Description: The first and only collection of readings that introduces students to the lived experience of poverty
Brief description: Matthew Jerome Schneider is assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. He is the author of Serving the Street: Volunteering as Charity, Racial Justice, and Poverty Tourism.
Review Quotes:
"This powerful collection takes care to center the voices and experiences of people living precarious economic lives and situates them within the systems that shape and constrain their actual opportunities and the choices available to them, rather than the options they are imaged to have in too much commentary on poverty. An enormously valuable collection of powerful stories that reveals over and over again what we cannot learn from quantitative data alone." --Stephen Pimpare, author of A People's History of Poverty in America
"This reader is ideal for upper-division classes on poverty, inequality, or social stratification. The readings provide an excellent introduction to recent scholarship in the Sociology of Poverty. More importantly, the articles are engaging and compelling because of their emphasis on the experiences of those living in poverty. This book should generate great discussion in the classroom." --Mary Ann Kanieski, Saint Mary's College "This book chips away at the pernicious and pervasive belief that poverty is the fault of individuals - their choice, values, behaviors, mistakes. As a compilation of research that brings the realities of poverty to light, the book documents the structural roots of poverty and reveals just how easy it is to get stuck in a cascade of material hardship. Perfect for undergraduate courses on poverty, inequality and social problems, the book will foster within readers greater empathy, sharper critical reflection, and deeper understanding. Each chapter brings readers into a different facet of life in poverty - from diaper need to food insecurity to rural imprisonment - and each chapter concludes with a set of well-crafted discussion questions, making this book a great choice for course adoption." --Gretchen Purser, Syracuse University "Understanding Poverty through Lived Experiences is a powerful and timely volume that brings the realities of poverty into sharp focus. Moving beyond abstraction, it weaves together voices and analyses that reveal how inequality is produced and sustained across schools, neighborhoods, labor markets, and social institutions. Both accessible and deeply insightful, this book is essential reading for students and scholars seeking to understand poverty in all its human complexity." --Stephen W. Stoeffler, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania