Poverty in America

Paper Summary:

This paper seeks to demonstrate, through the sociological theories of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, the continual rise in America's underclass. Policies such as Reagan's welfare reform and Roosevelt's New Deal are cited as examples. What is concluded from this research is an unclear understanding of what "poor" is. It shows how all of the models of the past, including those of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, have contributed to beneficial views toward class, redistribution, and assistance for the poor, but they have not been translated well enough in a modern sense to be valued by a broad spectrum of policy makers to be put to effective use.

From the Paper:

"Whatever the differences are between who is or is not poor, there is an associative vocabulary that divides and obfuscates the issues of policy, and causes a reflexive and reinforcing distinction that stigmatizes those that in the field of sociology and social work wish to help. Part of the problem in using such a vocabulary is that it continues to put a distinction of those that are poor and nameless as being "strangers" (Katz, 1995). Strangers traditionally were owed no obligations of assistance in colonial America, however it was expected that families would take care of their own close relations, and communities would ease the suffering of those known in the community. However, the general public owed nothing to those they didn't know, the "stranger," especially those strangers in the cities, where there were great expanses of anonymity created by mass transportation, and private residences."

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