Social Work Commons^™

Poverty And Disability: A Vicious Circle? Evidence From Afghanistan And Zambia, Jean-Francois Trani, Mitchell M. Loeb

Brown School Faculty Publications

Disability and poverty have a complex and interdependent relationship. It is commonly understood that persons with disabilities are more likely to be poor and that poverty may contribute to sustaining disability. This interdependency is revealed not only through an examination of poverty in terms of income but also on a broader scale through other poverty related dimensions. Just how robust is this link? This paper compares data collected from household surveys in Afghanistan and Zambia, and explores the potential link between multidimensional poverty and disability. We find evidence of lower access to health care, education and labour market for people …

"Like A Prison!": Homeless Women's Narratives Of Surviving Shelter, Sarah L. Deward, Angela M. Moe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Relying on field observation and twenty qualitative interviews with shelter residents, this article examines how the bureaucracy and institutionalization within a homeless shelter fits various tenets of Goffman's (1961) "total institution," particularly with regard to systematic deterioration of personhood and loss of autonomy. Women's experiences as shelter residents are then explored via a typology of survival strategies: submission, adaptation, and resistance. This research contributes to existing literature on gendered poverty by analyzing the nuanced ways in which institutionalization affects and complicates women's efforts to survive homelessness.

Welcome To The Neighborhood: Does Where You Live Affect The Use Of Nutrition, Health, And Welfare Programs?, Molly De Marco, Allison C. De Marco

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite the recent upsurge in neighborhood effects research, few studies have examined the impact of neighborhood characteristics on the use of nutrition, health, and welfare programs. To explore these issues, this study used data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study, a longitudinal dataset comprised of low-income neighborhoods in Boston, San Antonio, and Chicago (n=1,712). Using hierarchical linear models, the results indicated that both individual (education, employment, and marriage) and perceived neighborhood disorder factors were related to social service use.

Testing The Relationship Of Formal Bonding, Informal Bonding, And Formal Bridging Social Capital On Key Outcomes For Families In Low-Income Neighborhoods, Daniel Brisson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The development of social capital among families living in low income neighborhoods has become a popular poverty reduction and economic advancement strategy. However conceptual scholarship suggests the broad use of social capital has diminished its importance. Scholars have begun to identify the multiple and overlapping characteristics of social capital and the field now needs empirical studies to show how specific types of social capital are important for families living in low-income neighborhoods. This study tests the relationship between three types of social capital (informal bonding social capital, formal bonding social capital and formal bridging social capital) and important outcomes for …

Lost In Appalachia: The Unexpected Impact Of Welfare Reform On Older Women In Rural Communities, Debra A. Henderson, Ann R. Tickamyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A primary goal of welfare reform was to overcome welfare dependency through the promotion of work and the setting of lifetime limits. While atf irst blush thisg oal may have appearedr easonablef or young recipients, it does not address the needs of older recipients, particularly women. Based on in-depth interviews with welfare recipients in four impoverished rural Appalachian counties over a four year time span (1999-2001; 2004), this paper evaluates the experiences of older women as they confront the changes brought on by welfare reform legislation. Findings suggest that impoverished older women in isolated rural communities experience multiple crises as …

Social Assistance And The Challenges Of Poverty And Inequality In Azerbaijan, A Low-Income Country In Transition, Nazim N. Habibov, Lida Fan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Although low-income countries in transition are facing the challenges of poverty and inequality, evidence on the performance of safety nets in these countries is scarce. This article uses micro-file data from a nationally representative household budget survey to analyze the existing social assistance programs in Azerbaijan, a low income country in transition, from the perspectives of poverty and inequality reduction. The empirical evidence presented in this paper indicates that the poverty and inequality reduction effectiveness of social assistance programs is inadequate. First, the benefits are very modest and the poor receive only a small proportion of them. Second, some programs …

The Severely-Distressed African American Family In The Crack Era: Empowerment Is Not Enough, Eloise Dunlap, Andrew Golub, Bruce D. Johnson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Numerous African American families have struggled for generations with persistent poverty, especially in the inner city. These conditions were further strained during the 1980s and 1990s by the widespread use of crack cocaine. For many, crack use became an obsession, dominated their lives, and superseded family responsibilities. This behavior placed additional pressure on already stressed kin support networks. This paper explores the processes prevailing in two households during this period. In the 2000s, children born to members of the Crack Generation are avoiding use of crack but face major deficits from their difficult childhoods. This presents both challenges and opportunities. …

From "Poor" To "Not Poor": Improved Understandings And The Advantage Of The Qualitative Approach, Eleanor Wint, Christine Frank

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Re-analysis of qualitative data generated in six Country Poverty Assessments in the Caribbean, suggests that traditional ways of seeing the poor might well lead to unfair categorisation of a people who are unwilling to be seen as living in poverty. Use of qualitative data software was able to bring out new understandings of the conceptual difference between being poor and living in poverty. Wint and Frank suggest that this is a distinction which those responsible for designing and implementing poverty intervention strategies would be wise to bear in mind as it would allow for creative and timely use of community-based …

Gender Poverty Disparity In Us Cities: Evidence Exonerating Female-Headed Families, Sara Lichtenwalter

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Utilizing data from the 2000 Census, this study examines the impact of family composition, education, and labor force factors on the difference between female and male poverty rates in the 70 largest U.S. cities. A stepwise regression analysis indicates that 41 % of the difference between female and male poverty rates can be explained by the percent of women in the three US Bureau of Labor Statistic's lowest wage occupations. There was no evidence of a unique impact from the percentage of female headed families in each city, or the study's other independent variables, on the gender poverty gap, with …

The Poverty Of Unattached Senior Women And The Canadian Retirement Income System: A Matter Of Blame Or Contradiction?, Amber Gazso

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Structural and financial inadequacy of Canada's retirement income system, especially with respect to income support benefits (i.e. Old Age Security), are often identified as one major reason unattached senior women experience poverty. While it may be compelling to blame low benefit levels and changing eligibility requirements, particularly because 'crisis' policy discourses have influenced questionable restructuring over time (i.e. the clawback), this paper argues that this is too simplistic of an account of the relationship between these women's poverty and the retirement income system. Other broad social-structural factors are at play in women's lives that have the potential to disentitle their …

The Welfare Myth: Disentangling The Long-Term Effects Of Poverty And Welfare Receipt For Young Single Mothers, Thomas P. Vartanian, Justine M. Mcnamara

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study investigates the effects of receiving welfare as a young woman on long-term economic and marital outcomes. Specifically, we examine if there are differences between young, single mothers who receive welfare and young, single mothers who are poor but do not receive welfare. Using the 1968-1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, our findings suggest those who receive welfare for an extended period as young adults have the same pre-transfer income over a 10 to 20 year period as those who are poor but do not receive welfare as young adults. While we found some differences between the two groups …

Digital Divide In Computer Access And Use Between Poor And Non-Poor Youth, Mary Keegan Eamon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The main objectives of this study were to examine the "digital divide" in home computer ownership and to evaluate differences in academic and non-academic computer use between poor and non-poor youth. Data from a national sample of 1,029, 10- through 14-year-old young adolescents were analyzed. Results show that poor youth were .36 times as likely to own a home computer, but equally as likely to use their home computer for academic purposes as were non-poor youth. Poor youth did not differ from non-poor youth in how often they used any computer for academic purposes, but were less likely to use …

Weg Von Der Armut Durch Soziokulturelle Integration : Bei Sozialhilfeabhängigkeit, Alter Und Behinderung, Jonas Strom, Matthias Szadrowsky, Isidor Wallimann

Books

A person who has to live alone is marginalized and impoverished socially and culturally. A person must be able to participate in society - through education, culture, through the inclusion in civil society organizations, family and politics. If this is achieved, it will result in the person having more opportunities to secure this social and material existence and will more slowly become financially dependent and would be dependent for a shorter period of time. This in turn means financial relief for the State. It also ensures that human rights are afforded and promotes personal development.Previous research has provided many answers …

Prevalent Low Income Status In Canadian And United States Metropolitan Areas, 1980 And 1990, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

As compared to Toronto’s poor people, three to four-fold as many of upstate New York’s poor live in severely impoverished neighborhoods, areas where 40% or more of the residents have annual incomes below the federally established low income or poverty criterion. However, the prevalence of such extremely degraded living conditions increased similarly (two-fold) on both sides of the Canadian-US border during the 1980s. This urban problem, of the concentration of poor people, seems to predominantly be an inner-city problem in the US, whereas it was found to be nearly equivalently extant in the inner-city, mid-suburban and outlying suburban areas of …

Armut : Der Mensch Lebt Nicht Vom Brot Allein : Wege Zur Soziokulturellen Existenzsicherung, Isidor Wallimann, Susanne Schmid

Books

While the usual discussion about the poverty of the minimum financial security speaks, the authors ask what it could mean for to be living in a secure socio-cultural minimum. The fact is that poverty can be both "caused" by various forms of exclusion, as well as the socio-cultural exclusion promotes or "causes".

Community Action Programs And Poor People Of Maine : A History, Maine. Division Of Economic Opportunity

Maine Collection

Community Action Programs and Poor People of Maine : A History.
State of Maine. Division of Economic Opportunity. Augusta, Maine, 1975.

Contents: 1.Introduction / 2.Myths of the Poor in Maine / 3.Concepts / 4.Head Start / 5.Legal Services-The Poor and the Law / 6.Health / 7.Native Americans / 8.Housing / 9.The Elderly-Never Too Late to Fight Poverty / 10.Manpower Training / 11.Donated Commodities / 12.Vista / 13.Poverty Is Here to Stay / 14.Results of the War / 15.The Role of SEOO and New Directions for CAP