{"id":623,"date":"2010-04-27T11:50:59","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T18:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groansfromwithin.com\/?p=623"},"modified":"2011-07-06T20:10:34","modified_gmt":"2011-07-07T03:10:34","slug":"a-tough-proposal-an-approach-to-alleviating-poverty-2-liberal-and-conservative-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2010\/04\/27\/a-tough-proposal-an-approach-to-alleviating-poverty-2-liberal-and-conservative-approaches\/","title":{"rendered":"A "Tough" Proposal – An Approach to Alleviating Poverty, 2 (Liberal and Conservative Approaches)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the second of 3 posts that I plan to do regarding alleviating poverty.\u00a0 This will not be comprehensive in any way shape or form, but aims at doing some critical reflection on the situation we now find ourselves in as American citizens.\u00a0 Everything I write is an interaction with a book titled: Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada\u2019s Quest to Change Harlem and America<\/a>; by Paul Tough (thus the title).\u00a0 Specifically this will be based on chapter two of this book titled: \u201cUnequal Childhoods.\u201d\u00a0 The first post<\/a> was concerned with the overarching biblical summons to act on behalf of the poor.\u00a0 This post will now engage in dialogue with Tough\u2019s ideas\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Post II: Based on Tough\u2019s essay, what are the similarities \/ differences in liberal and conservative answers to why people are poor?\u00a0 How are both lacking and what does he propose instead?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Tough, the liberal version of why people are poor is mostly a systemic issue.\u00a0 In other words, the conditions in which the people live in the ghettos and poor neighborhoods of America is what keeps people in poverty.\u00a0 He states: \u201cThis belief holds that it is the very structure of the American economy that denies poor people sufficient income, and so the appropriate and just solution is to counter those economic forces by providing the poor with what they lack: food, housing, and money\u201d (24).\u00a0 On the opposite pole is the conservative perspective that basically puts accountability on the free individual. He states: \u201c\u2026American poverty is\u2026caused by the bad decisions of poor people themselves and often perpetuated by the very programs designed to help relieve its effects\u2026\u00a0 what the poor need is not handouts, but moral guidance and strict rules\u201d (ibid).\u00a0 From Tough\u2019s perspective both of these polarities are lacking.\u00a0 On the liberal side of the spectrum, Tough would point out that after years of government funding based on perceived and felt needs, the statistics of poverty have not improved as much as the optimism of liberalist ideals would have hoped.\u00a0 On the conservative side of the spectrum, Tough would be quick to demonstrate that it is not simply a morality boost that people in poverty need, you can make moral choices and still remain poor, what is needed is to determine what is causing the cycles to repeat generation after generation.<\/p>\n

Tough, who is following the lead of Canada, believes that the solution to poverty and the generational cycle of the inner cities must be addressed by focusing on the children who are growing up in impoverished households.\u00a0 What became evident through many of the studies that he evaluated was that middle class children were often more advanced in the areas needed to be \u201csuccessful\u201d by American standards than were lower-class children.\u00a0 Heckman\u2019s assessment of The Bell Curve<\/em> demonstrated the following: \u201cThey are poor, this evidence suggested, not because they are genetically flawed, and not because the system denies them opportunities, but because they lack certain skills\u201d (36).\u00a0 In other words, Tough believed that based on this evidence the approach taken must be one that focuses on the children and giving them equal opportunity to acquire the skills needed to end the cycles of their upbringing.\u00a0 For him, and others who take this approach, it does not mean simply ending all government programs that help keep families out of excessive poverty (such as welfare, medi-cal, etc.), but directing such energies to give the children opportunities to acquire the skills they will need in life.\u00a0 This is called the \u201chuman-capital\u201d perspective.\u00a0 Tough gives a great summary of this transition:<\/p>\n

One advantage of this new perspective was that it took the poverty debate out of the realm of morality\u2026 and into the realm of science.\u00a0 Political opinions on poverty had always seemed to be based mostly on gut feelings\u2026\u00a0 The human-capital perspective, by contrast, said, Forget for a moment how different policies make you feel.\u00a0 Instead let\u2019s examine what different policies and interventions actually accomplish (39).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

\n<\/p>

Although the \u201chuman-capital\u201d view is one that is full of potential, Tough\u2019s article ends with a great challenge.\u00a0 The way that children develop cognitively within the household demonstrates that lower-class children have a disadvantage.\u00a0 The kids in this situation hear less words that are uttered to them directly as they attempt to build their vocabulary.\u00a0 Not only so, but Farah\u2019s study indicates that such children typically lag in four areas: language, long-term memory, \u201cworking memory,\u201d and \u201ccognitive control\u201d (see 46 for more details).\u00a0 The challenge is to now discern how to change the way poorer households operate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What thoughts does this raise for you regarding how to break cycles of poverty?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the second of 3 posts that I plan to do regarding alleviating poverty.\u00a0 This will not be comprehensive in any way shape or form, but aims at doing some critical reflection on the situation we now find ourselves in as American citizens.\u00a0 Everything I write is an interaction with a book titled: Whatever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,89],"tags":[160,229,328,364,365,386,457,473,575,601,682,19185,766],"class_list":["post-623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-social-justice","tag-biblical-justice","tag-conservative","tag-geoffrey-canada","tag-harlem","tag-harlem-childrens-zone","tag-human-capital","tag-justice-of-god","tag-liberal","tag-paul-tough","tag-poverty","tag-social-action","tag-social-justice","tag-whatever-it-takes"],"yoast_head":"\nA "Tough" Proposal - 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