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A review by thatabbygirl
The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler
3.0
this is a very good book to read if you know a little about the policy problems facing the working poor and want to get a better idea of the human stories of people affected by them, or if you don't know anything about the daily lives of the working poor and need a good illustration of the thicket of problems trapping them in poverty.
however, if you are looking for a systemic analysis of which policies and procedures create this poverty trap and perpetuate these conditions, this is not the book for you. while it gave me an extremely vivid and personal view into the lives of many individuals and families struggling with poverty in the US because of different reasons - disability, poor education, substandard housing, sexual abuse, domestic violence, etc - but does little to discuss how we can best address, ameliorate, or eliminate these problems.
i have really mixed feelings about these kinds of books. certainly when i hear poverty discussed in political terms, especially by conservatives, there is little acknowledgement of the extremely limiting effect of the interlocking systems and policies of oppression and deprivation - so it's nice to have such a clear illustration of why lack of health insurance can prevent someone from getting a job. on the other hand, the focus on the individual reinforces a sense that poverty should be addressed on the individual level - the book details how church networks managed to keep several individuals from becoming homeless or hungry, thus implying expansion of that level of charitable programming as a solution.
i wanted to read more big picture ideas, that prevent people from getting to this state, that address the systemic problems, and there was not a lot of that in this book.
however, if you are looking for a systemic analysis of which policies and procedures create this poverty trap and perpetuate these conditions, this is not the book for you. while it gave me an extremely vivid and personal view into the lives of many individuals and families struggling with poverty in the US because of different reasons - disability, poor education, substandard housing, sexual abuse, domestic violence, etc - but does little to discuss how we can best address, ameliorate, or eliminate these problems.
i have really mixed feelings about these kinds of books. certainly when i hear poverty discussed in political terms, especially by conservatives, there is little acknowledgement of the extremely limiting effect of the interlocking systems and policies of oppression and deprivation - so it's nice to have such a clear illustration of why lack of health insurance can prevent someone from getting a job. on the other hand, the focus on the individual reinforces a sense that poverty should be addressed on the individual level - the book details how church networks managed to keep several individuals from becoming homeless or hungry, thus implying expansion of that level of charitable programming as a solution.
i wanted to read more big picture ideas, that prevent people from getting to this state, that address the systemic problems, and there was not a lot of that in this book.