Four Reviews on Poverty and Inequality

摘要

The four books reviewed in this section tackle different aspects of poverty and inequality in American society. Each clearly outlines the heart of the problem and the policies, or lack thereof, that attempt to address the challenges that poverty and inequality create. A common thread of these books is the compelling use of narrative to illustrate the complexity of creating upward mobility in our society. Two of the books, authored by Edin and Kefalas, and Shapiro, derive their main contributions through the revelations provided by extensive in-depth interviews. These interviews take us beyond the extant explanations of policy problems to explore roots of behavior and individual perceptions of their conditions. The remaining two books by Vinovskis and Reese, respectively, detail the historical and political evolution of two different policies that are considered to be cornerstones in America's safety net.