Showing papers on "Poverty published in 1972"

Schooling and Inequality from Generation to Generation

Abstract: For at least half a century schooling has been the chosen instrument of American social reformers. More and better schooling has been seen as an antidote to the brutalization of industrial life. More equal access to schooling has been sought as a powerful vehicle for the equalization of economic opportunity, the redistribution of income, and the elimination of poverty. Until recently, the choice of education as the instrument of those who sought greater equality in the United States has not been based on any direct evidence of its efficacy in bringing higher incomes to the children of the poor. Rather, the popularity of educational reform among liberals and progressives stemmed from more political considerations: educational equalization seemed to offer a strategy for achieving the greater social equality that was politically viable. More equal education, it was confidently asserted, could achieve significantly greater equality of economic opportunity and incomes without challenging the basic economic institutions of society and without requiring any major redistribution of capital. Yet over the past decade, important empirical support has been forthcoming for those who see education as-to quote Horace Mann-"the great equalizer." First, the possibility of more equal schooling achieving a more equal distribution of income seemed to be confirmed by studies of the determinants of individual earnings.' The earnings functions estimated in these studies demonstrated a strong relationship between years of school-

Persistent Poverty; Underdevelopment in Plantation Economies of the Third World

Abstract: This is a revised edition of a seminal work on the nature of underdevelopment. It includes a new foreword and appendixes on the significance of plantations to Third World economies and the contribution that George Beckford made to Caribbean economic thought.

The Economics of Poverty and Discrimination

Abstract: This book was written to provide students with a broad overview of the dimensions of poverty and discriminations, the various explanations for these social ills, and the policy options for addressing them. The book provides an organized, ready access to the issues of poverty and discrimination, and offers up-to-date discussions of major policy initiatives, including welfare reform, child support, healthcare and training initiatives. A bibliography of recent research that helps students identify sources for further study is included.

The Positive Functions of Poverty

Abstract: Mertonian functional analysis is applied to explain the persistence of poverty, and fifteen functions which poverty and the poor perform for the rest of American society, particularly the affluent, are identified and described. Functional alternatives which would substitute for these functions and make poverty unnecessary are suggested, but the most important alternatives are themselves dysfunctional for the affluent, since they require some redistribution of income and power. A functional analysis of poverty thus comes to many of the same conclusions as radical sociological analysis, demonstrating anew Merton's assertion that functionalism need not be conservative in ideological outlook or implication.

The heresy of the free spirit in the later Middle Ages

Abstract: The heresy of the Free Spirit is often considered to have been the most important continental European heresy of the fourteenth century. Many historians have described its membership as a league of anarchistic deviants who fomented sexual license and subversion of authority. Free Spirits are supposed to have justified nihilism and megalomania and to have been remote precursors of Bakunin and Nietzsche and twentieth-century bohemians and hippies. This volume examines the Free-Spirit movement as it appeared in its own age, and concludes that it was not a tightly-organized sect, but rather a spectrum of belief that emphasized voluntary poverty and quietistic mysticism. Overall, the movement was far more typical of the late-medieval search for God and godliness that is commonly supposed.

Dilemmas of social reform: poverty and community action in the United States

Abstract: This title is a classic work on social reform. It is an account of the origins and development of community action from its beginnings in the Ford Foundation Gray Area Programs and the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency, through the rise and decline of the War on Poverty and the Model Cities program. In the ruthlessly impartial examination of various poverty programs, two social scientists one British, one American-explain why programs of such size and complexity have only a minimal chance of success. They describe the realities of reform and point up how the conservatism of bureaucracy, the rivalries among political and administrative jurisdictions, and the apathy of the poor have often hindered national and local efforts. On the other hand, they show how these obstacles can be overcome by an imaginative combination of leadership, democratic participation, and scientific analysis.

Poverty, ethnic identity and preventive health care.

Abstract: To investigate the roles of 3 types of alienation; powerlessness hopelessness and social isolation as barriers to the utilization of health services 806 low income mothers from three Los Angeles neighborhoods were interviewed about the preventive health care they received. Alienation has a minimal effect on the dental care received for the children but is a highly significant (p less than .001) barrier to family planning.

Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Attitudes toward Welfare Recipients and the Causes of Poverty

Abstract: Data are presented which show the association of the socioeconomic factors of age, sex, education, and occupation with the responses of a national sample of the white population in 1964 to questions about the causes of poverty, selected aspects of welfare programs, and the legitimacy of the need to receive aid.

Employment at Low Wages

Abstract: 'N our society work is invariably prescribed as the path out of poverty. However, for a significant proportion of the poor this remedy falls on deaf ears, since they work but are poor. The working poor earn their poverty! Perhaps this segment of the poor has been neglected precisely because its existence belies our belief that work is the panacea for all social ills.' The focus of this study is the individual full-time wage earner and the forces affecting his/her wage income. In particular, we are interested in evaluating the relative importance of the individual characteristics of workers and the structure of the labor market in which they work. The first section contains a review of the theory of individual wNage dete-rmination in prep)aration for the exposition of the model of wage determination (section II). In section III we p)resent the empirical results of the investigation, and in section IV we evaluate public policy as it has been applied to the poor and the low-wage worker in our society.

Comparing the use of medical care services by a medically indigent and a general membership population in a comprehensive prepaid group practice program.

Abstract: program provides medical care for 1,500 urban indigent families by integrating them on a prepaid capitated basis into the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan in Portland, Oregon. Generally, the findings indicate that the rate and patterns of utilization between the two populations are essentially similar. The only major differences are: 1. that the adult males of the poverty population use a significantly higher rate of services with a high emotional component, and 2. that the poverty population fails to keep scheduled appointments at a significantly higher rate than the health plan members. The data indicate that much of the reported differences in medical care utilization between poverty groups and other sections of the general population seem to disappear when financial and other barriers are removed. Many of the reported differences in the behavior of poverty populations appear to relate to differential access to care.

Are Black Migrants from the South to the Northern Cities Worse Off Than Blacks Already There

Abstract: Among Negroes living in an SMSA outside the South in 1960, those born in the South had higher incomes and less unemployment than those born in the North with or without standardizing for differences in age, years of school, and a number of other variables. Recent migrants, defined as those living in an SMSA in 1960 but not in 1955, did have lower incomes than those who were in SMSAs in both years, although the differential is larger for whites than for Negroes. Several possible explanations for these results are discussed. Economists often look at migration as an investment and compare the income of migrants with that of people who remained behind. This study focuses on a different aspect of migration. It compares the migrants with those who were already at the destination point. Specifically, the study examines the migration of Negroes from the South to the northern cities and, The author is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Notre Dame. * The statistical part of this study was performed at Rutgers University pursuant to a contract with the Office of Economic Opportunity. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of any agency of the United States government. The research also was supported in part by funds granted to the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, by the Office of Economic Opportunity pursuant to the provisions of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. The author is indebted to Kate Tallmadge, Mildred Evans, and Burt Barnow for computer programming, to Ronald Rudolph for research assistance, and to Patricia Koshel and Bette Mahoney of OEO and his colleagues at Rutgers and Wisconsin for advice and encouragement. Particularly helpful comments were received from Irwin Garfinkel, Michael Taussig, the referees, and from Kenneth Brown and other participants at a research seminar at Notre Dame. The Journal of Human Resources * VII * 4 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.158 on Tue, 15 Nov 2016 03:56:52 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 412 1 THE JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCES for all regions, from rural to urban areas. The income and labor-force status of these migrants are compared with the corresponding values for Negroes who were already in the cities. By doing such a study, we can obtain at least a partial answer to the question, "How many of the problems facing northern (or urban) Negroes can be attributed directly to their migration from the South (or from rural areas)?" If we find that the migrants are much worse off than nonmigrants, then more resources probably should be allocated to special organizations in the cities to assist the newcomers. It might also be very important to improve the quality of schooling and counseling in the areas from which the migrants came. The results of this study indicate, however, that the migrants are likely to be better off than the nonmigrants, at least once an initial adjustment period is passed.l If the migrants are better off than the long-term urban residents, then efforts to improve the situation of northern Negroes should probably focus on the general issue of discrimination rather than on special programs to assist migrants. In addition, we should not be too optimistic that the position of northern Negroes will automatically improve as the migration slows down. This last statement must be qualified, however, since a decrease in the size of the migration might still improve the position of northern Negroes if the relative size of the Negro and white communities has an important effect on the opportunities available to Negroes. I. DATA AND THE MEASURES OF MIGRATION STATUS This study is based on data from the 1/1,000 sample of the 1960 Census. With these data we can look at both lifetime and recent migration. Lifetime migrants are Negroes who were born in the South but who are living in Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) outside the South in 1 Some earlier studies that have made somewhat similar comparisons, often as a side issue in connection with some other topic, are Karl E. and Alma F. Taeuber, Negroes in Cities: Residential Segregation and Neighborhood Change (Chicago: Aldine, 1965); Richard F. Wertheimer II, The Monetary Rewards of Migration within the U.S. (Washington: Urban Institute, 1970); John F. Kain and Joseph J. Persky, "The North's Stake in Southern Rural Poverty," in Rural Poverty in the United States (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968); Donald and Deborah Freedman, "Farm-Reared Elements in the Non-Farm Population," Rural Sociology 21 (March 1965), pp. 50-61: Melvin Lurie and Elton Rayack, "Racial Differences in Migration and Job Search: A Case Study," Southern Economic Journal 33 (July 1966), pp. 81-95; and John B. Lansing and James M. Morgan, "The Effect of Geographic Mobility on Income," Journal of Human Resources 2 (Fall 1967), pp. 449-60. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.158 on Tue, 15 Nov 2016 03:56:52 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

History and theory of urban poverty in Nairobi: the problem of slum development

Abstract: This paper attempts to explain the generation of poverty in Nairobi. The first part is theoretical and considers the validity of the assumption that urban development in Africa has been and will be comparable to urban growth in the West. Parts two and three consist of an empirical study of the Nairobi slums during the colonial, era. The paper considers the reasons why people migrated to the city and what problems this caused in terms of housing, health and municipal resources. It also considers the response of the Colonial authorities to the influx, which was partly expressed in terms of segregated urban facilities and the control of population movement. The failure of these policies is demonstrated. The paper concludes that the problem is still unsolved although the administrative responses have changed. The basic problem is of an urban population growth rate too high in. relation to available housing, and a level, of wages too low to finance sufficient housing or to meet high rents. HISTORY AND THEORY OF URBAN POVERTY IN NAIROBI: THE PROBLEM OF SLUM DEVELOPMENT\

The Effectiveness of Summer Compensatory Education: A Review of the Research.

Abstract: This review is concerned with the Summer Compensatory Education Program component of the Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. It is important at the outset to recognize the multiplicity of goals of the Title I Programs. The Law represents a federal effort to meet the problems of poverty, delinquency, unemployment, illiteracy, and school dropouts. Its stated purpose is "to provide financial assistance . . . to local educational agencies serving areas with concentrations of children from low-income families to expand and improve their educational programs . . . [to meet] the special educational needs of educationally deprived children (USOE, 1969, pp. 1, 2)." It would seem from these broad purposes that the intent of Congress was not to implement a new method of teaching reading, mathematics, or some other specific subject matter, but rather, to implement a program of sufficient breadth and impact to bring about a major rise in the intellectual, social, and political attainments of the disadvantaged. Since schools are commonly perceived as major social vehicles for these types of goals, it seemed appropriate to work through them. Programs covering both the regular school year and the summer session were supported, but this review restricts itself to the latter. Although many documents were identified as possible contributors to this review, those finally referenced were primarily reports relating to compensatory education and presenting evidence in the form of empirical data. States receiving federal funds for

The difficulties of changing the age at marriage in Iran.

Abstract: The trend in age at marrige laws concerning the age at marriage and the factors leading to a low age at marrige in Iran are discussed. The Iranian Civil Code states that "the marriage of females before reaching the full age of 15 and that of males before reaching the full age of 18 is forbidden. Nevertheless in cases where proper reasons justify it...exemption from age restriction can be accorded...." However the law is rarely observed and earlier marriages are frequently seen in Iran particularly in rural and tribal areas. A great many exemptions are granted. Forces leading to early marriage in Iran include: 1) poverty which induces children to leave home; 2) Islamic teachings which are conducive to universal and early marriage; 3) the dower paid by the groom to the bride especially for virgin girls; 4) creation of social and political bonds between families involved; 5) a history of subordination seclusion and illiteracy of women; 6) the social isolation of the sexes; and 7) family tradition. The level of education and economic variables seem to play the most important roles.

Thoughts on poverty and its elimination

Abstract: Efforts to eliminate poverty as a major domestic problem in the United States have a long history. The attack was significantly heightened in 1964 with the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act, the statute designed as the foundation of the so-called war on poverty. In the succeeding years which have encompassed two national Administrations, one Democratic and the other Republican, a variety of means have been brought to bear on the problem. Public-assistance expenditures have spiralled upward and substantial amounts of money and manpower have been funnelled into preexisting and new programmes to increase total employment, improve housing, provide more and better health care, equalize opportunities and outcomes across ethnic and racial groupings, and bring legal justice, safety and security to those who have heretofore lacked the financial means for full enjoyment of these values. Still other anti-poverty programmes are under active consideration, most notably President Nixon's proposal to put an income floor under every American household.

Poverty and the Welfare State I

Abstract: If poverty is defined as a lack of the basic requirements of life, then clearly it does not exist in Canada, nor has it existed for some time. Steadily rising productivity, coupled with an expanding network of income security provisions, has ensured that every individual possesses at least the minimum necessities of life. Yet poverty is a relative concept. In an increasingly affluent industrialized economy the appropriate measure of poverty is not extreme absolute economic deprivation, but rather economic deprivation relative to existing socially acceptable living standards. Poverty is generally assumed synonymous with low-income. However, defining poverty exclusively in terms of low current income is not totally appropriate, for such a definition fails to take into account total economic resources, both present and future. Nonetheless, the 1967 poverty lines, the annual incomes that demarcate the poor from the nonpoor, ranged from $1,740 for an unattached individual to $4,640 for a family of five or more. This index of poverty is somewhat deficient in that it fails to adjust for differences in geographical location, farm-nonfarm status, age of head and composition of family. Moreover, it appears not to have taken into account developing programmes, such as medical and hospital insurance, that are designed to lower significantly the income needs of the aged and families with young children. In either event, the poverty line is a rather generous measure, ranging from 49% of the median income of unattached individuals to 6 8 % of the median income of families of five or more. The task of establishing a realistic poverty index is crucial to the successful formulation of anti-poverty programmes. It is obvious that the

Partial Hospitalization Within an Urban Slum

Abstract: Data on 343 patients admitted to the Partial Hospitalization Service of the Lincoln Community Mental Health Center, New York City, over a two-year period indicate that the presence of this service cut admissions to the state hospital by two-thirds. The pressures that exist in an urban slum area in which no inpatient psychiatric facility is available undoubtedly played a role in producing these results. The authors hope this program will serve as a model alternative to inpatient services for similar slum areas throughout the nation.

Reflections on Citizen Participation And the Economic Opportunity Act

Abstract: (1) which mobilizes and utilizes resources, public or private, of any urban or rural, or combined urban and rural, geographical area (referred to in this part as a "community"), including but not limited to a state, metropolitan area, county, city, town, multicity unit, or multicounty unit in an attack on poverty; (2) which provides services, assistance and other activities of sufficient scope and size to give promise of progress toward elimination of poverty or a cause or causes of poverty through developing employment opportunities, improving human performance, motivation, and productivity, or bettering the conditions under which people live, learn and work; (3) which is developed, conducted, and administered with the maximum feasible participation of residents of the areas and members of the groups served; and (4) which is conducted, administered, or coordinated by a public or private non-profit agency (other than a political party) or a combination thereof.