iceland’s three explanations for the Great Recession?

Answer 36

Rising inequality. Loosening of bank regulations, so banks could loan more to those striving for “american dream”. Normative to be in debt to live in certain neighborhoods, lifestyle. Rise of mortgage securitization. Person who holds the debt not necessarily the bankers, but they don’t have to worry about the person paying it back. Profits of banks could be shared with investors and investors give banks more in investment money.

Question 37

Which racial/ethnic group was hardest hit by the Recession in terms of wealth?

Answer 37

Middle Class Hispanic.

Question 38

What were the foreclosure rates by race/ethnicity from 2009 to 2012? Who was hit the hardest? Why?

Answer 38

6% whites, 14% hispanics, 11% blacks, 8% asian. Subject to predatory subprime refinance loans in the inner city. 1.Recipients of risky near-prime “alt-A” purchase mortgages due to high rates of immigration and suburbanization (Latino 3x > black suburbanization) Predatory lending with suburbanization.

Question 39

Why were families historically considered a kind of welfare state? How can this create more inequality?

Answer 39

We pull on families to get through difficult financial times. Some families have more resources to help their children better. Not everyone has the help they need.

Question 40

Who are often considered the “worthy” poor? Why?

Answer 40

Those who have ascriptive characteristics who invoke sympathy. Disabled, women, children, elderly.

Question 41

What was the purpose of the movement towards “indoor” relief? Did it work?

Answer 41

Institutional approach to combating poverty. Indoor- Reform and change the individual to help them out of poverty. Outdoor- give them assistance, but not necessarily a place to live, or a job, Live where you work, employee towns.Hard to say, in some ways it did. Some ways it didn’t.

Question 42

How did social work as a profession develop?

Answer 42

.

Question 43

What instigated the “War on Poverty” and the Great Society programs of the 1960s?

Answer 43

Public will to tackle poverty got stronger because of Great depression. It’s our problem, not their problem. Wealthy felt pressure to give back.

Question 44

Why did public sentiment shift away from big government solutions in the 70s and 80s?

Answer 44

Feeling that nothing works. Investment was all for nothing. Sentiment turned downward to using taxation to fix poverty. Recessions didn’t help, made peeps less willing to give money to gov’t. Politicians ran on low taxes, cutting ineffective programs.

Question 45

What are the two types of government aid? Which of the two types of programs are more costly. What are the most expensive programs for each type?

Answer 45

Social Insurance program (helps everybody, no requirements. Social Security. Medicare. Helping old people basically). Public Assistance- Targets Low income populations. Social Insurance Program.

Question 46

According to Figure 25, what are the three top programs that decrease poverty the most?

Answer 46

Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare.

Question 47

How does Sharkey’s figure and the QWERTY keyboard suggest about poverty over time?

Answer 47

Keys organized inefficiently on purpose. When we get out of poverty, we still do things that are weird.

Question 48

What is the concept of brokerage? Link this idea to the classroom (students wanting to go to grad school), the Harlem Children’s Zone and an LDS ward.

Answer 48

Solution idea. People have different resources, pool resources to help each other get ahead. Institutions bring together individuals to pool resources.