In spite of living often unspeakably hard, endlessly challenging lives, rural folks, no matter how poor, remain tirelessly optimistic and believe things will get better next year. One struggling farmer explained it this way: "Sometimes I feel like a jackass in a hailstorm - I just have to stand here and take it...but what the hell - it'll stop hailing sooner or later". Trying to survive on the richest farmland in America has produced some of the nation's poorest people. Yet, this book argues, as pertains to rural poverty, the usual definitions and criteria don't always apply, the known predictors of poverty don't necessarily hold up -and rural people save themselves again and again, because they know no one else will. The book also refutes the common image of the poor as lazy slackers who don't want to work. In reality, the rural heartland is populated by fiercely independent, politically astute, extremely hard-working men and women who possess a wide array of useful skills - and who struggle year over year to stay afloat in small-town economies that rise and fall on the whims of remote farm policy decisions, a volatile world-wide marketplace, and Mother Nature, who is a fickle, wildly unpredictable business partner.

Child poverty is rising across affluent Western societies; how it is measured is vital to how governments act to prevent, alleviate or eliminate it. While the roots of childhood poverty are fiercely debated and contested, they are all too often misrepresented in policy and media discourses. Seeking to redress this problem, Treanor places children's experiences, needs and concerns at the centre of this critical examination of the contemporary policies and political discourses surrounding poverty in childhood. She examines a broad range of structural, institutional and ideological factors common across developed nations, and their impacts, to interrogate how poverty in childhood is conceptualised and operationalised in policy and to forge a radical pathway for an alternative future.

The single-room occupancy (SRO) tenements and welfare hotels located throughout New York City, but concentrated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, provided housing for many of society's troubled, marginal members in the late 1970s, when this book was originally published. The predominant population of these buildings was old, non-white, unemployed, disabled, and in poor health. What distinguished this community, however, was not that it is was part of a ghetto or slum, but that it was composed of poor people living amidst affluence, combining elements of both the law-abiding and criminal worlds.

Institutionally, the SRO tenement world described in this book is seen as a half-way area between open society and the total institution. Without the support and control available in the SROs, confinement in a total institution would be a certainty for many of the residents. This book, a participant-observer journal as well as an ethnographic study, suggests an alternative to institutionalization.

As Edward Sagarin notes in his preface, Siegal does not lack compassion for the sufferings of the people, but the focus is on the descriptions of their lives. Outposts of the Forgotten documents the circumstances of some of New York's forgotten residents.

Poverty and inequality are at record levels. Today, forty-seven million Americans live in poverty, while the median is in decline. The top 20 percent now controls 89 percent of all wealth. These conditions have renewed demands for a new economic Bill of Rights, an American idea proposed by F. D. Roosevelt, Truman, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The new Economic Bill of Rights has a coherent plan and proclaims that all Americans have the right to a job, to a living wage, to a decent home, to adequate medical care, to a good education, and to adequate protection from economic fears of unemployment, sickness, and old age.Integrating the latest economic and social data, this new book explores each of these rights. Each chapter includes: an analysis of the social problems surrounding each right; a historical overview of the attempts to right these wrongs; and assessments of current solutions offered by citizens, community groups, and politicians. These contemporary, real-life solutions to inequality can inspire students and citizens to become involved and open pathways toward a more just society.

The collective message of this compendium is caution: don't put excessive pressure on African institutions. Sayre Schatz, Ravi Gulhati and Satya Yalamanchili, and Raymond Hopkins, in particular, argue that laissez-faire won't work in Africa; that reforms must be carefully sequenced; and that evidence on the relationship between food subsidies and declining agricultural productivity is scanty. Foreign Affairs This collection of essays was assembled to address the problems of Africa from a variety of perspectives. The contributors have attempted to ask some basic but up-to-now unaddressed questions and to reframe many of the issues. The overall approach is intentionally interdisciplinary. Although recognizing that Africa's economic decline has resulted from poorly designed policy, the contributors also attempt to place that policy in its historical and cultural context. Similarly, they establish a comparative perspective for Africa's economic performance, and point to outside forces that have been overlooked. Finally, the contributors investigate some key issues in agricultural policy, such as decentralization, the role of women, and food subsidies.

There is a crisis destroying the livelihoods of 25 million coffee producers around the world. The price of coffee has fallen by almost 50 per cent in the past three years to a 30-year low. Farmers sell at a heavy loss while branded coffee sells at a hefty profit. The coffee crisis has become a development disaster whose impacts will be felt for a long time. Families dependent on the money generated by coffee are pulling their children, especially girls, out of school. They can no longer afford basic medicines, and are cutting back on food. Beyond farming families, coffee traders are going out of business. National economies are suffering and some banks are collapsing. Government funds are being squeezed dry, putting pressure on health and education and forcing governments further into debt. The scale of the solution needs to be commensurate with the scale of the crisis. Oxfam is calling for a Coffee Rescue Plan to make the coffee market work for the poor as well as the rich. The plan needs to bring together the major players in coffee to overcome the current crisis and create a more stable market. This accessible report, with illustrations and many visual aids, outlines the extent of the crisis in the coffee market and the reasons behind it, and presents a strategy for action.

* Case studies and research on how organizations are working to alleviate local and global poverty* Provides conceptual and research rationales for why management education must address the issue of poverty* The first part of a book series by the PRME Working Group on PovertyThis book provides a combination of case studies and current action research describing how businesses and civil society organizations are working to alleviate poverty in local and global communities. It provides conceptual and research rationales for why management education and management institutions must address the issue of poverty. The book responds to one of the major findings from the research of the PRME Working Group on Poverty that the topic of poverty still lacks a strong business case for management educators and program/institutional administrators.The distinctive features of this book are that it: (1) includes examples of small and medium-sized (SME) businesses; (2) deals with the issue of poverty as a human rights violation; (3) explores the issue of absolute versus relative poverty; (4) deals with leadership challenges in organizations committed to poverty alleviation; and (5) discusses the issues in terms of management education s responsibility for setting new management, research, institutional and intellectual agendas.The first of two books to be produced by the PRME Working Group on Poverty, "Socially Responsible Organizations and the Challenge of Poverty " provides both researchers and practitioners with the most wide-ranging coverage yet published on how business can be a positive force in alleviating poverty and how management education needs to adapt to this increasingly crucial prerogative."

Many theorists now give credence to the idea that those in informal paid work are an economic asset and that policy initiatives should be aimed at bringing them into the legitimate sphere. However, where people are on low incomes and face poverty, this presents a particular challenge. This study examines the relationship between poverty and informal work. Exploring the experiences of people engaged in low-paid informal work, it contends that unless government seeks to understand and include the informal economy in its strategies, it will never be able to reach its employment, anti-poverty or regeneration targets. The research shows that people in some deprived areas work informally - out of need, not greed -in response to poverty. Identifying low benefit rates, low wages and rules which limit the hours people can work as the three basic issues that underpin informal work, the report examines what works, and what does not, in tackling this activity. It provides in-depth evidence and a range of practical solutions to support and enable more people who wish to, to make the transition from the informal to formal economy. The report offers a greater understanding of the choices that people on low incomes are making and on how government policy and practice can better respond to these. People in low-paid informal work is aimed at government decision and policy makers, politicians, national assemblies, regional development agencies, local authorities and statutory delivery agencies, businesses, the voluntary and community sectors, trade unions and think tanks, as well as the general public.

The persistence of poverty hurts us all, and attacking poverty is a major policy objective everywhere. In Britain, the main political parties have an anti-poverty mandate and in particular an agreed commitment to eliminate child poverty by 2020, but there is controversy over how this should be done. This book addresses one of the main causes of poverty, financial exclusion the inability to access finance from the high-street banks. People on low or irregular incomes typically have to resort to loan sharks, doorstep lenders and other informal credit sources, a predicament which makes escape from the poverty trap doubly difficult.

Over the last fifteen years, a strategy of breaking down the poverty trap has been implemented, known in the UK as community development financial institutions (CDFIs), typically non-profit lending institutions focussed on the financially excluded, and seeking to learn from the achievements of microfinance around the world. Focussing on the period 2007-09, during which the UK went into a global recession, this book investigates how CDFIs work and how well they have helped low-income people and businesses to weather that recession. Based on a study of eight CDFIs in four UK cities, we ask: what ideas for overcoming financial exclusion have worked well, and which have worked badly? What can we learn from the experience of these CDFIs which can help reduce poverty in this country and globally?

We assess the impact of CDFIs using a range of indicators (including income, assets, education, health) and ask what changes in policy by both CDFIs and government agencies (for example, benefits agencies) might be able to increase impact. Some of the key lessons are: CDFIs need to work with appropriate partners to build up savings capacity in their clients; the community environment is vital in determining who escapes from the poverty trap; and CDFIs can never function properly unless they learn how to control their overdue debts.

This book will be vital reading for those concerned with social policy, microfinance and anti-poverty policies in industrialised countries and around the world."

National Jewish Book Awards Winner of the Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy for Sephardic Culture, 2012. Early modern Amsterdam was a prosperous city renowned for its relative tolerance, and many people hoping for a better future, away from persecution, wars, and economic malaise, chose to make a new life there. Conversos and Jews from many countries were among them, attracted by the reputed wealth and benevolence of the Portuguese Jews who had settled there. Behind the facade of prosperity, however, poverty was a serious problem. It preoccupied the leadership of the Portuguese Jewish community and influenced its policy on admitting newcomers: the struggle to keep poverty under control and ensure that finances were available for welfare was paramount. Tirtsah Levie Bernfeld looks at poverty and welfare from the perspective of both benefactors and recipients. She analyses benefactors' motives for philanthropy and charts its dimensions; she also examines the decision-making processes of communal bodies and private philanthropists, identifying the cultural influences that shaped their commitment to welfare. At the same time her detailed study succeeds in bringing the poor to life: she examines what brought them to Amsterdam, aspects of their daily life in the petitions they sent to the different welfare institutions, and the survival strategies offered by work, education, and charity. She also considers the related questions of social mobility and the motivation of the poor for joining the Amsterdam Portuguese community. Her research takes her, finally, beyond the margins of the established community to the small but active groups of Sephardi bandits who formed their own clandestine networks. Special attention is also paid to poor women, whether arriving alone or left behind and sometimes heading small family units, who were often singled out for relief. In this way the book makes a much-needed contribution to the study of gender, in Jewish society and more generally. This ground-breaking, multi-faceted study of the dynamics of the relationship between the rich and the poor adds a nuanced new dimension to our understanding of Jewish life in the early modern period.

NOW IN ITS SEVENTH ANNUAL EDITION, The Reality of Aid 2000 looks at how the performance of OECD donor countries on aid and development cooperation has matched up to the challenge of eliminating absolute poverty. The report charts some improvements at the level of donor policy and rhetoric. But its stark conclusion is that the potential of aid to combat poverty is constantly undermined by governments, both North and South, who fail to address the extreme inequalities of income and the structural, social and political injustices that entrench people in poverty. Part I of The Reality of Aid 2000 presents an overview of poverty in the current global context and an analysis of recent trends in aid - looking particularly at basic education. In Part II, chapters by experts from NGOs in OECD countries and the European Union show how donor aid administrations approach poverty - and highlight the weakness of political commitment in the North to the needs of the poor. Part III sets out Southern perspectives on development cooperation. Part IV provides 'at a glance' comparisons of donors' aid outlook and commitment to development cooperation in the 21st century, poverty eradication, gender and public support. Throughout the book, information is presented in easily interpreted diagrams and graphs. The Reality of Aid has established itself as a unique source of independent evaluation and comment on aid policies and development. It is indispensable for all in the field, whether in the official or voluntary sectors, providing a regular reality check on just how much the international community is doing to realise the achievable goal of eliminating poverty. 'Indispensable ... it gives you most of the hard facts you need to know about the major issues' Nett-' Internationalist 'The most comprehensive and rigorous independent analysis of the aid and development policies of the world's wealthiest nations ... Essential reading' Charity World 'The Reality of Aid remains an essential purchase by the libraries of development institutions and an invaluable reference for development practitioners' Development & Change 'A reliable 'watchdog' for anyone interested in this important aspect of international relations' ORBIT 'An accessible reference ... [it] encompasses many key issues and stimulates further research' Commonwealth & Comparative Politics Originally published in 1999

This impressive research collection discusses the most important contributions by some of the leading scholars in the field of poverty measurement. It analyses what constitutes poverty and associated poverty measures, as well as conceptual and empirical approaches to set poverty lines for both national and international settings. The research collection also discusses national and international income poverty measures, multidimensional poverty indices, and ways to capture poverty dynamics.

Over the past 50 years, billions of dollars and working days have been expended on the "development" of countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific. The alleviation of poverty is the primary concern of many -- though not all -- organizations working in the development sector. Some, notably the international financial institutions, have focused primarily on promoting economic growth at the macro-level, in the belief that increases in wealth at the national level will eventually "trickle down" to alleviate poverty throughout entire populations. In this view, grassroots poverty alleviation strategies are seen as short-to-medium-term activities, to complement macro-economic policies. In contrast, some development organizations -- often NGOs -- do not believe that wealth will ever trickle down to women or men in poverty; they see community development initiatives to address poverty as part of an alternative development approach. A commitment to equality between women and men may or may not figure as a part of their work.This book examines the complex links between poverty and inequality between women and men. It shows how gender inequalities impact on men s, women s and children s experiences of poverty, and demonstrates the importance of integrating gender analysis into every aspect of development initiatives. Covering a range of issues including macro-level neoliberal restructuring, poverty reduction strategies, gender budgets, education, HIV/AIDS, globalization and poverty in the North, the contributors bring new insights into the impacts of gender-blind development policies at all levels. Illustrating their analysis with examples from Peru, Sudan, Tanzania, Ghana, Togo, and the UK, they show how gender equality forms an integral part of "development," which must be mainstreamed into all poverty alleviation programs and development initiatives."

In the first substantial study of mounting urban problems in the Middle East, contributors present case studies of cities in Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, Sudan, and Iran. In particular, they address problems of urban planning and administration (including historic preservation issues), poverty and marginalization, health and gender in the urban environment, and the impact of politics on the city, including the actions of Islamicist groups. The authors stress that Middle East cities are indeed in crisis; in a concluding chapter, Michael Bonine asks whether or not they are sustainable.

In Western Europe, the notion of social exclusion is rapidly diffusing in recent years. This book investigates the notion of social exclusion as a new way to approach social issues such as the 'new poverty' long-term-unemployment, precariousness, social polarization and disintegration. Particular attention is paid to both the global relevance of an approach in terms of social exclusion and its value compared to more conventional approaches in terms of poverty of deprivation. It is shown that social exclusion goes beyond these by explicitly embracing the relational as well as the distributional aspects of poverty and emphasizing processes. In this book, the authors explore the specific forms of social exclusion in the ongoing processes of globalization, deregulation, crisis of the welfare state, and rise of individualism.

"Income-Poverty and Beyond" emphasizes the need to go beyond the conventional definition of poverty and look at the various human aspects of the problem. A team of eminent social scientists - Suresh Tendulkar, Abusaleh Shariff, R Radhakrishna, MSS Meenakshisundaram, Seeta K Prabhu, Ravi Srivastava and the editors, Raja J Chelliah and R Sudarshan - take a comprehensive view of poverty to include the concept of human poverty, seen as the "the denial of opportunities and choices most basic to human development." Special care has been taken to make the information and analysis accessible to the general readerUsing the latest available data for India as well as edited versions of papers commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a South Asia poverty monitor the broad conclusion that has emerged is that more public action is needed to counter the high prevalence of human poverty. Therefore, measures to reduce income-poverty, including high rates of economic growth are not sufficient.The first two chapters dwell on the concept of income-poverty, interstate and inter group disparities, and poverty trends in India over the decade 1983-94. There follows an examination of human development in rural India, availability of food for the poor, various programs aimed at removing poverty, the indices for human poverty and public financing of social services, human priority expenditures, and human expenditure ratios for the Indian states. The perceptions of the poor themselves in assessing their own poverty and in developing policies to improve their status are discussed and an Epilogue appeals to the national and international community to take serious note of human poverty inthe midst of which we all live.This book will be invaluable to teachers, students, policy-makers and others who need to understand the multi-faceted nature of poverty in India.

Income - Poverty and Beyond emphasizes the need to go beyond the conventional definition of poverty and look at the various human aspects of the problem. Eminent social scientists such as Suresh Tendulkar, Abusaleh Shariff, R Radhakrishna, M S S Meenakshisundaram, Seeta K Prabhu, Ravi Srivastava and the editors, Raja J Chelliah and R Sudarshan, take a comprehensive view of poverty to include the concept of human poverty, seen as the the denial of opportunities and choices most basic to human development'. Special care has been taken to make the information and analysis accessible to the general reader. Using the latest available data for India as well as edited versions of papers commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a South-Asia poverty monitor, the broad conclusion that has emerged is that more public action is needed to counter the high prevalence of human poverty. Therefore, current measures to reduce income-poverty, including high rates of economic growth, are not sufficient. The first two chapters dwell on the concept of income-poverty, interstate and intergroup disparities and poverty trends in India over the decade 198394. This is followed by an examination of human development in rural India, availability of food to the poor, various programmes aimed at removing poverty, the indices of human poverty and public financing of social services, human priority expenditures, and human expenditure ratios for the Indian states. The perceptions of the poor in assessing their own poverty and in developing policies to improve their status are discussed, and an epilogue appeals to the national and international community to take serious note of human poverty in the midst of which we all live.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The popular perception of Japanese society is that it possesses a homogeneity and cultural conformity unlike anything to be found in the West. In fact Japan has its own underclass living outside the mainstream in economic circumstances that are radically different to the more usual perception of a wealthy and sucessful society. Carolyn S. Stevens has produced a new study that intimately explores the lives of Japan's social outcasts as well as those volunteers who seek to help them and as a consequence become socially marginalized themselves.

This collection of all new essays seeks to answer a series of questions surrounding the Victorian response to poverty in Britain. In short, what did various layers of society say the poor deserved and what did they do to help them? The project is organised against the backdrop of the 1834 New Poor Laws, recognising that poverty garnered considerable attention in England because of its pervasive and painful presence. Each essay examines a different initiative to help the poor. Taking an historical tack, the essayists begin with the royal perspective and move into the responses of Church of England members, Evangelicals, and Roman Catholics; the social engagement of the literati is discussed as well. This collection of essays reflects the real, monetary, spiritual and emotional investments of individuals, public institutions, private charities, and religious groups who struggled to address the needs of the poor.

Millions have entered poverty as a result of the Great Recession's terrible toll of long-term unemployment. Kristin S. Seefeldt and John D. Graham examine recent trends in poverty and assess the performance of America s "safety net" programs. They consider likely scenarios for future developments and conclude that the well-being of low-income Americans, particularly the working poor, the near poor, and the new poor, is at substantial risk despite economic recovery."

Poverty is a multi-dimensional concept which is complex in its origin as well as in its manifestations. Oppression and denial of Human Rights can contribute to poverty. However, this oppression and exploitation of the poor is not to be understood simplistically but as a systemic injustice rooted within the context of well organized socio-political and cultural structures of oppression. This study is a concerted effort to identify, articulate and highlight the existence, the causes and effects of poverty in Nigeria, particularly in Igboland, where Human Rights infringements have contributed to poverty. It also aims at alerting the respective governments to their administrative inadequacies that are contrary to social ethics and have given rise to poverty. It concludes by discussing viable strategies of alleviating poverty in Igboland.

This book examines economic and political polarisation in post-Soviet Russia, and in particular analyses the development of rural inequality. It discusses how rural inequality has developed in post-Soviet Russia, and how it differs from the Soviet period, and goes on to look at the factors that affect rural stratification and inequality, using human and social capital, profession, gender, and village location as independent variables. The book uses survey data from rural households and fieldwork in Russia in order to highlight the multiplicity of divisions that act as fault lines in contemporary rural Russia.

"An analytic overview of the history of social welfare and juvenile justice in Boston..[Schneider] traces cogently the origins, development, and ultimate failure of Protestant and Catholic reformers' efforts to ameliorate working-class poverty and juvenile delinquency."
--"Choice"

"Anyone who wants to understand why America's approach to juvenile justice doesn't work should read In the Web of Class."
--Michael B. Katz, University of Pennsylvania