Kathleen Stahler May 8 2011 What does Bourgois see to be at the root of substance abuse The root of substance abuse is poverty Substance abuse is perhaps the dimension of inner city poverty most suspectible to short term policy intervention page 319 How much has poverty risen in the US between 1968 and 1992 It has gotten worse and has increased The poorest sectors of the population during these years experience the greatest incremnet in poverty levels at the same time that the rich increased their relative number by 40 page 320 What solutions does Bourgois suggest might provide concrete short term public policy solutions Alter the imbalance between the legal economy and the undeground economy PAGE 320 Bourgois states that crack dealers he lived with are not driven solely by simple economic necessity they are also searching for dignity and fulfillment Explain Why does Bourgois state that almost none of the policy recommendations he has made so far are politically feasible in the US in the short or medium term They are not feasible for the US because he only attempts to rasuuse them for discussion in the hope that in the inevitable ebbs flows and rutpure around popular support for new politica approaches to confronting poverty ehtnic discrimination and gender inequality in the coming years some of these ideas could be dragged into the mainstream of public debates and that maybe bits and pieces of them could be instiutued over the coming decades in one form or another PAGE 325 What does Bourgois mean when he says that the people he studied are not exotic others operating in an irrational netherworld On the contrary they are made in America They are individuals The inner city represents the United States greatest domestic failing hanging like a damocles sword over the larger society page 326