Urban Poverty in 18th Century America Depicted in Riis', How the Other Half Lives

     The reality of this book hit the people of New York right between the eyes. Riis was once ascribed the label of lower class society, but

In How the Other Half Lives, the author Jacob Riis sheds light on the darker side of tenant housing and urban dwellers. He goes to several different parts of the city of New York witnessing first hand the hardships that many immigrants faced when coming to America. His journalism and photographs of the conditions of the tenant housing helped led the way of reformation in the slums of New York. His research opened the eyes of many Americans to the darker side of the nation's lower class. Though it seems that he blamed both the victims and the board forces of society, I believe that he placed more of the blame on the board forces for the conditions that many immigrants faced.

The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.

Mantsios gives his readers great evidence and details that not only show class distinctions in our society, but how the chances to move up from the poor to wealthy is one in a

The purpose of this essay is to inform the reader of a real problem, media misrepresentation, and to try to have the reader change the way the think, feel, and perceive the poor. She gives examples of encounters she has had that are a result of the damaging depiction and conveys to the reader why those thoughts are wrong by using her own personal experiences. She mentions that before entering college she never thought about social class. However, the comments from both other students and her professors about poverty were alarming to her. Other people viewed the poor as, “shiftless, mindless, lazy, dishonest, and unworthy” indigents. Hook opposes that stereotypical image of the poor, referring back to being taught in a “culture of poverty,” the values to be intelligent, honest, and hard-working. She uses these personal experiences to her advantage by showing she has had an inside look at poverty.

The conflict was the rich were trying to hold onto their wealth no matter who they hurt because “when the human flesh and blood could stand no more it got up at five in the morning as usual and out on tis work clothes and went into the mill” (Bell 48),while the poor were trying to survive and have hopes in achieving the American Dream. The ideal of the social gospel became exposed when Jacob A. Riis who experienced poverty firsthand, excelled in journalism. Riis, told the story of the poor through photographs, expressing the horrid living conditions and ways of life. These publications, allowed the public to see the other side of the two different classes which ultimately changed the urban setting.

Supposedly, both the individuals with ascribed statuses with hereditary wealth and the poor and homeless have equal chances to become successful although, Orestes Bronwnson in The Laboring Classes, pointed out that this is not true. “Do the young man inheriting ten thousand pounds and the one whose inheritance is merely the gutter, start even?” (219). As a result, the harsh separation of the rich and the poor, where capitalism thrives and,” the division of the community into two classes, one which owns the funds…the other provides the labor” (216). The inhumane apprehension of a capitalist society that keeps its workers “in a permanent system, [has] given preference to the slave system” (214) says a lot about the evils of capitalism corresponding with the false American Dream. An outcome of capitalism is the frustrating rivalry between the poor. “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining the country. The competition is maddening”

In Tattoos on the Heart, the reader accompanies Father Gregory Boyle throughout a series of heart-warming conversions he conducts through his interactions with numerous gang members in the Los Angeles projects. Likewise, J.D. Vance in Hillbilly Elegy constructs a memoir of his tumultuous upbringing in the Midwest as well as of his familial roots in Kentucky. A commonality throughout the novels is the poverty faced by members of these communities and how it contributes to the conflicts that drive the plot. The topic of poverty, its causes, and possible solutions has always interested me a lot due to a concept of the Lottery of Birth, which is a philosophical position that comes up frequently in my debate competitions. Basically, where we are born, in terms of one’s position and class in society, is arbitrary; I did not choose to be born in the socioeconomically comfortable neighborhood of Massapequa Park. This is a perpetual unfairness to which there is no solution, but there has to be some action that can alleviate the suffering of the over three billion people worldwide who live on less than three dollars a day (DoSomething.org).

In Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich tells a powerful and gritty story of daily survival. Her tale transcends the gap that exists between rich and poor and relays a powerful accounting of the dark corners that lie somewhere beyond the popular portrayal of American prosperity. Throughout this book the reader will be intimately introduced to the world of the “working poor”, a place unfamiliar to the vast majority of affluent and middle-class Americans. What makes this world particularly real is the fact that we have all come across the hard-working hotel maid, store associate, or restaurant waitress but we hardly ever think of what their actual lives are like? We regularly dismiss these people as

Go to Chicago, New York, Paris or Madrid, on every street corner you see a person less advantaged, poor, and desperate. Then go in a store, see others carrying expensive bags, swiping their credit card left and right. We live in a world of extreme poverty, balance seems nonexistent. Poverty can result in broken homes and in turn, broken lives. In the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, Walter Mcmillian’s adult life, Trina Garnett’s childhood and Antonio Nuñez’s domestic life show that poverty was the cause of their incarceration and determined the success of their lives.

Different views on poverty altered urban life as well. Those who were better off economically saw poverty as a weakness. They believed the poor were poor because of a lack of work ethic and determination, this theory was known as Social Darwinism. This theory is emphasized by Andrew Carnegie who, in his book Wealth, states that it is “much better great inequality than universal squalor” (Document A). Not only are those his thoughts about poverty, but he also finds it “essential for the future progress of the race” (Document A). This belief was shared by many successful entrepreneurs. There were, however, those who did not share this idea. There were those who believed the poor were poor due to their surroundings and the lack of opportunities they had. Such individuals include Jacob A. Riis. In his book, How the Other Half Lives, Riis says, “If it shall appear that the sufferings and the sins of the ‘other half’, and the evil they breed, are but as just punishment upon the community that gave it no other choice, it will be because that is the truth” (Document H). Riis puts the blame on the community, not on people themselves. This belief is also shared by Jane Addams, who after helping out a German immigrant realized that she didn’t need charity, since she had an “immense capacity”, but the service of the state’s attorney (Document J). These different views on poverty ultimately changed urban life by starting a social reform movement, which will

American middle class life was greatly influenced throughout 1870-1917. There were many profound changes, however the American industrialization and urbanization were the most rapid and unquestionably the most important. The industrialist brought forth household names that are still around today such as Swift, Armour, Westinghouse, Pillsbury, Pullman, Rocketfeller, Carnegie, and Duke. Due to the rapid movement of industrialization, so began a movement of urbanization. Between 1860 and 1910, urban population increased sevenfold and by the 1920’s more than half of all Americans lived in cities. Along with the cities came more use of electricity, electric lights, telephones, and eventually appliances. Appliances

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?

The American citizens who suffers from poverty did not have the choice to be or not to be in their situation so they suffered greatly since they were not given equal opportunity's as the rest of America. People might have thought that these people on the streets are just lazy people who never gave a damn in their lives and did not want to work for their necessities. But Michal Harrington knew the real reason why this so called "Other America" was the way they were, " But the real explanation of why the poor are where they are is that they made the mistake of being born to the wrong parents, in the wrong section of the country, in the wrong industry, or in the wrong racial or ethnic group ... [so] most of them would never even had had a chance to get out of the other America" (The Other

Multiple studies have been completed to show that people from all racial groups and ethnicities are negatively affected by poverty. Those in the lowest social class, while a mix of ethnicities, are predominantly minorities and affected the most. What stood out about Philippe Bourgeois’ is that he not only studies the people and their culture but he lived it with them. Mr. Bourgois spent two years with his wife and child living with the Puerto Rican’s in East Harlem, NY. He lived with them and became a friend to many of them with the hopes of providing an accurate analysis of their culture. While living there he encountered all of the barrios social problems; from gender inequality to drugs and illegal activities to racial segregation.