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Nine million people in the United States live in rural poverty. This large segment of the population has generally been overlooked even as considerable attention, and social conscience, is directed to the alleviation of urban poverty. This timely, needed volume focuses on poor, rural people in poor, rural settings. Rural poverty is not confined to one section of the country or to one ethnic group. It is a national problem and the resolution of hidden America's persistent economic plight will now depend on a better understanding of who is poor and why. The clear, authoritative chapters describe the declining opportunities available in rural areas--including the social, educational, and political factors that so often pose barriers to economic advancement.
Part One provides a comprehensive description of the poor population and an analysis of rural poverty's underlying dynamics. Low wages, the character of rural labor markets, and chronic inter-generational poverty are carefully considered to lay the basis for formulating sound responses. Part Two looks at the condition of particular groups suffering poverty in rural areas. These include African-Americans, Appalchians, Native Americans, and migrant workers. It addresses the special problems of those who, although in relatively prosperous rural areas, live at or below the poverty level. Part Three looks to successful lessons from the past and evaluates current steps that may be taken to frame policy recommendations that will mitigate present stress, foster improved opportunities, and open a better life to America's rural poor.
List of contents
Foreword by Susan E. Sechler
Introduction: Poverty in Rural America by Cynthia M. Duncan and Stephen Sweet
The Dynamics of Poverty and Mobility in Rural AmericaOverview of the Rural Poor in the 1980s by Kenneth L. Deavers and Robert A. Hoppe
The Growing Problem of Low Earnings in Rural Areas by Lucy Gorham
The Working Poor in Rural Labor Markets: The Example of the Southeastern United States by Ann R. Tickmayer
Long-Term Poverty in Rural Areas by Terry K. Adams and Greg J. Duncan
Poor People and Poor PlacesRace, Gender, and Poverty in the Rural South: African American Single Mothers by Bonnie Thornton Dill and Bruce B. Williams
Persistent Poverty in Appalachia: Scarce Work and Rigid Stratification by Cynthia M. Duncan
Migrant Farm Workers by Doris P. Slesinger and Max J. Pfeffer
American Indians and Economic Poverty by C. Matthew Snipp and Gene F. Summers
Rural Poverty in the Northeast: The Case of Upstate New York by Janet M. Fitchen
The New Poor in Midwestern Farming Communities by Cornelia Butler Flora
Policies for the Rural PoorModernization and the Rural Poor: Some Lessons from History by Alice O'Connor
Empowerment and Rural Poverty by Steve Suitts
Policies to Alleviate Rural Poverty by Robert Greenstein and Isaac Shapiro
References
Index
About the author
CYNTHIA M. DUNCAN is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire. She researches and writes extensively on poverty in rural America, with special interest in Appalachia, the Delta, and northern New England.
