The Working Poor: Invisible in America

Posted on 21 October 2018 by David K. Shipler

As David K Shipler makes clear in this powerful, humane study, the invisible poor are engaged in the activity most respected in American ideology hard, honest work But their version of the American Dream is a nightmare low paying, dead end jobs the profound failure of government to improve upon decaying housing, health care, and education the failure of families to break the patterns of child abuse and substance abuse Shipler exposes the interlocking problems by taking us into the sorrowful, infuriating, courageous lives of the poor white and black, Asian and Latino, citizens and immigrants We encounter them every day, for they do jobs essential to the American economy.We meet drifting farmworkers in North Carolina, exploited garment workers in New Hampshire, illegal immigrants trapped in the steaming kitchens of Los Angeles restaurants, addicts who struggle into productive work from the cruel streets of the nation s capital each life another aspect of a confounding, far reaching urgent national crisis And unlike mostworks on poverty, this one delves into the calculations of some employers as well their razor thin profits, their anxieties about competition from abroad, their frustrations in finding qualified workers.This impassioned book not only dissects the problems, but makes pointed, informed recommendations for change It is a book that stands to make a difference. Read The Working Poor: Invisible in America author David K. Shipler – kino-fada.fr This is a depressing account of many individuals who are afflicted with poverty and are, with exceptions, unable to escape The book provides considerable ammunition for the view that the poor are kept there by an uncaring and hostile society From the tales and analyses emerge nuggets of potential policy directions Fo...A manager at Barnes Nobles told me that this was a great book because it shifted blame for the problems of the poor onto the poor, thus holding them accountable and providing room for personal responsibility Hardly a compel...I often get into discussions with my father in law about the state of the nation, problems facing workers and companies, and especially the role of the government My father in law will often say the phrase, People just need to work harder in response to my queries about how to get people out of poverty or dead end jobs Well, I heard that phrase one too many times, so I decided to read David Shipler s book to find out if this American Dream is as easy to do as it sounds.It s not easy at I often get into discussions with my father in law about the state of the nation, problems facing workers and companies, and especially the role of the government My father in law will often say the phrase, People just need to work harder in response to my queries about how to get people out of poverty or dead end jobs Well, I heard that phrase one too many times, so I decided to read David Shipler s book to find out if this American Dream is as easy to do as it sounds.It s not easy at all Sure, people can pull themselves up by their boo...If you don t know much about poverty, this book may prove useful to you, but go in with eyes open Shipler is at his best when he s letting the poor folks he speaks to speak for themselves However, he is very much a liberal, and while he s talking with poor people we also get sympathetic interviews with bosses, managers, job trainers, tough love social workers, and the like He praises people who shape themselves and allow themselves to be shaped into well behaved, obedient workers set on If you don t know much about poverty, this book may prove useful to you, but go in with eyes open Shipler is at his best when he s letting the poor folks he speaks to speak for themselves However, he is very much a liberal, and while he s talking with poor people we also get sympathetic interviews with bosses, managers, job trainers, tough love social wo...Summary Poverty is caused by complex interactions between personal and societal business governmental failures The poor are affectedstrongly by small mistakes misfortunes that snowball due to lack of safety net The most heinous problems to me were sexual abuse domestic violence p 162 At the extremes of the debate, liberals don t want to see the dysfunctional family, and conservatives want to see nothing else Depending on the ideology, destructive parenting is either not a cause or Summary Poverty is caused by complex interactions between personal and societ...I liked this book pretty well The author spent a lot of time talking with people of different races and backgrounds about their poverty and also with social workers who help them and with their employers Poverty was self imposed in all cases These people dropped out of school, had a stack of illegitimate kids they couldn t support, got involved in crime, used alcohol and drugs and even when they got jobs, they d just fail to go in to work or orientations and not call in They made bad life I liked this book pretty well The author spent a lot of time talking with people of different races and backgrounds about their poverty and also with social workers who help them and with their employers Poverty was self imposed in all cases These people dropped out of school, had a stack of illegitimate kids they couldn t support, got involved in crime, used alcohol and drugs and even when they got jobs, they d just fail to go in to work or or...this is a very good book to read if you know a little about the policy problems facing the working poor and want to get a better idea of the human stories of people affected by them, or if you don t know anything about the daily lives of the working poor and need a good illustration of the thicket of problems trapping them in poverty.however, if you are looking for a systemic analysis of which policies and procedures create this poverty trap and perpetuate these conditions, this is not the book this is a very good book to read if you know a little about the policy problems facing the working poor and want to get a better idea of the human stories of people affected by them, or if you don t know anything about the daily lives of the working poor and need a good illustration of the thicket of problems trapping them in poverty.however, if you are looking for a systemic analysis of which policies and procedures create this poverty trap and perpetuate these conditions, this is not the book for you while it gave me an extremely vivid and personal view into the lives of many individuals and families struggling with poverty in the US because of different reasons disability, poor education, substandard housing, sexual abuse, domestic violence, etc but does little to discuss how we can best address, ameliorate, or eliminate these problems.i have really mixed feelings about these kinds of books certainly when i hear poverty discussed in pol...Although there weren t any astonishing revelations and I m not sure that s even possible with this subject matter the author did an excellent job of conveying the fragile interrelationships between education, housing, health, upbringing, transportation, health insurance etc and how one problem can trigger a devastating financial setback He writes, For practically every family, then, the ingredients of poverty are part financial and part psychological, part personal and part social, part Although there weren t any astonishing revelations and I m not sure t...This book is not what you would call a pick me upper I had to set it down sometimes, and come back to the stories of so many families fighting on so many fronts It was exhausting to read about the way so many have to fight just to stay above water and hold their families together or wishing sometimes they would let some parts of the family go It was a reminder that if you are able to spend time reading books for fun much less spendingtime commenting on them online , you are very This book is not what you would call a pick me upper I had t...Sad, tragic and honest Goes well with the best seller Nickeled and Dimed.

English
21 October 2018

David K. Shipler