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Lecture Five
Poverty and Inequality in the US: The Working Poor
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Increasing Inequality
Between 1979 and 2005, the top 5% of American families saw their real incomes increase by 81%, while the net worth of the bottom 40% of American households fell by half
Ratio of CEO-worker pay: 2005 was 262 to 1 1965 it was 24 to 1
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We are all richer…
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Share of the Income 2006
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Stratification
Social Stratification: hierarchical classification of society’s members based on Resources Power Authority Prestige
Important to understand stratification because: Determines access to resources and rewards in society Life experiences and opportunities
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US: Mixed-class System
Even though we believe that we are pure class system, we are a mixed class system both ascribed and achieved characteristics
determine class position
Ascribed: race, gender, immigrant status, geography, sexual orientation
Achieved: education, initiative, determination, intelligence
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Opportunity Structure
WealthHigh Income
Good Neighborhood Good Schools
Good JobsAccess to Health Care
↑
↓
→ → → →
→ → → →
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What does social mobility look like? http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/natio
nal/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_01.html
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Barriers to Mobility?
Social Exclusion: cut off from mechanisms that allow social mobility in a society Neighborhood/Residential Education Occupation Culture
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Poverty: How do we explain it? “As a culture, the United States is not quite sure
about the causes of poverty, and therefore is uncertain about the solutions”
“Culture of Poverty” Individuals are responsible for their own culture and
socializing their children into poverty
“American Anti-Myth” (macro-structural) Poverty is produced by the unequal structures in society Inequalities in opportunity
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Poverty
Poverty: Official definition of poverty was developed in 1964 and is based on food consumption as 1/3 of household costs Absolute – physical deprivation Relative – deficiency relative to the population as
a whole
What are the main expenditures for households today?
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Who is most likely to be in Poverty? 58% of Americans will live poverty for at least 1 year
1 in 3 will experience extreme poverty for at least one year 27% will experience poverty before age 30
What creates this high risk for Americans? Time – life stages, such as divorce and other unanticipated
events Safety Net – very few social services to help people
through rough stages and Labor Market – not enough good paying jobs
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Feminization of Poverty Women are disproportionately represented
among the poor More likely to be in low-pay service jobs Women still make $0.76 for every man’s dollar
42% of female-headed households are in poverty, compared to 9% of two-parent families Children are more likely to live in poverty than
adults – 35% of US poor are children
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The Color of Poverty Higher rates of poverty among non-whites
White- 8% Black – 25% Hispanic – 22% American Indian – 25%
Highest rate of poverty is among children in single-parent households headed by Hispanic women – 48% are in poverty
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Black/White Wealth Gap
Wealth is the engine of social mobility Location, education, employment
Average white family has a net worth 7 times that of the average Black family This gap has grown since the 1960’s
The wealth gap accounts for many of the racial inequities Racial disparities almost disappear when economic
resources are equal
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Working Poor or the Nearly Poor Working Poor: workers in jobs at 27 weeks
of the year that are less secure, low-paying, and deskilled In 2005, 36.8% of the poor worked and 11.4%
worked full-time
Over 5% of the population are ‘working poor,’ but majority are non-white, female, and immigrant
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Why so many working poor?
Economic restructuring in the post-industrial society High skill, high tech, high wage jobs
versus Low skill, low tech, low wage jobs
Increasing gap between the rich and poor and growing economic inequality Zero-sum
Welfare to work (1996) pushed many poor (primarily women) into low paying, dead-end jobs