Social Inequality/Poverty

1. Social Inequality/Poverty • What does a woman on welfare look like? • Ethnocentrism and Middle Class Bias • Horatio Alger Myths • Structural Inequality • Deindustrialization • Distribution of Wealth in Society

2. Social Inequality/Poverty • Defining PovertyThe Poverty Line • Profiling the Poor • Feminization/Juvenilization of PovertyWhat about the Elderly? • Theoretical Explanations of the Poor

3. Social Inequality/Poverty • Theoretical Explanations of the PoorPersonal Inferiority The Culture of Poverty -Oscar Lewis Edward Banfield’s The Unheavenly CityStructuralism • The Impact of Social PolicyBoston’s WorkhousesPhiladelphia’s Almshouses • Squalor of Cities

4. Social Inequality/Poverty • The Impact of Social PolicyRoosevelt administration: Social Security AFDC Unemployment Compensation • Johnson’s administration: War on Poverty Food stamps Medicaid/Medicare

5. Social Inequality/Poverty • The War on Poverty Housing Job Training (VISTA, Job Corps, CETA) Head Start • The Reagan administration Guidelines for AFDC Funding for Food Stamps CETA/Subsidized Housing

6. Social Inequality/Poverty • Clinton’s Welfare ReformWhat does all this mean? • The HomelessWhat do we know?The Criminalization of Homelessness anti-panhandling; using public space; zoning regulations regarding shelters Magnet Theories of Homelessness

7. Social Inequality/Poverty • What to Do?Eliminate the myths regarding the poor.Educate the population about the problems.Accuracy of information--rely on empirical data, not political rhetoric or media accounts.

8. Social Inequality/Poverty • Foster Care, What do we know about it?Effective evaluation and application of programs…avoid panacea phenomenon4-HsHelping, Hoping, Heading, Healing