Fall 2009

SOC 308 • Poverty and Social Politics in the US

Course Description

This course will address poverty in the US and the social policies designed to remedy it. Along with this, we will examine the ideologies behind various poverty policies. The first part of the course will examine definitions of poverty, who is poor, and theories about the cause of poverty. We will also discuss the concept of

Grading Policy

3 exams 30% each
Short homework assignments 10%

Texts

Proposed text is a course packet containing excerpts from the following texts (in addition to others):

- Making Ends Meet by: Edin and Lein
- Why Americans Hate Welfare by: Gilens
- American Project by: Venkatesh
- Losing Ground by: Murray
- When Work Disappears by: Wilson
- Poverty as a Public Health Problem by: Sandefeur
- Flat Broke with Children by: Hays
- The New Politics of Poverty by: Mead
- From Poor Law to Welfare State by: Trattner

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