Lecture 15 Outline of Last Lecture I Women as Warriors II Families Through History III Family Structure and Social Forces IV Family Structure and Social Forces Racial Stratification V Family Forms and Social Forces VI Family Forms and Social Forces Politics and State VII A Feminist Rethinking of the Family VIII Chore Wars Outline of Current Lecture IX Poverty X Measuring Poverty XI Poverty and Other Systems of Stratification XII Chidren in Poverty XIII LBJ s War on Poverty XIV Culture and Poverty XV How Culture Might Matter XVI Impacts of Poverty XVII Poverty and Crime XVIII How Does It Work XIX How Culture Matters Current Lecture XX Poverty SOC 100 1st Edition a condition of deprivation due to economic circumstances se XXI vere enough that the individual cannot live in conditions due to their dignity b offical poverty line in US is calculated by using a formula that was developed in the 1960 s by Mollie Orshansky i estimates food cost for minimum food requirements to determine whether a family can afford to provide ii this has not changed since the 1960 s Measuring Poverty a 2014 about 23 000 for a family of four b 2010 about 15 of American families were living in poverty i highest since 1993 c Problems with using income as a measurement i doesn t cappture activity of people who are living in areas that aren t economically stable These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best 1 should be replaced by consumption levels a money going out instead of going in Poverty and Other Systems of Stratification a Poverty Rates by Race i 27 4 Blacks ii 26 6 Latinos iii 12 1 Non Latino whites b Poverty Rates by Gender XXIII Children in Poverty a 22 of all children under the age of 18 are in poverty i mostly black and latino 1 12 4 white 2 38 2 Black 3 35 Latino XXIV LBJ s War on Poverty a Programs to Combat Poverty i Head Start federally funded preschools to get children in schools early to eat and start and early education ii Food Stamps direct assistance to families of additional support in buying food iii Aid to families with dependent children otherwise known as welfare XXV Culture of Poverty a argues that poor people adopt certain practices that differ from middle class i promoted by Oscar Lewis 1966 1 living in poverty produced a system of values attitudes beliefs and practices 2 creates dependence on government relief b Moynihan Report i poverty creates tangle of pathologies 1 poor health and poor educational outcomes ii focused on the way poverty affected families 1 Especially the decline of African American families a women headed households lead to matricarchal society undermining men b African American men abdicated responsibilities as husbands fathers and providers c Problems evidence i poor people actually have same values as mainstream society individualism hard work family etc ii culture was poorly defined and operationalized 1 What are we talking about here Attitudes Beliefs Etc iii blaming the victims the ones living in poverty for larger structures that support inequality XXII deindustrialization globalization discrimination The Criminal Justice System XXVI How Culture Might Matter a understand how people cope and escape poverty i Coping 1 Family ties and friendship networks 2 rotataing credit association among immigrant poor ii Escaping 1 individualism weighs against using network connections to get jobs XXVII Impacts of Poverty a actual correlations of poverty i Jobs and Incomes are lower ii education attainment is worse iii housing and residential segregation is worse iv health and nutrition is worse v crime is higher XXVIII Poverty and Crime a why so often in poor communities i common perception is it true 1 depends on how we measure crime a arrest rates true b self reports false i crime isn t predicted by class status 1 All across SES system ii poor people are just as law abiding as Middle Class wealthy people ii Unemployment no correlation iii Deviant Subcultures 1 rebellion of middle class values 2 rejection of middle class values b no evidence b Poverty undermines social control i correlates of poverty 1 single parent households housing with high turnover poorly funded educational programs absence of economic development in community ii Effects 1 undermines collective capacity to solve problems and supervise teenagers iii living social conditions are giving rise to crime not poverty XXIX How Does It Work 1 2 3 4 a impact of poverty and criminal justice system i criminal justice policy 1 targets crime that poor people committ b drugs and sentencing 2 poor people of color disproportionally imprisoned b Effects i prison has become a stage in the life course for some XXX African American men How culture Might Matter a culture discourse about poverty i work responsibility opportunity deservingness ii Peversity Thesis 1 antipoverty programs actually increase poverty