these sociologists say the poverty cycle is far from inevitable – next city

8/18/2019 These Sociologists Say the Poverty Cycle is Far From Inevitable – Next City

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BY JEN KINNEY | APRIL 20, 2016

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These Sociologists Say the Poverty Cycle Is Far FromInevitable

A young woman sits beneath a mural of Freddie Gray in Baltimore last December.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

o m i n g o f A g e i n t h e O t h e r A m e r i c a — p u b l i s h e d T u e s d a y o n t h e a n n i v e r s a r y o f F r e d d i e G r a y ’ s

d e a t h a f t e r i n j u r i e s s u s t a i n e d i n p o l i c e c u s t o d y — a i m s t o f l i p t h e n a r r a t i v e a b o u t B a l t i m o r e ’ s

i m p o v e r i s h e d y o u t h .

A f t e r f o l l o w i n g 1 5 0 B a l t i m o r e t e e n s f o r m o r e t h a n a d e c a d e , a u t h o r s a n d s o c i o l o g i s t s S t e f a n i e D e L u c a ,

S u s a n C l a m p e t - L u n d q u i s t a n d K a t h r y n E d i n c o n c l u d e i n t h e i r b o o k t h a t t h e m a j o r i t y o f t h e s e y o u t h

h a v e m a i n s t r e a m a s p i r a t i o n s t o c o m p l e t e p o s t - s e c o n d a r y e d u c a t i o n a n d w o r k i n t h e f o r m a l s e c t o r .

D e s p i t e t h e s t r u c t u r a l b a r r i e r s t h e y w i l l f a c e a n d t h e m e d i a n a r r a t i v e t h a t c a n p a i n t t h e s e y o u t h a s

f u n d a m e n t a l l y v o l a t i l e , t h e a u t h o r s s a y t h a t t h e s o c i a l r e p r o d u c t i o n o f p o v e r t y i s f a r f r o m i n e v i t a b l e .

T h i s i s t r u e e v e n i n B a l t i m o r e , w h e r e p o o r c h i l d r e n a r e l e s s l i k e l y t o e s c a p e p o v e r t y t h a n t h o s e g r o w i n g

u p i n a n y o t h e r c i t y i n A m e r i c a .

T h e i r r e s e a r c h f o u n d t h a t y o u t h f r o m d i s a d v a n t a g e d c o m m u n i t i e s a r e o f t e n m o t i v a t e d t o e x i t t h e c y c l e

http://www.russellsage.org/coming-age-other-americahttps://nextcity.org/daily/author/jen-kinney


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o f p o v e r t y b y a n “ i d e n t i t y p r o j e c t ” — p u r s u i t o f a p a s s i o n l i k e a r t , m u s i c o r a d r e a m j o b t h a t c o u l d l e a d

t o s c h o o l i n g o r a c a r e e r . B u t t h e y a l s o f o u n d t h a t t h e d e e p l y e n t r e n c h e d d i s a d v a n t a g e s t h e y f a c e c a n

f o r c e e v e n t h e m o s t p r o m i s i n g s t u d e n t s i n t o e x p e d i t e d e d u c a t i o n o r c a r e e r p a t h s , k e e p i n g t h e m m i r e d

i n p o v e r t y .

T a k e f o r e x a m p l e a s t u d e n t t h e w r i t e r s c a l l e d B r i d g e t , a p a s s i o n a t e d a n c e r a n d g o o d s t u d e n t w h o s e

s t r o n g P S A T s c o r e s h e l p e d h e r e a r n a N a t i o n a l M e r i t S c h o l a r s h i p . S h e ’ d h o p e d t o g o t o H a r v a r d , b u t

i n s t e a d e n r o l l e d i n a m i l i t a r y b o o t c a m p , s e e k i n g a q u i c k e r p a t h o u t o f h e r p o o r , v i o l e n t n e i g h b o r h o o d .

O f a l l t h e y o u t h s u r v e y e d , a t h i r d — p a r t i c u l a r l y t h o s e w i t h o u t p a s s i o n p r o j e c t s — w e r e n e i t h e r

e m p l o y e d n o r i n s c h o o l , a c r i s i s t h e a u t h o r s a r g u e i s d r i v e n b y a w e a k l a b o r m a r k e t a n d s u b p a r

p o s t s e c o n d a r y e d u c a t i o n , i n c l u d i n g e x p l o i t a t i v e f o r - p r o f i t t r a d e s c h o o l s a n d u n d e r f u n d e d c o m m u n i t y

c o l l e g e s , w h i c h t r a p y o u n g a d u l t s i n l o w - w a g e j o b s a n d m o u n t i n g d e b t .

T h e a u t h o r s c o n c l u d e d t h a t w h i l e p e r s o n a l l y

m o t i v a t i n g p r o j e c t s c a n p r o p e l y o u t h f o r w a r d ,

s y s t e m i c c h a n g e s a r e n e e d e d t o h e l p t h e m

t r a n s c e n d i n h e r i t e d b o u n d a r i e s . T h e i r

r e s e a r c h f o u n d t h a t y o u t h w h o w e r e a b l e t o

m o v e t o b e t t e r n e i g h b o r h o o d s t h r o u g h t h e

M o v i n g t o O p p o r t u n i t y p r o g r a m o r o t h e r

m e a n s w e r e m u c h m o r e l i k e l y t o c o m p l e t e

h i g h s c h o o l a n d e n r o l l i n c o l l e g e t h a n t h e i r

p a r e n t s .

B u t i n a c i t y w h e r e r a c e o f t e n c o r r e l a t e s m o r e

w i t h p o v e r t y t h a n w i t h i n c o m e , m u c h m o r e

t h a n m o v i n g p o o r k i d s i n t o w e a l t h i e r

n e i g h b o r h o o d s i s n e c e s s a r y . T h e a u t h o r s

a r g u e t h e n e e d f o r m i x e d - i n c o m e

n e i g h b o r h o o d s , i n c r e a s e d r e g u l a t i o n o f f o r -

p r o f i t s c h o o l s a n d i n c r e a s e d c o l l e g e r e s o u r c e s

f o r l o w - i n c o m e h i g h s c h o o l s t u d e n t s . A n d t o k e e p y o u t h i n s c h o o l l o n g e n o u g h t o r e a p t h o s e b e n e f i t s ,

s t u d e n t s n e e d i n s t i t u t i o n a l s u p p o r t f o r i d e n t i t y p r o j e c t s .

BECOME A NEXT CITY MEMBER TODAY

J e n K i n n e y i s a f r e e l a n c e w r i t e r a n d d o c u m e n t a r y p h o t o g r a p h e r . H e r w o r k h a s

a l s o a p p e a r e d i n S a t e l l i t e M a g a z i n e , H i g h C o u n t r y N e w s o n l i n e , a n d t h e

A n c h o r a g e P r e s s . S e e h e r w o r k a t j a k i n n e y . c o m .

http://www.jakinney.com/https://nextcity.org/membershiphttps://nextcity.org/daily/entry/poverty-neighborhood-quality-race-segregationhttps://nextcity.org/daily/entry/julian-castro-hud-secretary-baltimore-housing-program


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FOLLOW JEN EMAIL JEN

TAGS: POVERTY,BALTIMORE,YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

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https://nextcity.org/daily/tags/tag/youth+unemploymenthttps://nextcity.org/daily/tags/tag/baltimorehttps://nextcity.org/daily/tags/tag/povertymailto:[email protected]://twitter.com/jkjenkinney

these sociologists say the poverty cycle is far from inevitable – next city

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