Peters, D. (2009). Typology of American Poverty. International Regional Science Review, 19-39.

This analysis seeks to better understand the geography of American poverty over time. Cluster analysis is used to group 34,908 minor civil divisions according to their similarity in mean-centered poverty rates from 1980 to 2000. Logistic regression is used to assess the groupings' statistical validity and accuracy. Results identify twelve statistically distinct groupings and that over three thousand subcounty places had poverty rates of nearly 20 percent above the national average going back to 1980. However, less than 50 percent of these fall within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Persistent Poverty Counties.

Questions to Consider:

            1.  One of the results of this study indicates that the high poverty group has significantly higher rates of minorities and single-headed families with children.  What reasons could    account for this?

 

            2.  How can researchers use the information presented in this study to implement policies aimed at helping those who live in poverty?

 

 

Clawson, R. (n.d.). Poor People, Black Faces: The Portrayal Of Poverty In Economics Textbooks. Journal of Black Studies, 352-361.

In this study, the author examines the portrayal of poverty in economics textbooks. The author tests the hypothesis that Blacks are disproportionately represented among the poor. In other words, she analyzes whether poverty is predicted as a “Black” problem. She found evidence that Black faces are overwhelmingly portrayed among the contemporary poor

Questions to Consider:

            1.  One of the results of this study stated that more than 60% of the poor people pictured in economic textbooks were black.  In your opinion, how does this portrayal of blacks   impact an individual’s perception blacks in general?  Which sociological perspective    does this represent?

 

            2.  According to the researchers in this article the media continues to produce radicalized images of the poor.  What reasons account for this?  Do you think that this will change in          the future?  Why or why not?

 

 

Strully, K., Rehkopf, D., & Xuan, Z. (2010). Effects of Prenatal Poverty on Infant Health: State Earned Income Tax Credits and Birth Weight. American Sociological Review, 534-562.

fThis study estimates the effects of prenatal poverty on birth weight using changes in state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) as a natural experiment. The study seeks to answer two questions about poverty and child wellbeing. First, are there associations between prenatal poverty and lower birth weights even after factoring out unmeasured potential confounders? Because birth weight predicts a range of outcomes across the life course, lower birth weights that result from poverty may have lasting consequences for children’s life chances. Second, how have recent expansions of a work-based welfare program (i.e., the EITC) affected maternal and infant health?

Questions to Consider:

            1.  According to the article, what are the various ways poverty can affect an infant’s birth

                 weight?

 

            2.  According to the article, what role does the Earned Income Tax Credit play in

                 regards to the financial status of poor mothers?

 

            3.  What are some limitations of this particular study?  What are some questions for

                  future research studies?

 

 

Wagmiller, R., Lennon, M., Kuang, L., Alberti, P., & Aber, J. (2006). The Dynamics of Economic Disadvantage and Children's Life Chances. American Sociological Review, 847-866.

Recent research suggests that child well-being and subsequent status attainment are influenced not only by the duration of exposure to economic disadvantage during childhood, but also by the timing and sequencing of exposure.  In this article, the authors propose a new method for assessing economic disadvantage during childhood that simultaneously captures.  The authors find that extended exposure to economic deprivation during childhood is least favorable to early adulthood achievement, but that—at least for human capital formation-the timing and sequencing of poverty also are important.

Questions to Consider:

            1.  If you applied the sociological perspectives to the main points of this article what be

                 the primary focus of each perspective?

 

            2.  What subsequent research questions can be formulated after reading the results of this  

                 study?

           

            3.  The researchers refer to the “mixture modeling approach” in this study.  What is

                 meant by this term?

 

Somers, M., & Block, F. (2005). From Poverty to Perversity: Ideas, Markets, and Institutions over 200 Years of Welfare Debate. American Sociological Review, 260-287.

To understand the rise of market fundamentalism from the margins of influence to mainstream hegemony, this study compares  the U.S. 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act and the English 1834 New Poor Law—two episodes in which existing welfare regimes were overturned by market-driven ones. Despite dramatic differences across the cases, both outcomes were mobilized by “the perversity thesis”—a public discourse that reassigned blame for the poor's condition from “poverty to perversity.” Coupling economic sociology with sociology of ideas, the researchers argue that ideas count; but not all ideas are created equal.

Questions to Consider:

            1.  What similarities exist between the two acts referenced above according to the

                  authors of the article?

 

            2.  What were some limitations of this study?

 

            3.   What are some questions for further research?