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Wealth and Poverty in America
A Reader
Dalton Conley (Edited by), D Conley (Author)
9780631231790, Wiley
Hardback, published 1 November 2002
312 pages
24.4 x 17 x 2.3 cm, 0.68 kg
"All too many collections of social science writings are almost literally slapped together, devoid of purpose and focus. This useful volume, however, is a striking exception. It is a 'reader' with a clear focus that consists of 23 well-chosen selctions and a helpful appendix that lists additional readings." Tom Pettigrew, University of California Santa Cruz, Journal of Ethinic and Migration Studies, Vol 32 No 7 "This book is a wonderful resource for teaching. Dalton Conley has accumulated a set of important readings on both spectrums of the social stratification ladder." Martin Sanchez-Janowski, University of California at Berkeley
What does it mean to be poor in America at the dawn of the 21st century? For that matter, what does it mean to be rich? And how are the two related to each other? These apparently simple questions present enormous theoretical and empirical challenges to any student or social scientist. Wealth and Poverty in America is a collection of over 20 important essays on the complex relationship between the rich and poor in the United States. The authors include classical and contemporary thinkers on a wide variety of topics such as economic systems, the lifestyles of the rich and poor, and public policy. An editorial introduction and suggestions for further reading make this a useful and valuable source of information and analysis on the realities of the American rich and American poor.
Acknowledgments vii Introduction: Wealth and Poverty in the Affluent Society 1 Part I: On the Origins and Causes of Wealth and Poverty: Systemic Explanations 11 1. Of the Division of Labor 13 2. Absolute and Relative Surplus Value 21 3. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 29 4. Some Principles of Stratification 43 5. Winner-Take-All Markets 53 Part II: Who's Rich, Who's Poor: How Resources Affect Life Chances 67 6. Inequality 69 7. What Money Can't Buy: Family Income and Children's Life Chances 76 8. Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth and Social Policy in America 83 9. Black Picket Fences: Privilege and Peril among the Black Middle Class 96 10. Ain't No Making It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood 115 Part III: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous 127 11. From Democracy in America 129 12. The Miser and the Spendthrift 135 13. The Very Rich 140 14. Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How they Got There 161 15. The Case of Pullman, Illinois 172 Part IV: Lifestyles of the Poor and Anonymous 179 16. Swapping 181 17. The Code of the Streets 190 18. Sidewalk Sleeping and Crack Bingeing 201 19. Whores, Slaves, and Stallions: Languages of Exploitation and Accommodation Among Prizefighters 211 Part V: What is to Be Done? Wealth, Poverty, and Public Policy 223 20. In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History of Welfare in America 225 21. The Hidden Agenda 254 22. The Stakeholder Society 267 23. Black Economic Progress in the Era of Mass Imprisonment 278 Additional Readings 291 Index 293
Adam Smith
Karl Marx
Max Weber
Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore
Robert H. Frank and Philip J. Cook
Christopher Jencks
Susan Mayer
Dalton Conley
Mary Patillo-McCoy
Jay MacLeod
Alexis de Tocqueville
Georg Simmel
C. Wright Mills
David Brooks
Michael Walzer
Carol Stack
Elijah Anderson
Mitchell Duneier
Loic Wacquant
Michael Katz
William Julius Wilson
Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott
Bruce Western, Becky Pettit, Josh Guetzkow
Subject Areas: Sociology & anthropology [JH]
