Poverty and
Inequality
SocW 501 (Section YO)
Fall 2002
Instructor:
Gunnar Almgren
Contact Information
e-mail mukboy@u.washington.edu
Phone: 206-685-4077
Office Hours: Arrange Appointment via e-mail
Class Meeting Times:
All Meetings are in SSW 305
Dates/Times 10/25
Course Description
This course is a critical analysis of poverty and inequality
in the
This course builds upon historical and critical analysis content covered in the "Intellectual and Historical Foundations of Professional Social Work Practice" and links to policy advocacy and policy analysis material covered in policy practice sessions in the "Macro practice" sequence. Together, these courses offer a foundation in the historical, political, economic, and philosophical context of US social welfare policy, familiarize students with current policy controversies, build skills in policy analysis and advocacy, and help students critically analyze competing perspectives on poverty and inequality, in preparation for socially just social work practice.
Course goal: To
enable students to critically examine the dimensions, causes, consequences and
perpetuation of poverty and inequality in the
Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Understand different measures of poverty and inequality, their value and empirical dimensions, and their consequences for the social construction of the problem, policy response, and the political debate.
2. Be familiar with the type, magnitude, and trends of disparities in several dimensions including power, status, health, as well as social and economic inequalities.
3. Understand stratification and inequality by various social dimensions such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, immigration status, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation and family structure.
4. Understand the role of historical oppression and colonization in creating and perpetuating poverty and inequality.
5. Critically analyze competing perspectives on the causes of poverty, particularly individual versus structural explanations, how these theories are invoked in public discourse, and their implications for governmental response.
6. Critically evaluate and apply alternative perspectives on poverty and inequality, both within the US and global contexts, that encompass conflicts between labor and capital, synergistic processes of economic and social stratification, and other critical forces that produce and perpetuate poverty and inequality.
7. Understand
the role of public policy and its implementation in producing, maintaining and
alleviating poverty and inequality in the
Course Format, Requirements and Grading Policy:
Course Format
The class will be conducted through a combination of scheduled face-to-face contact hours at the School of Social Work, and web-based discussions using the U.W. "Peer Review" tool. This tool allows the instructor to post a general document and a set of questions and then have students post comments. Students will be assigned to discussion groups by the instructor, and directives to students regarding web-discussion requirements will be communicated to students via their UW assigned e-mail address. Students should check their UW e-mail boxes at least every other day while enrolled in this course. Students can access the "Peer Review" discussion link by clinking on the following hyperlink:
http://faculty.washington.edu/mukboy/sw501pr.htm
Students are expected to attend class regularly, do the assigned reading in advance of class, and participate in class discussions (both face-to-face and via the web discussion site) and exercises. It is hoped that a tone of open discussion will be maintained throughout the course. We have much to learn from one another and this intellectual and personal growth is best achieved by encouraging dialogue and respecting diverse points of view.
Grades will be based on the following: comprehensiveness and depth of content; integration of course material; organization and quality of writing; skill of argumentation; ability to articulate ideas; evidence of critical thought; original thinking; depth of analysis; and creativity. As a graduate level course, grades in the "C" range (2.9 or lower) are considered unsatisfactory. Grades in the "B" range (3.0 to 3.6) indicate satisfactory to very good performance. Grades in the "A" range (3.7 to 4.0) indicate excellent to outstanding work.
If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services 448 Schmitz 206-543-8924 (V/TTY). If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to your instructor so the two of you can discuss the accommodations you might need for the class.
Text:
Blank, Rebecca
M. (1997). It takes a nation: A new agenda for fighting
poverty.
Course
In addition to the
text, which averages to about a chapter per week, students will be required to
read an average of 3 articles per week over the 7 weeks the course is
conducted. Assigned and optional readings for this course are accessed via the
Web in one of two ways. Where the reading can accessed by direct link, I have
placed the link in hypertext right on syllabus page. For example, for the first
week of readings there are several “online sources” listed. These sources are
accessible to either to all UW students or the general public. Other readings, those that require some level
of copyright protection, must be accessed via the course website on the Social
Work Library electronic reserve system. In each case that will be shown and the
title it is under on the reserve site. The course reserve site is accessed
at:
https://eres.lib.washington.edu/coursepage.asp?cid=1389
Assignments:
(More detailed descriptions of assignments will be distributed in class.)
1. Demographics of Poverty. Students will analyze a
specific social dimension of stratification, giving them the opportunity to
study the intersection of poverty and a given population of interest. Questions
include documenting the magnitude and distribution of poverty/income insecurity
among a given social group relative to others, exploring the problem in
historical and social context. (Between
October 25 and November 15th via Peer Review Web Tool)
2. Social Inequality Policy Paper. Working alone or
in small groups, students will research a specific dimension of inequality.
Focusing on inequalities other than income inequality, this assignment enables
students to examine issues such as health disparities, environmental or
educational inequalities, inequality in political power etc. (Due December 14th)
3. Competing Theoretical Perspectives. Building upon
their first assignment (demographics of poverty), students will critically
analyze policy implications that derive from two competing theoretical
perspectives on the cause of poverty among a given social group. (Due December 19th)
Wks |
Topic |
Conceptual content / Readings |
|
Oct 28 and Nov 4 |
What is poverty? Does
measurement matter? What are the extent,
magnitude and distribution of poverty? |
POVERTY Absolute
v. relative poverty lines Measuring
resources Poverty
thresholds (e.g., Orshansky, self-sufficiency) Uses
of poverty measures (e.g., monitoring, eligibility) Income
poverty (U.S., globally, statewide and local) Demographics
of poverty in the U.S. (Social dimensions of stratification, e.g., race,
ethnicity, gender, disability, immigration status, age, sexual orientation,
family structure) Feminization
of poverty Cross-national
comparisons Consequences
of poverty measures Trends
and issues (e.g., demographic changes, globalization) |
|
|
How are these changing? Exercise:
Computing the Self-Sufficiency Standard for |
Required readings: (* read completely, ** review) *Blank, Rebecca M. (1997). It takes a nation: A new agenda for fighting poverty. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Introduction and Chapter 1. Online sources: *Daniel
H. Weinberg. MEASURING POVERTY: ISSUES AND APPROACHES U.S. Bureau of the Census,
Washington DC 20233-8500 December 14, 1995 http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/povmeas/papers/yaled95.html *The
2001 HHS Poverty Guidelines. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington DC
20233-8500 http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/01poverty.htm **Poverty
2001 Highlights. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington DC 20233-8500 Summary
Text: http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/poverty00/pov00hi.html **Poverty
Trend Graphs: http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/poverty00/graphs00.html **World
Bank (2001). Poverty Trends and Voices of the Poor, 4th edition. Washington,
D.C., World Bank. Online: http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/,
/data/trends/trends.pdf *Sen, Amartya, (2002). How to
Judge Globalism. The American Prospect, 13, 1. Online: http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/1/sen-a.html *Johnson,
WG. (1997) The Future of Disability Policy: s Payments or Civil Rights? The Annals AAPSS, 549: 160-172. In E-Reserves, listed as The Future of Disability *Glennerster, Howard
(2002). United States poverty studies and poverty measurement: The past
twenty-five years. Social Service
Review (March 2002), 83-107. In-E-Reserves, under
United States Poverty Studies and Poverty Measurement… *Ehrenreich, Barbara,
"Nickel-and-Dimed: On (not) getting by in Additional resources and recommended readings: Aaron
et al. An Open Letter on Revising the Official Measure of Poverty. U.S.
Bureau of the Census, Washington DC 20233-8500 February 21, 2002. Online: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/irp/povmeas/povlet-nontable.htm Poverty
Measurement Methods -An Overview. Julio Boltvinik.
United Nations Development Programme, Poverty
Reduction Series. 2002. Online: http://www.undp.org/poverty/publications/pov_red/Poverty_Measurement_Methods.pdf
UNICEF (2000). Poverty Reduction Begins with
Children. New York, United Nations: Online:
http://www.unicef.org/pubsgen/poverty/povred.pdf Pearce, Diana and Harriette McAdoo, (1979). "The Feminization of Poverty: Women, Work and Welfare," The Urban and Social Change Review (Special Issue on Women and Work) Vol. 11, p. 28-36. In E-Reserves under Almgren… Badgett, M.V.L. (1998). Income
inflation: The myth of affluence among gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans.
Available online: www.ngltf.org/library/index.cfm. |
|
Wk |
Topic |
Conceptual content / Readings |
|
Nov 11 and Nov 18 |
What is inequality? Does measurement matter? What are the extent,
magnitude and distribution of inequality?
How are these changing? Why are poverty and
inequality rates so high? Exercise: belief systems
about the etiology of poverty in the US (anonymous written exercise) |
INEQUALITY Income
and wealth inequality Health,
mental health, education, related disparities Environmental
inequality Inequalities
in political participation, influence Corporate
wealth Cross-national
comparisons Introduction to competing
theoretical perspectives on the causes of poverty and inequality Required readings: Oliver,
M.L., & Shapiro, T.M. (1995). A Sociology of Wealth and Racial
Inequality. In Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial
Inequality, pp.33-52. New York: Routledge
Press. In E-Reserves under Sociology of Wealth and
Racial Inquality. Almgren, G.R., Guest,
A.M., Immerwahr, G.E. and Spittel,
M. (1998). Joblessness, Family Disruption, and Violent Death in Chicago,
1970-1990. Social Forces 76 (4),
1465-1493. In E-Reserves under Almgren… W.H.O.
The World Health Report: Statistical Annex. Online: http://www.who.int/whr2001/2001/main/en/pdf/annex.en.pdf Additional resources and recommended readings: Phillips,
Kevin (1995). The financialization of America:
Electronic speculation and Washington's loss of control over the "real
economy". In Arrogant Capital.
New York: Little, Brown & Co. (pp. 95-137). In
E-Reserves Almgren… Cahill
Sean, South, Ken & Spade, Jane (2000). Outing Age: Public Policy Issues
Affecting Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Elders. Available online: www.ngltf.org/library/index.cfm. |
Wk |
Topic |
Conceptual content / Readings |
|
Nov 25 and Dec 2 |
Why are poverty rates so
high? Why is inequality so
great? |
THEORY: Individual
factors/theories (e.g., life cycle, human capital, culture of poverty) Structural
factors/theories (e.g., capitalism, labor markets, wage structures,
discrimination) Social
factors/theories (e.g., stratification, social mobility, race, gender,
nativity, functionalism, social movements, social networks) Policy
factors/theories (e.g., welfare, labor market, policy legacies, immigration) Political
factors/theories (e.g., power, privilege, values, immigrant/refugee status) |
|
|
|
Required
readings: Blank, Rebecca
M. (1997).
It
takes a nation: A new agenda for fighting poverty. New
York: Russell Sage Foundation. Chapter 2. Teitz, Michael, B., & Chapple,
Karen (1998). The causes of inner-city poverty: Eight hypotheses in search of
reality. Cityscape: A Journal of Policy
Development and Research, 3, 3, 33-70. E-Reserves,
listed as Causes of inner-city poverty... Faegin, Joe (2000). Systemic racism, Chapter 1 in: Racist America: Roots, Current Realities,
and Future Reparations. In E-Reserves, under
Systematic Racism Murray,
Charles, A. (1984). "Incentives
to Fail", pp. 154-166, Chapter 12 In Losing ground: American social
policy, 1950-1980.
New York: Basic Books. In E-reserves, under “Losing
Ground” folder. Anders,
Gary, C. (1981). The reduction of a self-sufficient people to poverty and
welfare dependence: An analysis of the causes of Cherokee Indian
underdevelopment. American Journal of
Economics and Sociology, 40, 3, 225-237. In
E-Reserves under Almgren… Mishra, Ramesh (1999). Chapter 1, The
logic of globalization: The changing context of the welfare state. In Globalization
and the welfare state, pp. 1-17. Northampton, MA : E. Elgar In E-Reserves, under Logic
of Globalization Gordon,
Linda. (1994). "Don't Wait for Deliverers," Black Women's Welfare
Thought. In Pitied But Not Entitled:
Single Mothers and the History of Welfare, pp. 111-143. NewYork: The Free Press. In
E-reserves, listed as Don't Wait for Deliverers
Additional resources and recommended readings: Almgren,
Gunnar, Yamashiro, Greg,
& Ferguson, Miguel. (2002). Beyond welfare or work: Teen mothers,
household subsistence strategies, and child development outcomes. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare,
29, 3, 125-149. In E-Reserves under Almgren O'Connor,
Alice (2001). Giving birth to a "culture of poverty": Poverty
knowledge in postwar behavioral science, culture, and ideology. In: Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social
Policy, and the Poor in twentieth Century US History, pp. 99-123.
Princeton: Princeton University Press. In E-Reserves
under Almgren |
Wks |
Topic |
Conceptual content / Readings |
|
Dec 9 To Dec 16 |
What are we doing about poverty
and inequality? |
SOCIAL
WELFARE POLICY RESPONSES: Employment
(e.g., child care, minimum wage, comparable worth) Tax
policies (e.g., tax burdens, tax benefits, corporate tax breaks, EITC) Social
insurance (e.g., aging, Social Security trust fund) Social
assistance (e.g., TANF, GA) Health
care Corporate
welfare Human
and civil rights Third
sector - private response |
|
___ |
What should we be doing? |
Shaping
the policy agenda Developing
policy alternatives (competing directions) Trends
and issues (e.g., Federalism/devolution, privatization, unionization,
grass-roots organization, living wage campaign) Required
readings: Blank, Rebecca
M. (1997).
It
takes a nation: A new agenda for fighting poverty. New
York: Russell Sage Foundation. Chapters 3, 4, 6. (WEEK 6) Lurie, I. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: A
Green Light for the States. Publius, 27, 2
(Spring 1997), 73-88. In E-Reserves under Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families. Blank, Rebecca M. (1997). It takes a nation: A new agenda for fighting poverty. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Chapters 5, 7. (WEEKS 7/8) The Commonwealth Fund. Social
Security: The Basics. The Century Foundation Press Mishra, Ramesh (1999).
Chapter 7, Towards a global social policy. In Globalization and the welfare state, pp. 111-132. In E-Reserves
under Towards a Global Policy. Additional resources and recommended readings: Myles, John, & Quadagno,
Jill (2002). Political theories of the welfare state. Social Service Review (March 2002), 34-57. In E-Reserves, under Political Theories of the Welfare
State. Cook, J.T. et al. (2002). Welfare reform and the
health of young children: A sentinel survey in 6 US cities. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent
Medicine, 156, 678-684. Available online: http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/issues/v156n7/toc.html |
Additional Resources:
Joint Center for Poverty Research: http://www.jcpr.org/
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): http://www.undp.org/
US Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/
World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/