The Working Poor by D. Shipler Essay

In the article, “What’s So Bad about Being Poor” by Charles Murray, Murray states that “One of the great barriers to a discussion of poverty and social policy in the 1980s is that so few people who talk about poverty have ever been poor”. He discusses how, contrary to present day, in America up until the 1950s those in positions of influence and power included a sizable amount of people who had been raised “dirt-poor”. Murray states that, because of this, many Americans with their lack of exposure to such people, they develop a skewed perspective of what poverty is. On account of this, Murray challenges the reader with several thought experiments which he uses to help the reader come to certain conclusions that convey his message.

Poverty has been a big issue over the past century or so and continues to be a problem to this day in the United States. Due to the Civil War, rural areas and industrial areas were affected by poverty. The poverty of rural sharecroppers in 1877 was different from the poverty of unemployed industrial workers in 1939. Even though both situations were dealing with a form of poverty, both were two completely different situations. There were several major events that happened that caused poverty of rural sharecroppers in 1877. Although there were various events leading up to the poverty of unemployed industrial workers in 1939, poverty in the year of 1877 was just as bad, if not worse, as in the year of 1939.

In David K. Shipler’s book, The Working Poor Invisible in America the reader is provided a peek into the personal stories of the inner lives of eight families struggling inside the vicious cycle of poverty. Shipler’s method of interviews, narratives of personal stories and observation represents an innovative study investigating the working poor in an attempt to understand “how people in real communities devise collective responses to their problems (Segal, 2010).”

Most of Americans view people in poverty as being lazy or unmotivated and there can be a universal solution to fix poverty. As a child that did not have to deal with the problems of poverty personally I also believed that there could be an easy or quick solution to fix all of these problems. Now that my family has experienced poverty first hand, I know that is not the case. The solutions that are in place currently are more of a band aid fix. What I mean by this is you deal with problems quickly but you have not fully resolved the root of the problem. This view of poverty also has been the belief historically. Tratner discuses that in the early 1800’s people who were poor were separated into two different groups the worthy and the unworthy. The worthy poor were mainly widowed women and orphans. The unworthy were deemed as drinkers, and people who were too lazy to work.

Regardless if we are aware of it or not, not many Americans live the supposed American Dream of having a nice car, big house, well paying job, and have a secure family. In the renowned novel The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler he captures those Americans who live invisible in America that work so hard to suffer from the psychological effects of poverty. Not only does Shipler do that but he also indirectly talks about the “American Myth” and the “American Anti Myth through the lives on these individuals.”

Chapter six: The author discusses the symptom of being poor, and the illness of being poor. What does the author mean? Do you agree with him? Explain. How does the poverty line right now compare to 100 years ago? Why is America like a real life version of “Revenge of the Nerds?” What’s so important about Human Capital?

This quote really speaks volumes to the problem of the poor and how they got left out of the productive society that they were living in. Many of the poor of the fifties were living in dirty, unhealthy, overcrowded cities because they did not have money to buy a home in the suburbs. “Any affluent society, that is both compassionate and rational, would no doubt, secure to all who needed it the minimum income essential for decency and comfort” (Document A). The realization to this quote though is that the society of the 1950s was not providing any outreach of any kind to these people. People of the fifties identified the poor as nonexistent, invisible, almost as if their existence does not matter. To see these people took “an effort of the intellect and will” (Document I). People did not see them because they did not want to or because they were ignorant to amount of poverty that was living in their society. People did not want to see it because they were either in love with their lives and how well they were going or appearing. They were living the “American Dream” and were being exactly like everyone else in order to escape the fear that they might be different, that they might be somebody that is not the stereotypical person or family, or that they might be a communist. The fear of being identified as different or possibly being a part of the communist party is what kept people cautious and close-lipped

The novel, “The Working Poor” by David K. Shipler gives us an inside look into the lives of the lower class and he explores exactly what it means to do hard, exhausting but honest work in America. The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below the poverty line. While poverty is often associated with joblessness, a significant proportion of the poor are actually employed. Shipler teaches us that just because you have finally become employed does not mean that most or all of your worries are over, often times they are increased. Largely because they are earning such low wages, the working poor face numerous obstacles that make it difficult for many of them to find and keep a job, save up money, and maintain a sense of self-worth. Shipler did an amazing job bringing light to the “forgotten America”.

The essay provides vital information about the social distinctions in the society but readers may disagree with the idea that the working poor may never get the opportunity to advance their lives, regardless of the effort they put. It is only right to argue that the working poor remain in the impoverished condition because their undertakings do not generate enough income to help them get out of the unfriendly situation. The working poor, however, may emerge to be

Reading the last paragraph of Dreams, a chapter from The Working Poor by David Shipler, I came to the realization that all of the assigned readings were like many of Shakespeare's tragedies. Each one of the handouts and books wrote about a similar subject which is impoverished children in the educational system. For Example, in Ordinary Resurrections by Jonathan Kozol, he writes "Most of the children here, no matter how hard they may work and how well they may do in elementary school, will have no chance, or almost none, to win admission to the city's more selective high schools, which prepare their students for good universities and colleges." It is true that in Carger's book Of Borders and Dreams, Alejandro's struggle to succeed

Many reforms in the UnitedStates have been passed to help fight against the “War on Poverty”; but it has not been effective in eradicating poverty in the U.S. There are about 46 million people who are living in impoverished conditions and poverty continues to be a social issue in this country (Heritage Foundation, 2011) In the beginning, our country was formed under the belief that “this land is the land of opportunity and if we worked hard enough the American Dream can be gained” (Schwarz, 1997). People immigrate to this country today in hopes of becoming rich so they could gain a better life. In spite of coming to this country for a better life, many are faced with the lack of skills and money to succeed. In the end, most will end

Even though having the “poor class” is a necessary evil needed for society to function, most Americans, at some point in time, will experience what it is like to live in poverty or live below the poverty line. One main reason for having a high percentage of people living in poverty is because the U.S. policy makers have ignored the poor and have given tax breaks to those with a much higher income. Funding for welfare was slashed and extended unemployment benefits were ended. With little success with the economic reform the United States has been going through for the past five years, about 14.5 percent of Americans are still living under the poverty line.

Poor people is a collection of interviews with first-hand sources of those in poverty mixed with the authors, William T. Vollmann's, inner struggle and thought-process of what poverty is. Vollmann's position on poverty is stated early on in the book "For me, poverty is not mere deprivation; for people may possess fewer things than I and be Richer; Poverty is wretchedness."(Vollmann 36). Poverty to Vollman is wretchedness meaning " a condition of extreme affliction or distress, especially as outwardly apparent" (Wretched). He continues with, "It must then be an economic state. It, therefore, remains somewhat immeasurable ... I can best conceive of poverty as a series of perceptual categories." (Vollmann 36). These perceptual categories are the five categories in the book, self-definitions, phenomena, choices, hope, and placeholders.

In the article Rich and Poor, Peter Singer sees extreme poverty as “not having enough income to meet the most basic human needs for adequate food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, health care or education” (pg. 234). Singer does not fail to compare those in extreme poverty to people who are living in absolute affluence. He suggests that it is the responsibility of those living in affluence to help those who are in need of obtaining even the basic human needs. He also argues that the affluent not helping is the moral equivalency of murder. Singer realizes that even though the rich can give to the poor these resources that they need, the rich do not feel enough of a moral mandate to do so. I disagree a bit with Singer because he seems to suggest that everyone who has the basic necessities is morally obligated to give but, I believe that this idea of a moral mandate to give should only apply to the extremely wealthy. Like Singer’s first premises says “If we can prevent something bad without sacrificing anything of comparable significance, we ought to do it.” (243) If the absolute affluent have large amounts of money, they can help to at least make people live comfortably without losing anything of great significance. The increasing poverty rates, not just in America but, globally cannot be solved if the extremely wealthy continue to do wasteful spending and choose to not put their money more towards programs and charities that better the lives of the people in their

The Working Poor: Invisible in America is a story that takes personal stories and accounts of people lives to describe the injustices that people face every day. Poverty is damaging to both the economy and the people who face it. Many times social policies are created to assist the people who are working but still struggle to get basic needs like food, utilities, gas, and medical. Poverty is a perpetuating cycle that is intended to keep the poor oppressed and discriminated against. Respectfully, this critique will address the social problems that are identified in the book, the major social welfare policy issues, the social values and beliefs that are critical and the implications for future social welfare policy and social work practice.