Generational Poverty and Struggle

Total Length: 936 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

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Working Poor

The author of this report has been asked to offer a brief report about the working poor in the United States. There are two main constrictions on this report. First, only the book by David Shipler about the subject shall be used and there will mainly be a focus on the "barriers and biases towards employability" as it relates to the working poor. Indeed, there is very much an "invisibility" of the working poor and there are strong barriers that exist when it comes to the working poor trying to extricate themselves from generational poverty and struggle even if they want to do so and are trying to do the same. While many people in this country that expend great effort and drive are rewarded for their hard work, there are many that seem doomed to repeating the same vicious cycle due to the barriers and biases that exist that ostensibly push back against some people in the working poor.

Book Review

Shipler has several main themes in his book and one need look only at the chapter titles to see the points he wishes to make in his book. He speaks about being at the edge of poverty, money and its opposite, how work "doesn't work," how the third world is seemingly being imported into the United States, the "sins" of prior generations and the dreams of those that struggle, just to name a few. Shipler by no means focuses on one race or group in his book. Indeed, the preface states this up front when he says that he saw the economic boom of 1997 but yet saw black people in Washington DC and white people in New Hampshire that were not beneficiaries of the largesse in question.
On the same note, he looked at different parts of these economies and cultures including the factories, housing projects and job-training centers. As for the barriers and biases towards employability, Shipler ends up being very verbose and specific about that subject as well.

One barrier that Shipler points to are the time limits on welfare and work rules as it pertains to the same. Shipler notes that some people in poverty break the mold that is otherwise cast in this book as they have skills and traits that allow them to climb the corporate ladder. Concurrent to that, Shipler notes that one major barrier for those that are not so lucky. In the very next paragraph, on page four, he notes that "breaking away and moving a comfortable distance from poverty seems to require a perfect lineup of favorable conditions" (Shipler). These conditions include a set of skills, a good starting wage and a job that actually has the likelihood of promotion, just to name a few. While many hold….....

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"Generational Poverty And Struggle", 12 February 2016, Accessed.20 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/generational-poverty-struggle-2154930