Page 268 - Essencials of Sociology

Poverty 241

mothers who work outside the home and have to pay for child care are treated the same
as mothers who don’t have this expense. The poverty line is also the same for everyone
across the nation, even though the cost of living is much higher in New York than in
Alabama. On the other hand, much of the income of the poor is not counted: food
stamps, rent assistance, subsidized child care, and the earned income tax credit (Short
2012). In the face of these criticisms, the Census Bureau has developed alternative
ways to measure poverty. These show higher poverty, but the official measure has not
changed.
That a change in the poverty line can instantly make millions of people poor—or take
away their poverty—would be laughable, if it weren’t so serious. Although this line is
arbitrary, because it is the official measure of poverty, we’ll use it to see who in the United
States is poor. Before we do this, though, how do you think that your ideas of
the poor match up with sociological findings? To find out, go to the Down-to-Earth
Sociology box on the next page.

High rates of rural poverty have been
a part of the United States from its
origin to the present. This 1937 photo
shows a 32-year old woman who had
seven children and no food. She was
part of a huge migration of people
from the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma in
search of a new life in California.