Chapter 1 - Poverty Means Different Things to Different People What Is Poverty?

Summary

Poverty is hunger. Poverty is a lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty reflects not single causes but cumulative disadvantages, and disadvantages do not cascade by accident. Persistent poverty can be seen among people who experience deprivation over many years and whose average incomes are below the poverty line for an extended period of time; it is those who are experiencing hardship because of their stage in the life cycle; and those who are discriminated against because of their social position at the local, regional, or national level. Individuals who live in persistent poverty experience several forms of disadvantage and are the least likely to benefit from public policy, which will keep them in poverty and block off their opportunities to escape.

African Americans in the United States are disproportionately impacted by poverty than any other population group. According to the United States Census Bureau, between 2021 and 2022, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic Whites (from 8.1 percent to 8.6 percent), for African Americans (from 19.5 percent to 17.1 percent), and for Hispanics (from 17.1 percent to 16.5 percent). For Asians, the 2022 poverty rate (8.6 percent) was not statistically different from the 2021 poverty rate.

History has shown that substantial progress for African Americans has occurred over the last 40 years, but the life chances of the average African American or Latino child today are still very different from those of the average White or Asian child. According to Lin and Harris, times have changed in the United States, but what has not changed is the use of race, which creates categories that guide the distribution of opportunities as well as vulnerabilities toward negative treatment.

Ann Chih Lin and David R. Harris argue that race is at the center of any attempt to assess poverty because in the United States, our economy, our cultural frameworks, our repertoires, and our governmental policies have been shaped by a history of racial relations and racially influenced decision-making. As a result, our institutions, practices, and beliefs can foster racial discrimination disadvantage without any deliberate effort to discriminate. However, it is extremely important to consider the significance of discrimination in the context of persistent poverty among members of racial or ethnic minority groups.