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The Other America: Poverty in the United States
In the fifty years since it was published, The Other America has been established as a seminal work of sociology. This anniversary edition includes Michael Harrington’s essays on poverty in the 1970s and ’80s as well as a new introduction by Harrington’s biographer, Maurice Isserman. This illuminating, profoundly moving classic is still all too relevant for today’s America.
When Michael Harrington’s masterpiece, The Other America, was first published in 1962, it was hailed as an explosive work and became a galvanizing force for the war on poverty. Harrington shed light on the lives of the poor—from farm to city—and the social forces that relegated them to their difficult situations. He was determined to make poverty in the United States visible and his observations and analyses have had a profound effect on our country, radically changing how we view the poor and the policies we employ to help them.
When Michael Harrington’s masterpiece, The Other America, was first published in 1962, it was hailed as an explosive work and became a galvanizing force for the war on poverty. Harrington shed light on the lives of the poor—from farm to city—and the social forces that relegated them to their difficult situations. He was determined to make poverty in the United States visible and his observations and analyses have had a profound effect on our country, radically changing how we view the poor and the policies we employ to help them.
252 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
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About the author
Michael Harrington
104 books72 followersEdward Michael Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, and radio commentator.
Early life
Harrington was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended St. Louis University High School, College of the Holy Cross, University of Chicago (MA in English Literature), and Yale Law School. As a young man, he was interested in both leftwing politics and Catholicism. Fittingly, he joined Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker movement, a pacifist group that advocated a radical interpretation of the Gospel. Above all else, Harrington was an intellectual. He loved arguing about culture and politics, preferably over beer, and his Jesuit education made him a fine debater and rhetorician. Harrington was an editor of The Catholic Worker from 1951 to 1953. However, Harrington became disillusioned with religion and, although he would always retain a certain affection for Catholic culture, he ultimately became an atheist.
Becoming a socialist
This estrangement from religion was accompanied by a growing interest in Marxism and a drift toward secular socialism. After leaving The Catholic Worker Harrington became a member of the Independent Socialist League, a small organization associated with the former Trotskyist leader Max Shachtman. Harrington and Shachtman believed that socialism, the promise of a just and fully democratic society, could not be realized under authoritarian Communism and they were both fiercely critical of the "bureaucratic collectivist" states in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
Harrington became a member of Norman Thomas's Socialist Party when the SP agreed to absorb Shachtman's organization. Harrington backed the Shachtmanite realignment strategy of working within the Democratic Party rather than running candidates on a Socialist ticket.
Socialist leader
During this period Harrington wrote The Other America: Poverty in the United States, a book that had an impact on the Kennedy administration, and on Lyndon B. Johnson's subsequent War on Poverty. Harrington became a widely read intellectual and political writer. He would frequently debate noted conservatives but would also clash with the younger radicals in the New Left movements. He was present at the 1962 SDS conference that led to the creation of the Port Huron Statement, where he argued that the final draft was insufficiently anti-Communist. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. referred to Harrington as the "only responsible radical" in America, a somewhat dubious distinction among those on the political left. His high profile landed him on the master list of Nixon political opponents.
By early 1970s Shachtman's anti-Communism had become a hawkish Cold War liberalism. Shachtman and the governing faction of the Socialist Party effectively supported the Vietnam War and changed the organization's name to Social Democrats, USA. In protest Harrington led a number of Norman Thomas-era Socialists, younger activists and ex-Shachtmanites into the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. A smaller faction associated with peace activist David McReynolds formed the Socialist Party USA.
In the early 1980s The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee merged with the New American Movement, an organization of New Left veterans, forming Democratic Socialists of America. This organization remains the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, which includes socialist parties as diverse as the Swedish and German Social Democrats, Nicaragua's FSLN, and the British Labour Party.
Academician and public intellectual
Harrington was appointed a professor of political science at Queens College in 1972 and was designated a distinguished professor in 1988. During the 1980s he contributed commentaries to National Public Radio. Harrington died in 1989 of cancer. He was the most well-known socialist in the United States during his lifetime.
Early life
Harrington was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended St. Louis University High School, College of the Holy Cross, University of Chicago (MA in English Literature), and Yale Law School. As a young man, he was interested in both leftwing politics and Catholicism. Fittingly, he joined Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker movement, a pacifist group that advocated a radical interpretation of the Gospel. Above all else, Harrington was an intellectual. He loved arguing about culture and politics, preferably over beer, and his Jesuit education made him a fine debater and rhetorician. Harrington was an editor of The Catholic Worker from 1951 to 1953. However, Harrington became disillusioned with religion and, although he would always retain a certain affection for Catholic culture, he ultimately became an atheist.
Becoming a socialist
This estrangement from religion was accompanied by a growing interest in Marxism and a drift toward secular socialism. After leaving The Catholic Worker Harrington became a member of the Independent Socialist League, a small organization associated with the former Trotskyist leader Max Shachtman. Harrington and Shachtman believed that socialism, the promise of a just and fully democratic society, could not be realized under authoritarian Communism and they were both fiercely critical of the "bureaucratic collectivist" states in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
Harrington became a member of Norman Thomas's Socialist Party when the SP agreed to absorb Shachtman's organization. Harrington backed the Shachtmanite realignment strategy of working within the Democratic Party rather than running candidates on a Socialist ticket.
Socialist leader
During this period Harrington wrote The Other America: Poverty in the United States, a book that had an impact on the Kennedy administration, and on Lyndon B. Johnson's subsequent War on Poverty. Harrington became a widely read intellectual and political writer. He would frequently debate noted conservatives but would also clash with the younger radicals in the New Left movements. He was present at the 1962 SDS conference that led to the creation of the Port Huron Statement, where he argued that the final draft was insufficiently anti-Communist. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. referred to Harrington as the "only responsible radical" in America, a somewhat dubious distinction among those on the political left. His high profile landed him on the master list of Nixon political opponents.
By early 1970s Shachtman's anti-Communism had become a hawkish Cold War liberalism. Shachtman and the governing faction of the Socialist Party effectively supported the Vietnam War and changed the organization's name to Social Democrats, USA. In protest Harrington led a number of Norman Thomas-era Socialists, younger activists and ex-Shachtmanites into the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. A smaller faction associated with peace activist David McReynolds formed the Socialist Party USA.
In the early 1980s The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee merged with the New American Movement, an organization of New Left veterans, forming Democratic Socialists of America. This organization remains the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, which includes socialist parties as diverse as the Swedish and German Social Democrats, Nicaragua's FSLN, and the British Labour Party.
Academician and public intellectual
Harrington was appointed a professor of political science at Queens College in 1972 and was designated a distinguished professor in 1988. During the 1980s he contributed commentaries to National Public Radio. Harrington died in 1989 of cancer. He was the most well-known socialist in the United States during his lifetime.
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May 3, 2016
In 1962, a small book was published to some acclaim by a political scientist named Michael Harrington. The book, entitled “The Other America: Poverty in the United States”, shocked the rather small audience that actually read the book with the premise that nearly one-fourth of the United States population was living at or below the poverty line.
It was shocking to the reading audience of the time because a national dialogue about poverty did not even exist, outside academic circles of political scientists and social scientists who actually studied poverty issues. Most, if not all, Americans believed that the U.S. was swimming in wealth and that Americans were not lacking in luxury and leisure. For roughly 75% of the population, that was true.
Harrington’s book shocked the nation and quickly became a bestseller, especially after President John F. Kennedy, after reading the book, initiated a study on poverty to see if Harrington’s book had any validity. It did.
The fact that the book is still being published and read today is extremely telling. The fact that very few of the problems talked about in the book have been rectified today, more than fifty years later, is very sad. It is, however, probably not all that surprising.
Harrington had the hope that the more people knew about the problem, the greater the chance that things would be done to eradicate poverty. He honestly believed that true poverty would be reduced drastically by the 1990s and a thing of the past by the turn of the 21st century.
Silly man.
If anything, poverty has become a worse problem today than it ever was. Most Americans, sadly, accept it as one of those unsolvable problems, like pollution or drug abuse or terrorism. Many Americans, especially those on the political Right, if they think about it at all, view poverty as an annoyance: those living in poverty are nothing more than a drain on the system. They are nothing more than welfare queens, bums, and human blight on our city streets.
While dated, with statistics that seem, even at the time it was published, conservative at best, “The Other America” is still an important book.
Behind the numbers and studies cited, Harrington reveals a strong compassion for the poor, most of whom who have arrived in poverty through no fault of their own. Many of the impoverished are children.
Harrington makes the case that there are different “groups” of the poor, hidden from view of the more affluent segment of American population because they have been purposely and systematically segregated from the middle to upper classes, for various reasons, and through various means.
These groups are, according to Harrington: the rural poor, urban blacks, the mentally ill, senior citizens, and the self-imposed poor (alcoholics and drug abusers). While some of the demographics have changed in fifty years, the basic make-up of these groups haven't changed that much.
It is probably unfair to say that no progress has been made on the issue of poverty. Some progress has been made, thankfully, but we still have a long way to go. For a country with so much wealth, it is unbelievable---and, frankly, unconscionable---that there are millions in this country that go without basic needs of food, shelter, and proper health care.
Harrington’s book may be old but it is still apropos, powerfully felt, and worth reading.
It was shocking to the reading audience of the time because a national dialogue about poverty did not even exist, outside academic circles of political scientists and social scientists who actually studied poverty issues. Most, if not all, Americans believed that the U.S. was swimming in wealth and that Americans were not lacking in luxury and leisure. For roughly 75% of the population, that was true.
Harrington’s book shocked the nation and quickly became a bestseller, especially after President John F. Kennedy, after reading the book, initiated a study on poverty to see if Harrington’s book had any validity. It did.
The fact that the book is still being published and read today is extremely telling. The fact that very few of the problems talked about in the book have been rectified today, more than fifty years later, is very sad. It is, however, probably not all that surprising.
Harrington had the hope that the more people knew about the problem, the greater the chance that things would be done to eradicate poverty. He honestly believed that true poverty would be reduced drastically by the 1990s and a thing of the past by the turn of the 21st century.
Silly man.
If anything, poverty has become a worse problem today than it ever was. Most Americans, sadly, accept it as one of those unsolvable problems, like pollution or drug abuse or terrorism. Many Americans, especially those on the political Right, if they think about it at all, view poverty as an annoyance: those living in poverty are nothing more than a drain on the system. They are nothing more than welfare queens, bums, and human blight on our city streets.
While dated, with statistics that seem, even at the time it was published, conservative at best, “The Other America” is still an important book.
Behind the numbers and studies cited, Harrington reveals a strong compassion for the poor, most of whom who have arrived in poverty through no fault of their own. Many of the impoverished are children.
Harrington makes the case that there are different “groups” of the poor, hidden from view of the more affluent segment of American population because they have been purposely and systematically segregated from the middle to upper classes, for various reasons, and through various means.
These groups are, according to Harrington: the rural poor, urban blacks, the mentally ill, senior citizens, and the self-imposed poor (alcoholics and drug abusers). While some of the demographics have changed in fifty years, the basic make-up of these groups haven't changed that much.
It is probably unfair to say that no progress has been made on the issue of poverty. Some progress has been made, thankfully, but we still have a long way to go. For a country with so much wealth, it is unbelievable---and, frankly, unconscionable---that there are millions in this country that go without basic needs of food, shelter, and proper health care.
Harrington’s book may be old but it is still apropos, powerfully felt, and worth reading.
June 15, 2017
One quote pretty much sums up the theme of this book... "America has the best dressed poverty in the World." Americans often don't think about poverty. They see the occasional bum on a street corner and assume that he must be a drunk or otherwise irresponsible. They never bother to think about the systematic nature of poverty and the causes of it. Nor do they think about the fact that the gap between the rich and poor is growing and more Americans are going into poverty than coming out.
Harrington dispells many of these American povery myths with clear research, personal stories and eloquent prose.
Harrington dispells many of these American povery myths with clear research, personal stories and eloquent prose.
May 24, 2015
This book was truly eye-opening to the poverty related problems present in our society. Although this book was written in 1962, it is astonishing how little has changed since then in regards to the improvement of the "other society" in America. This book provided powerful insight in the present problems, their cause, and how they can be fixed, which highlighted how simple a plan can seem on paper, yet implementing that plan into society requires a concern for the culture in the impoverished area. The reason this book only receives four stars is because they sometimes left problems open-ended without providing an adequate solution or dismissing issues with an over-simplified response. Overall, I highly recommend this book to whoever is interested in learning about one of the most ignored societies today.
December 9, 2014
Entering Grinnell College with a year's credit already accumulated in high school, I enrolled in courses that were actually interesting, figuring requirements were secondary. A whole host of such classes were offered under the rubric of Social Science as special topics. The first I took was one on the welfare system of the U.S.A. taught by a former social worker who had just come to our school.
If the Welfare class had a central text, it was Harrington's The Other America. But perhaps it was because I knew of Harrington from the Socialist Party that the book seemed so central. In any case, it was an eye-opener. I knew things were bad, I'd been through Benton Harbor, Michigan and Gary, Indiana countless times, but I didn't know they were that bad!--nor did I know that there were far more poor white people than black people--nor did I know that there had been so much good intention behind Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs which had been dissolved by the nationally and economically corrosive factor of the American invasions of Southeast Asia.
If the Welfare class had a central text, it was Harrington's The Other America. But perhaps it was because I knew of Harrington from the Socialist Party that the book seemed so central. In any case, it was an eye-opener. I knew things were bad, I'd been through Benton Harbor, Michigan and Gary, Indiana countless times, but I didn't know they were that bad!--nor did I know that there were far more poor white people than black people--nor did I know that there had been so much good intention behind Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs which had been dissolved by the nationally and economically corrosive factor of the American invasions of Southeast Asia.
September 3, 2008
Michael Harrington's magnum opus on poverty in the United States says right on the cover that it is "the book that sparked the War on Poverty." And it did. Kennedy gave this book to his advisors and green-lighted a plan to eradicate poverty in America three days before he was killed. Lyndon Johnson referenced this book when he made the War of Poverty a reality. Clocking in at only 170 pages, this relatively short book delivered a powerful message for the poor. The closing lines of the book sum it up well:
"The means are at hand to fulfill the age-old dream: poverty can now be abolished. How long shall we ignore this underdeveloped nation in our midst? How long shall we look the other way while our fellow human beings suffer? How long?"
How long, indeed.
"The means are at hand to fulfill the age-old dream: poverty can now be abolished. How long shall we ignore this underdeveloped nation in our midst? How long shall we look the other way while our fellow human beings suffer? How long?"
How long, indeed.
January 1, 2020
So sad that we’ve made zero progress in the war on poverty. Almost 60 years since this book was written and affordable housing is a major issue still and homelessness seems to be on the rise.
February 2, 2011
Michael Harrington (1928-1989) is best known for this book, published in 1962. He was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America. The Other America has become a classic in the social change world, that attention be directed at the poor in the U.S. at a time when “affluence” was the byword and the poor were marginalized. It was cutting edge for its time.
Although Harrington uses some statistics in the book, the vast majority is narrative and analysis. His notable beliefs about statistics are included in the Appendix, the final section of the book. This is interesting to read even taken away from the balance of the book. Combining the numbers with the words, Harrington paints a dismal view of poverty and the poor. There are lengthy discussions “of the twisted spirit within the culture of poverty.” Since the book is nearly 50 years old, the statistics are dated. In fact the federal government didn’t start keeping statistics on poverty until 1959. But the words are just as apt as they were when the book was published.
He was a supporter of universal health care saying, “A comprehensive medical program, guaranteeing decent care to every American, would actually reduce the cost of caring for the aged.” He believed that if people had good health care in their early decades, they would have fewer problems as they aged. It took a few decades to get this one.
Read the last 33 pages of the book if you ever have the chance. This is the summary chapter, The Two Nations, and the Appendix: Definitions. It can be found in Google books, by Googling 'the two nations michael harrington.' The book was reissued by Touchstone in 1997.
Can you hear the mumbles, no, the shouts of “Bleeding heart liberal”? This is meant to be a pejorative in most cases. Harrington almost wears the label as a badge of honor, proof of his humanity and his awareness and sensitivity to the desolation of the problem of poverty and the lives of the poor. He did see the poor as victims.
He cries out, “In a nation with a technology that could provide every citizen with a decent life, it is an outrage and a scandal that there should be such social misery.” He said this 50 years ago. And he kept saying it until his death in 1989 from cancer at the young age of 61.
Michael Harrington wants to tell us, “The poor are not like everyone else. They are a different kind of people. They think and feel differently; they look upon a different America than the middle class looks upon. They . . . are the main victims of this society’s tension and conflict.”
Reading this book you might think he invented President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.
Can you imagine that many things being accomplished by our U.S. Congress in 2011? Nixon followed Johnson into the White House and kept most of these programs running.
I am looking forward to reading The Other American: The Untold Life of Michael Harrington and hopefully getting an idea about his views during the Great Society and War on Poverty era.
Although Harrington uses some statistics in the book, the vast majority is narrative and analysis. His notable beliefs about statistics are included in the Appendix, the final section of the book. This is interesting to read even taken away from the balance of the book. Combining the numbers with the words, Harrington paints a dismal view of poverty and the poor. There are lengthy discussions “of the twisted spirit within the culture of poverty.” Since the book is nearly 50 years old, the statistics are dated. In fact the federal government didn’t start keeping statistics on poverty until 1959. But the words are just as apt as they were when the book was published.
He was a supporter of universal health care saying, “A comprehensive medical program, guaranteeing decent care to every American, would actually reduce the cost of caring for the aged.” He believed that if people had good health care in their early decades, they would have fewer problems as they aged. It took a few decades to get this one.
Read the last 33 pages of the book if you ever have the chance. This is the summary chapter, The Two Nations, and the Appendix: Definitions. It can be found in Google books, by Googling 'the two nations michael harrington.' The book was reissued by Touchstone in 1997.
In short, being poor is not one aspect of a person’s life in this country; it is his life. Taken as a whole, poverty is a culture. Taken on the family level, it has the same quality. These are people who lack education and skill, who have bad health, poor housing, low levels of aspiration and high levels of mental distress. They are, in the language of sociology, “multi problem” families. Each disability is more intense because it exists within a web of disabilities. And if one problem is solved, and the others are left constant, there is little gain.
One might translate these facts into the moralistic language so dear to those who would condemn the poor for their faults. The other Americans are those who live at a level of life below moral choice, who are so submerged in their poverty that one cannot begin to talk about free choice. The point is not to make them wards of the state. Rather, society must help them before they can help themselves.
Can you hear the mumbles, no, the shouts of “Bleeding heart liberal”? This is meant to be a pejorative in most cases. Harrington almost wears the label as a badge of honor, proof of his humanity and his awareness and sensitivity to the desolation of the problem of poverty and the lives of the poor. He did see the poor as victims.
He cries out, “In a nation with a technology that could provide every citizen with a decent life, it is an outrage and a scandal that there should be such social misery.” He said this 50 years ago. And he kept saying it until his death in 1989 from cancer at the young age of 61.
Michael Harrington wants to tell us, “The poor are not like everyone else. They are a different kind of people. They think and feel differently; they look upon a different America than the middle class looks upon. They . . . are the main victims of this society’s tension and conflict.”
Reading this book you might think he invented President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.
Begun officially in 1964, the War on Poverty was an ambitious governmental effort to address the problem of persistent poverty in the United States. Over the next decade, the federal government—in conjunction with state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, and grassroots groups—created a new institutional base for antipoverty and civil rights action and, in the process, highlighted growing racial and ideological tensions in American politics and society. Marked by moments of controversy and consensus, the War on Poverty defined a new era for American liberalism and added new layers to the American welfare state. Legislatively, the first two years were the most active. Between President Lyndon Johnson’s State of the Union address in 1964 and the liberal setbacks suffered in the congressional elections of 1966, the Johnson administration pushed through an unprecedented amount of antipoverty legislation. The Economic Opportunity Act (1964) provided the basis for the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the Job Corps, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), Upward Bound, Head Start, Legal Services, the Neighborhood Youth Corps, the Community Action Program (CAP), the college Work-Study program, Neighborhood Development Centers, small business loan programs, rural programs, migrant worker programs, remedial education projects, local health care centers, and others. The antipoverty effort, however, did not stop there. It encompassed a range of Great Society legislation far broader than the Economic Opportunity Act alone. Other important measures with antipoverty functions included an $11 billion tax cut (Revenue Act of 1964), the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Food Stamp Act (1964), the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), the Higher Education Act (1965), the Social Security amendments creating Medicare/Medicaid (1965), the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (1965), the Voting Rights Act (1965), the Model Cities Act (1966), the Fair Housing Act (1968), several job-training programs, and various Urban Renewal-related projects.
Source:
http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/sixti...
Can you imagine that many things being accomplished by our U.S. Congress in 2011? Nixon followed Johnson into the White House and kept most of these programs running.
I am looking forward to reading The Other American: The Untold Life of Michael Harrington and hopefully getting an idea about his views during the Great Society and War on Poverty era.
February 9, 2009
As many others have pointed out, the most depressing aspect of this book is that so little has changed since it's publication in 1962. Despite the dozens of underfunded social programs, despite growing public consciousness of poverty, despite the good and bad times that have come and gone, the underclass of desperately poor individuals and families remains with us as much now as ever.
The Other America is the book that inspired the War on Poverty and launched a thousand discussions in sociology classes about the cause and nature of poverty, and it is certainly a compelling read. Harrington, the great American socialist, painstakingly lays out the endemic poverty that secretly surrounds us, be it on the farm, in the city, with the young or the old. The book is full of figures, though they are mostly meaningless to modern readers, since nothing is adjusted for inflation.
But the thing that seems most relevant is that Harrington reminds us that we are choosing not to see poverty. While many of us enjoy the most affluent standard of living in the world, here within our borders--in fact, within a few miles of wherever you happen to be sitting at the moment--there exists a world of crushing poverty. The Other America is defined by hopeless and pessismism, and by not seeing it, we ensure that the cycle of poverty will be repeated in a new generation. Harrington is hopeful in his book that when Americans become aware of poverty, they will be full of moral outrage and work to eradicate it. Well, that was 1962, and I don't know how long we have to wait to judge that that theory has been tested and shown to be deficient.
No doubt this book is a call to conscience, but one that is not new. How long will the poor have to wait for their suffering to be recognized, Harrington asks at the end of the book. Maybe someday we will know that answer.
The Other America is the book that inspired the War on Poverty and launched a thousand discussions in sociology classes about the cause and nature of poverty, and it is certainly a compelling read. Harrington, the great American socialist, painstakingly lays out the endemic poverty that secretly surrounds us, be it on the farm, in the city, with the young or the old. The book is full of figures, though they are mostly meaningless to modern readers, since nothing is adjusted for inflation.
But the thing that seems most relevant is that Harrington reminds us that we are choosing not to see poverty. While many of us enjoy the most affluent standard of living in the world, here within our borders--in fact, within a few miles of wherever you happen to be sitting at the moment--there exists a world of crushing poverty. The Other America is defined by hopeless and pessismism, and by not seeing it, we ensure that the cycle of poverty will be repeated in a new generation. Harrington is hopeful in his book that when Americans become aware of poverty, they will be full of moral outrage and work to eradicate it. Well, that was 1962, and I don't know how long we have to wait to judge that that theory has been tested and shown to be deficient.
No doubt this book is a call to conscience, but one that is not new. How long will the poor have to wait for their suffering to be recognized, Harrington asks at the end of the book. Maybe someday we will know that answer.
June 21, 2009
I read this book in college more than 40 years ago. Harrington's exposure of poverty in Appalachia and other parts of the U.S was a stark revelation in the early 1960's. This book significantly influenced the anti poverty programs later in the decade. Ironically, Harrington at the time was the head of the United States Socialist Party.
Thinking about the Other America inspired me many times during a 37 year career with the U.S. Department of Labor. I plan to include this book and its influence on my career during an upcoming retirement luncheon.
A good portion of this book is available at http://books.google.com/books?id=sZDg...
Thinking about the Other America inspired me many times during a 37 year career with the U.S. Department of Labor. I plan to include this book and its influence on my career during an upcoming retirement luncheon.
A good portion of this book is available at http://books.google.com/books?id=sZDg...
January 25, 2015
One would think that this book is would be outdated but its not. Even though it first published in 1968 it is very relevant to the present.
February 6, 2018
One of the most influential nonfiction books of the twentieth century. Exposes an invisible "culture" of poverty in the United States and analyzes its nature and causes. Harrington argues that an economic underclass of forty to fifty million poor Americans is so excluded from America's affluent society as to constitute “a separate culture, another nation, with its own way of life.” That the poor are "not simply neglected and forgotten. . . . What is much worse, they are not seen.” They need more than money or jobs, as they are mired in disabilities within webs of disabilities. He calls for a broad program of remedial action, a "comprehensive assault on poverty." “Society must help them before they can help themselves.”
A call to action on a national scale, it resulted in the War on Poverty of the sixties, maybe even Medicare and Medicaid. Sad to say, this book is not outdated today.
A call to action on a national scale, it resulted in the War on Poverty of the sixties, maybe even Medicare and Medicaid. Sad to say, this book is not outdated today.
February 22, 2023
I’m not really sure what I expected from this book considering it was written in the 1960s. The topic is quite obvious based on the title and this book does explore the culture of poverty in the United States during a very volatile time in our history. The labels given to the various ethnic groups discussed in this book were expected given the time period in which the book was written; however, it was still quite jarring to see those names in print! I guess the bottom line of this book is that the more things change, the more they really stay the same. Poverty has been a problem for decades, and it doesn’t appear that we have yet reached an answer on how to solve it. Solutions have been proposed where government was involved more in the process, and then again where government was involved less in the process. It definitely is a national problem that seems to get worse rather than better.
October 26, 2015
I read Harrington's book years ago and still remember it all this time later. Harrington is a man with heart, a 'democratic socialist' who was writing originally during the prosperity of the early 1960s which, in many ways, was much more prosperous than today but at the same time when deep poverty was holding in rural parts of the US and some urban areas too, including parts of Appalachia that had no running water or regular electricity. It's a short book, and an impassioned call for justice through national policy. But it has dated considerably and in some ways is an elitist view that is characteristic of much of the top-down social activism of the time, including the later War on Poverty and the Great Society of Lyndon Johnson. The prescription is for help from government and redistribution to correct economic imbalances, which are good things, to be sure. Empowering of poor people, and organising them, is not in this worldview and for all its sympathy, this is a book with little empathy for poor folk. Still, it has inspired many and its historical importance recommends a look through.
February 21, 2019
This obviously was not the lightest or easiest read, but I am glad I read it. It's easy to look at the publication date and dismiss THE OTHER AMERICA as outdated, but a closer look reveals just how applicable it is to new millennium problems.
It is true, the lowest-paying, least stable jobs in America have changed. Garment and consumer product factories discovered they could move overseas and produce the same stuff with even lower wages and less pleasant conditions. This job sector in America has become retail and food services jobs. The workers remain just as desperate.
The section on rural poverty may surprise many modern readers, who assume industrialization of the agriculture industry is a new thing. In this book we read of small farmers whose livelihoods are crushed in the wake of "huge operators with factory-like farms." Modern foodies who idealize the mom-and-pop era of farming may be surprised to learn that Mom and Pop were struggling mightily, with many falling into uninhabitable poverty and being forced into city tenements.
It is true, the lowest-paying, least stable jobs in America have changed. Garment and consumer product factories discovered they could move overseas and produce the same stuff with even lower wages and less pleasant conditions. This job sector in America has become retail and food services jobs. The workers remain just as desperate.
The section on rural poverty may surprise many modern readers, who assume industrialization of the agriculture industry is a new thing. In this book we read of small farmers whose livelihoods are crushed in the wake of "huge operators with factory-like farms." Modern foodies who idealize the mom-and-pop era of farming may be surprised to learn that Mom and Pop were struggling mightily, with many falling into uninhabitable poverty and being forced into city tenements.
August 24, 2011
It took me a long time to get thru this book, and even more to review it here--the thing is, the writing isn't old-fashioned or dodgy but for a progressive, bleeding-heart liberal like me--even as an expat in Europe--the book's contents got way, way too depressing. Because so little has changed? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe the worst is that A LOT has changed, actually, from the 50s and early 60s days of this book, only barring certain social transformations (women, gays) politically most of the changes are not for the better and 'the other America' is alive and well and kicking vehemently today.
November 17, 2019
The discovery that there were still large pockets of poverty in the United States in the early 1960s supposedly came as a shock to the American people - that is, to those of them that lived in the suburbs - and led semi-directly to the War on Poverty, which was won (to a point) by the elderly. Incidentally, the second book that appeared when I searched for this volume on Goodreads was Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative. One day I will understand the connection between the two books, but today is not the day.
December 19, 2011
I read the 1962 / 1969 edition which only had 191 pages. Very enlightening. Most of it fits with today as well. There is one point towards the end of the book(pg 164) which definitely sounds like now. He talks about the recession of Spring 1961. Even though the business indicators were showing we were improving, unemployment still remained high.
Don't go by what you currently know. Read up on the past. It is a good indicator as to how we progressed / where we are headed.
Don't go by what you currently know. Read up on the past. It is a good indicator as to how we progressed / where we are headed.
December 8, 2016
"For until these facts shame us, until they stir us to action, the other America will continue to exist, a monstrous example of needless suffering in the most advanced society in the world."
And so it goes.
And so it goes.
June 12, 2017
Read it in college. So long ago, I can't comment.
November 14, 2018
This book is an intellectually dishonest work of exploitation.
October 1, 2023
“What shall we tell the American poor, once we have seen them?Shall we say to them that they are better off than the Indian poor, the Italian poor, the Russian poor? That is one answer, but it is heartless. I should put it another way. I want to tell every well-fed and optimistic American that it is intolerable that so many millions should be maimed in body and in spirit when it is not necessary that they should be. My standard of comparison is not how much worse things used to be. It is how much better they could be if only we were stirred.”
This is a seminal work in the poverty abolition movement. It lays out the case that the poor in the United States are living in a forgotten colony within a country of affluence. The poor are pushed into slums where the well off can forget they exist. This leads us to not care about the plight of others. While some of the stats and language are outdated the solutions are still very relevant. I was very fascinated with his exploration of each of the different groups which make up the “other America”
This is a seminal work in the poverty abolition movement. It lays out the case that the poor in the United States are living in a forgotten colony within a country of affluence. The poor are pushed into slums where the well off can forget they exist. This leads us to not care about the plight of others. While some of the stats and language are outdated the solutions are still very relevant. I was very fascinated with his exploration of each of the different groups which make up the “other America”
April 12, 2020
This is a depressing read because it's nearly 60 years old and yet so much of it is still true. LBJ's War on Poverty did lessen poverty, especially amongst the elderly. But too many of us believe in Reagan's quip that "we waged a war on poverty, and poverty won"--cutting benefits and giving up. Harrington's book still articulates the problems with conservative thinking on poverty, and his analyses of rural areas and black poverty still have a great deal of truth today.
December 12, 2020
Made me take sociology as a discipline more seriously (though to be fair I was also on a mild dose of shrooms while reading the majority of this book, which may have contributed to that judgement call.)
August 10, 2022
(All rights are reserved by the author/reviewer)
---------------------------------------------
In the book, the author shares an overall picture of America in the sixties about what poverty is and how many types it can be. It is safe to say that the book has played a significant role in alleviating poverty in the United States, including raising awareness about poverty and social security.
----------------------------------------------
‘The Other America: Poverty in the United States’ was first published in 1962. As such, when the paperback edition was published in 2012, it was the 50th anniversary edition of the book since its first publication. In this 50th anniversary edition, it is mentioned that more than one million copies of the book have been sold. To date (2022), I do not have the figure of how many additional copies are sold. Whatever the exact number of copies vended so far, it can be presumed that the book, since its first publication, has played a significant role in alleviating poverty in the United States including raising awareness about ‘poverty and social security’ from time to time. Therefore, the appeal of the book is not over even today. Maybe that's why the book is still retailed on Amazon. In the book, authored by Michael Harrington, the foreword has been entered by Maurice Isserman and the introduction by Irving Howe.
Michael Harrington was a leading figure in the study of socialism in America, which can easily be inferred from a few books he authored. For example, he wrote books like Toward a Democratic Left, The New American Poverty, Socialism: Past and Future etc. The list includes his autobiography The Long-Distance Runner as well. He used to edit a magazine named Dissent. He was also the editor-in-chief of New America, a fortnightly publication of the Socialist Party. Michael Harrington, of Irish Catholic descent, was born in 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, U. S. A., and attended educational institutions such as Holy Cross, Yale Law School, and the University of Chicago. He came to New York in 1949 with the intention to enter into the world of writing. To that end, he began working as a volunteer for homeless male alcoholics in the Bowery district of New York City. Through his work, he had an opportunity to know and understand the poor people of America and their lives very closely. Thus, from the information presented above, it is clear that the author is competent enough to write a book on poverty and, in fact, this book is the product of his relentless efforts, extensive research, work experience and skills. Sorrowfully, a law of nature, the eminent writer passed away in 1989. Together with the book’s author Michael Harrington, Maurice Isserman, the writer of the book's foreword, is a James L. Ferguson Professor of American History at Hamilton College who is also the biographer of author Michael Harrington. Maurice Isserman has penned many editorials and book reviews for several magazines, including The New York Times and The Boston Globe.
The book ‘The Other America: Poverty in the United States’ is a first-class treatise on poverty that exposes how a large section of the population live in poverty-stricken miseries, even in a society like the United States advanced from many different frontages. Many things are described in details in the book like what does it mean to be poor, why does poverty persist, what are the variables in society that bring people back to poverty etc. Therefore, we can easily count the book as a seminal work of sociology which is not redundant even in today's American context. And that's why, perhaps, the book is considered as one of the first ten most influential books of the twentieth century carrying positive impact on society. Before the book was published, people probably had no idea of how widespread and lasting poverty could be in an affluent America.
According to the table of contents, the titles of the chapters in the book are as follows: Invisible Land, The Rejected, Pastures of Plenty, If You Are Black, Stay Back, Three Poverties, The Golden Years, The Twisted Spirit, Old Slams New Slams and The Two Nations. In addition, the book's afterword comprises two discussion chapters entitled ‘Poverties in the Seventies’ and ‘Poverties in the Eighties’. The introduction to the book entered by Irving Howe defines poverty as follows: “…… Poverty should be defined in terms of those who are denied the minimal levels of health, housing, food and education that our present stage of scientific knowledge specifies as necessary for life as it is now lived in the United States.” The definition of poverty seems good to me because it is framed on the basis of fundamental human needs and, as I understand, the right to fulfill the basic needs is a democratic right of the people. Alternately speaking, basic human needs must be met in order to survive well. That is why, conceivably, the Declaration of Independence, 1776 of the United States, which is recognized as an important document of democracy, addresses people’s right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. However, the definition of poverty (or the poverty line as such) may vary from country to country depending on the quality of life. Possibly, this is because of the standard of living which is not the same in all countries. A person who is considered poor in a developed country may not be considered poor in a developing or underdeveloped country. However, in this introductory part of the book, it is further stated that among many social attributes, poverty is not just one, rather it is ‘an encompassing condition’ that makes people ‘hopeless and passive’. Being poor means not only being deprived of worldly necessities or benefits, being poor means, as the author says, entering a world of ‘a fatal, futile universe, an America within America, with a twisted spirit.’
In the chapter ‘The Invisible Land’, the author talks about the eviction of slums in America in order to construct new modern buildings (urban renewal), especially about the housing programs undertaken in the post-World War II period. He says that where once there were slums, tenements or hovels, even if modern buildings are built later, the housing problem of the poor has not been solved. According to him, although middle and high-income people were given more subsidies in the program, the poor did not get it, which further constricted their rights of place of residence and ultimately led many of them to find shelter in other existing slums. Of course, the author describes this condition in the context of the fifties or sixties which may be different today. In the book, he also recounts the welfare state program adopted in the thirties which, at that time, brought the similar infirmity to the poor. Although the program was launched in the face of widespread poverty and misery, it merely helped the urban middle class and the organized workers because the plan of the program was made in their favor, not the poor’s. As the author mentions, those who benefited the least from the welfare state program were the people needed it the most. Therefore, poverty was not eradicated, rather it remained invisible under the guise of glamor. Today’s situation, however, may not be the same as before.
In this chapter, the author also draws on the new poverty of J. K. Galbraith, emphasizing that there are two main components of his new poverty. One is the poverty of the sick person (case poverty) which is personal and individual and it befalls when a person suffers from his physical or mental disability causing hinderance to his normal progress in life. The other is insular poverty, which the author calls "island of the poor" or "pockets of poverty." Insular poverty arises in areas where the economic situation is such that, even if production increases in the country or welfare state programs are in place, poverty continues to stay there. In other words, an entire section of the country becomes economically obsolete. As an appropriate example for this type of poverty, the author refers to the American Appalachian region or the West Virginia coal mining region in the 1960s. Again, this insular poverty may not persist in these areas today in its exact form as mentioned. On another note, the author may have chosen the title of the chapter as ‘The Invisible Land’ probably because poverty was not noticed in that land due to political and sociological reasons. Furthermore, there are misconceptions and prejudices that literally blind the eyes. Even if not noticed, it’s true that the poor are stuck in a ‘vicious cycle of poverty’ and they live within a ‘culture of poverty’. Thus, the poor have a language, a psychology and a worldview of poverty that everyone should understand. To be frank and honest, I agree with the author at this point. Needless to say, the ‘vicious circle of poverty’ is there to exist in many societies.
In the chapter titled ‘The Rejects’, the idea author wants to promote is that the poor are fallen behind others in education and skills by standards of the mainstream American society. Consequently, they can’t join in decent work. In the economic underworld, like the criminal underworld, the suffering of these workers remains invisible to many. Moreover, there are unscrupulous employers who, with the help of dishonest representatives of the workers' unions, deceive the poor workers. Let's say, someone works at a restaurant. In return for some bribes, union representative allows the restaurant owner to hire workers at wage rates much lower than the rates fixed by the union. Besides, there are work environments that are often unfavorable to the poor, especially during the winter. For these reasons, poor workers suffer from psychological deprivation and, at one time, they consider themselves as ‘rejected’ by the society. Although the poor felt ‘rejected’ as the author says, I firmly believe that the situation has improved now. In a country dubbed ‘the birthplace of democracy’, people are very much aware of their rights and they may not feel 'rejected' by the society today. Additionally, as the author mentions, the old poor of the economic underworld are those who were born into poverty, as opposed to the new poor who turned out to be poor from the underdeveloped areas or as industrial rejects. These two types of poverty are the main components of urban poverty in America. The website of the United States Census Bureau may provide detailed up-to-date information on urban poverty in the United States.
While mechanization has helped increase production and has been a boon to many, it could also threaten the livelihoods of others in rural areas unless they have alternative employment opportunities. This is exactly what the author wants to say in the chapter titled ‘Pastures of Plenty’. Although the post-World War II revolution in American agriculture (thanks to mechanization, subsidy etc.) benefited large farms (corporate farms) and urban consumers, it did not help reduce rural poverty or employment generation. Instead, many (especially migrant workers) have moved to the city in groups in search of work opportunities. Maybe they didn't have alternative work arrangements in the rural areas. In the context of rural poverty, the author again draws our attention to the Appalachian region where soil and topography are not conducive to agricultural production. Even mechanization does not help good production there. As a result, many young people leave those areas to find better lives in other places. As a solution to this problem, the author urges on the need for an ‘integrated regional planning’ for these ‘islands of the poor’ as mentioned above. In this chapter, he also talks about the poverty in the American South (southern poverty). Similarly, he did not forget to mention the backwardness of rural education as a barrier to poverty alleviation there. The author also notes that, for poverty to be eliminated in the rural areas, strong political commitment is essential. Again, we should recall that he says these words in the context of the fifties or sixties.
In the chapter ‘If You're Black, Stay Back’, the author exclusively examines the black poverty (negro poverty) i.e., the racial poverty. As a perfect example of this type of poverty, the author refers to the then Harlem area of New York City, where mostly black people inhabit. According to the author, among these black people, there is ‘as much fear as hope, as much hate as love.’ Although most of the time they seem happy, they are haunted by a ghostly fear inside and he emphasizes that this has happened to them due to the ‘racism’, the lexical meaning of which is the ‘belief that certain races of people are by birth and nature superior to others; racial prejudice or discrimination; intolerance or hatred of other races.’ Furthermore, the author says that the miserable work structure of the black labor force (negro workforce) could be attributed to their past history. As he mentions, they have been systematically abused which forced them to fall back in acquiring skills and deprived them of good job opportunities. Therefore, they do not see the society open to them, which even immigrants can see. These black people, the author adds, have the ‘hope and the desire, but not the possibility.’ In the end, they break down in ‘heartbreaking frustration.’
In the chapter 'Three Poverties', the author lists three types of poor people. The first is the large-scale traditional poverty-stricken people (classic poor) who have grown up in ‘established cultures of poverty’. The slums of these intelligently poor people are located at the lowest level of society, as if close to the underworld. As a result, criminal gangs are active in these slums. Many find their place in police stations, many in mental hospitals. In the same way, suicides are not uncommon there. The second type of poor people that the author mentions is the drug addicts (alcoholic poor). They become poor because they are drunk. Being regularly intoxicated, they gradually become physically incapacitated and their careers get to the brink of destruction. The author has identified the problem as a major setback of the society. It can be reiterated here that the author, early in his career, volunteered at a rehabilitation center built for the poor drug users in New York City and, thus, got a chance to see and know them very closely. Finally, the type of poor people author mentions is, in fact, victims of rural poverty, lack of jobs or displaced, who ended up with their shelter in urban slums (rural poor in the urban slums). As far as I know, many similar poor people live in slums of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.
According to the laws of nature, people in old age become somewhat lonely and different, to a certain degree, from the mainstream of society. The condition is aggravated, no doubt, if that old age is accompanied by 'aged poverty'. If this is the case, some sort of elderly welfare program is essential. This can easily be understood by reading the book's chapter titled 'The Golden Years'. Today, there are many elderly care programs in the United States to look after these senior citizens. For example, some ‘home care’ organizations in New York City provide necessary services to the elderly taking permission from the government. Although the author articulated these words in the context of America in the sixties, what he said about ‘aged poverty’ and the elderly is still relevant today. As he puts it, older people are ‘caught in a triple chain of causality’; broken health, inadequacy of finances and social isolation. These conditions may also apply to the elderly poor in many other societies, not just American. Because of poverty and, consequently, lack of proper treatment or not being cured, they carry over broken health from their youth. Therefore, in old age, they need good healthcare services. The author, however, suggests taking preventive measures in healthcare from their young age. Also, as he puts forward, lack of sense of dignity and human relationship are big problems of the elderly people. Even if survival arrangements are made for them, they are not appreciated as honorable members of the society. Thus, they become pessimistic, depressed and bewildered.
It is commonly understood that just as any part of a person's body can be crippled for some reasons, so can his mentality be for one or more special causes. These people remain very weak, unsound and disturbed in their mental or emotional space. Maybe, at some point in their lives something happened that they thought was unfair or unjust and could not accept it in any way. Thus, their souls also become very weak and imperfect. The author, in the chapter titled 'Twisted Spirit', explains in detail that the souls of people suffering from persistent poverty can also be like that. At the beginning of the chapter, the author quotes the famous Austrian neuroscientist Sigmund Freud in an attempt to convey the idea of such crippled souls of the poor. In this quote, Sigmund Freud wanted to say that the poor lag behind the rich in avoiding neurosis because, even after recovery, hard life awaits them in which they have no attraction at all. It’s further deteriorating that their illnesses make them more dependent on others. Thus, as the author articulates, these people face some stress factors in their lives which put them at risk of mental health. For example, stress factors like broken mental or physical health of parents during childhood, economic deprivation in the family, separation of parents or disagreements etc. have a profound effect on the psyche of these people. Even when they attain adulthood, these poor people face a number of similar stress factors such as work worries, shattered health, lack of money, lack of friends, marital tensions, etc. As a whole, being deprived of the opportunity to have a planned life, they live in despair and a fatalistic outlook fills in their lives. Ultimately, souls of these people turn out to be ‘twisted’ and wasted.
---------------------------------------------
In the book, the author shares an overall picture of America in the sixties about what poverty is and how many types it can be. It is safe to say that the book has played a significant role in alleviating poverty in the United States, including raising awareness about poverty and social security.
----------------------------------------------
‘The Other America: Poverty in the United States’ was first published in 1962. As such, when the paperback edition was published in 2012, it was the 50th anniversary edition of the book since its first publication. In this 50th anniversary edition, it is mentioned that more than one million copies of the book have been sold. To date (2022), I do not have the figure of how many additional copies are sold. Whatever the exact number of copies vended so far, it can be presumed that the book, since its first publication, has played a significant role in alleviating poverty in the United States including raising awareness about ‘poverty and social security’ from time to time. Therefore, the appeal of the book is not over even today. Maybe that's why the book is still retailed on Amazon. In the book, authored by Michael Harrington, the foreword has been entered by Maurice Isserman and the introduction by Irving Howe.
Michael Harrington was a leading figure in the study of socialism in America, which can easily be inferred from a few books he authored. For example, he wrote books like Toward a Democratic Left, The New American Poverty, Socialism: Past and Future etc. The list includes his autobiography The Long-Distance Runner as well. He used to edit a magazine named Dissent. He was also the editor-in-chief of New America, a fortnightly publication of the Socialist Party. Michael Harrington, of Irish Catholic descent, was born in 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, U. S. A., and attended educational institutions such as Holy Cross, Yale Law School, and the University of Chicago. He came to New York in 1949 with the intention to enter into the world of writing. To that end, he began working as a volunteer for homeless male alcoholics in the Bowery district of New York City. Through his work, he had an opportunity to know and understand the poor people of America and their lives very closely. Thus, from the information presented above, it is clear that the author is competent enough to write a book on poverty and, in fact, this book is the product of his relentless efforts, extensive research, work experience and skills. Sorrowfully, a law of nature, the eminent writer passed away in 1989. Together with the book’s author Michael Harrington, Maurice Isserman, the writer of the book's foreword, is a James L. Ferguson Professor of American History at Hamilton College who is also the biographer of author Michael Harrington. Maurice Isserman has penned many editorials and book reviews for several magazines, including The New York Times and The Boston Globe.
The book ‘The Other America: Poverty in the United States’ is a first-class treatise on poverty that exposes how a large section of the population live in poverty-stricken miseries, even in a society like the United States advanced from many different frontages. Many things are described in details in the book like what does it mean to be poor, why does poverty persist, what are the variables in society that bring people back to poverty etc. Therefore, we can easily count the book as a seminal work of sociology which is not redundant even in today's American context. And that's why, perhaps, the book is considered as one of the first ten most influential books of the twentieth century carrying positive impact on society. Before the book was published, people probably had no idea of how widespread and lasting poverty could be in an affluent America.
According to the table of contents, the titles of the chapters in the book are as follows: Invisible Land, The Rejected, Pastures of Plenty, If You Are Black, Stay Back, Three Poverties, The Golden Years, The Twisted Spirit, Old Slams New Slams and The Two Nations. In addition, the book's afterword comprises two discussion chapters entitled ‘Poverties in the Seventies’ and ‘Poverties in the Eighties’. The introduction to the book entered by Irving Howe defines poverty as follows: “…… Poverty should be defined in terms of those who are denied the minimal levels of health, housing, food and education that our present stage of scientific knowledge specifies as necessary for life as it is now lived in the United States.” The definition of poverty seems good to me because it is framed on the basis of fundamental human needs and, as I understand, the right to fulfill the basic needs is a democratic right of the people. Alternately speaking, basic human needs must be met in order to survive well. That is why, conceivably, the Declaration of Independence, 1776 of the United States, which is recognized as an important document of democracy, addresses people’s right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. However, the definition of poverty (or the poverty line as such) may vary from country to country depending on the quality of life. Possibly, this is because of the standard of living which is not the same in all countries. A person who is considered poor in a developed country may not be considered poor in a developing or underdeveloped country. However, in this introductory part of the book, it is further stated that among many social attributes, poverty is not just one, rather it is ‘an encompassing condition’ that makes people ‘hopeless and passive’. Being poor means not only being deprived of worldly necessities or benefits, being poor means, as the author says, entering a world of ‘a fatal, futile universe, an America within America, with a twisted spirit.’
In the chapter ‘The Invisible Land’, the author talks about the eviction of slums in America in order to construct new modern buildings (urban renewal), especially about the housing programs undertaken in the post-World War II period. He says that where once there were slums, tenements or hovels, even if modern buildings are built later, the housing problem of the poor has not been solved. According to him, although middle and high-income people were given more subsidies in the program, the poor did not get it, which further constricted their rights of place of residence and ultimately led many of them to find shelter in other existing slums. Of course, the author describes this condition in the context of the fifties or sixties which may be different today. In the book, he also recounts the welfare state program adopted in the thirties which, at that time, brought the similar infirmity to the poor. Although the program was launched in the face of widespread poverty and misery, it merely helped the urban middle class and the organized workers because the plan of the program was made in their favor, not the poor’s. As the author mentions, those who benefited the least from the welfare state program were the people needed it the most. Therefore, poverty was not eradicated, rather it remained invisible under the guise of glamor. Today’s situation, however, may not be the same as before.
In this chapter, the author also draws on the new poverty of J. K. Galbraith, emphasizing that there are two main components of his new poverty. One is the poverty of the sick person (case poverty) which is personal and individual and it befalls when a person suffers from his physical or mental disability causing hinderance to his normal progress in life. The other is insular poverty, which the author calls "island of the poor" or "pockets of poverty." Insular poverty arises in areas where the economic situation is such that, even if production increases in the country or welfare state programs are in place, poverty continues to stay there. In other words, an entire section of the country becomes economically obsolete. As an appropriate example for this type of poverty, the author refers to the American Appalachian region or the West Virginia coal mining region in the 1960s. Again, this insular poverty may not persist in these areas today in its exact form as mentioned. On another note, the author may have chosen the title of the chapter as ‘The Invisible Land’ probably because poverty was not noticed in that land due to political and sociological reasons. Furthermore, there are misconceptions and prejudices that literally blind the eyes. Even if not noticed, it’s true that the poor are stuck in a ‘vicious cycle of poverty’ and they live within a ‘culture of poverty’. Thus, the poor have a language, a psychology and a worldview of poverty that everyone should understand. To be frank and honest, I agree with the author at this point. Needless to say, the ‘vicious circle of poverty’ is there to exist in many societies.
In the chapter titled ‘The Rejects’, the idea author wants to promote is that the poor are fallen behind others in education and skills by standards of the mainstream American society. Consequently, they can’t join in decent work. In the economic underworld, like the criminal underworld, the suffering of these workers remains invisible to many. Moreover, there are unscrupulous employers who, with the help of dishonest representatives of the workers' unions, deceive the poor workers. Let's say, someone works at a restaurant. In return for some bribes, union representative allows the restaurant owner to hire workers at wage rates much lower than the rates fixed by the union. Besides, there are work environments that are often unfavorable to the poor, especially during the winter. For these reasons, poor workers suffer from psychological deprivation and, at one time, they consider themselves as ‘rejected’ by the society. Although the poor felt ‘rejected’ as the author says, I firmly believe that the situation has improved now. In a country dubbed ‘the birthplace of democracy’, people are very much aware of their rights and they may not feel 'rejected' by the society today. Additionally, as the author mentions, the old poor of the economic underworld are those who were born into poverty, as opposed to the new poor who turned out to be poor from the underdeveloped areas or as industrial rejects. These two types of poverty are the main components of urban poverty in America. The website of the United States Census Bureau may provide detailed up-to-date information on urban poverty in the United States.
While mechanization has helped increase production and has been a boon to many, it could also threaten the livelihoods of others in rural areas unless they have alternative employment opportunities. This is exactly what the author wants to say in the chapter titled ‘Pastures of Plenty’. Although the post-World War II revolution in American agriculture (thanks to mechanization, subsidy etc.) benefited large farms (corporate farms) and urban consumers, it did not help reduce rural poverty or employment generation. Instead, many (especially migrant workers) have moved to the city in groups in search of work opportunities. Maybe they didn't have alternative work arrangements in the rural areas. In the context of rural poverty, the author again draws our attention to the Appalachian region where soil and topography are not conducive to agricultural production. Even mechanization does not help good production there. As a result, many young people leave those areas to find better lives in other places. As a solution to this problem, the author urges on the need for an ‘integrated regional planning’ for these ‘islands of the poor’ as mentioned above. In this chapter, he also talks about the poverty in the American South (southern poverty). Similarly, he did not forget to mention the backwardness of rural education as a barrier to poverty alleviation there. The author also notes that, for poverty to be eliminated in the rural areas, strong political commitment is essential. Again, we should recall that he says these words in the context of the fifties or sixties.
In the chapter ‘If You're Black, Stay Back’, the author exclusively examines the black poverty (negro poverty) i.e., the racial poverty. As a perfect example of this type of poverty, the author refers to the then Harlem area of New York City, where mostly black people inhabit. According to the author, among these black people, there is ‘as much fear as hope, as much hate as love.’ Although most of the time they seem happy, they are haunted by a ghostly fear inside and he emphasizes that this has happened to them due to the ‘racism’, the lexical meaning of which is the ‘belief that certain races of people are by birth and nature superior to others; racial prejudice or discrimination; intolerance or hatred of other races.’ Furthermore, the author says that the miserable work structure of the black labor force (negro workforce) could be attributed to their past history. As he mentions, they have been systematically abused which forced them to fall back in acquiring skills and deprived them of good job opportunities. Therefore, they do not see the society open to them, which even immigrants can see. These black people, the author adds, have the ‘hope and the desire, but not the possibility.’ In the end, they break down in ‘heartbreaking frustration.’
In the chapter 'Three Poverties', the author lists three types of poor people. The first is the large-scale traditional poverty-stricken people (classic poor) who have grown up in ‘established cultures of poverty’. The slums of these intelligently poor people are located at the lowest level of society, as if close to the underworld. As a result, criminal gangs are active in these slums. Many find their place in police stations, many in mental hospitals. In the same way, suicides are not uncommon there. The second type of poor people that the author mentions is the drug addicts (alcoholic poor). They become poor because they are drunk. Being regularly intoxicated, they gradually become physically incapacitated and their careers get to the brink of destruction. The author has identified the problem as a major setback of the society. It can be reiterated here that the author, early in his career, volunteered at a rehabilitation center built for the poor drug users in New York City and, thus, got a chance to see and know them very closely. Finally, the type of poor people author mentions is, in fact, victims of rural poverty, lack of jobs or displaced, who ended up with their shelter in urban slums (rural poor in the urban slums). As far as I know, many similar poor people live in slums of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.
According to the laws of nature, people in old age become somewhat lonely and different, to a certain degree, from the mainstream of society. The condition is aggravated, no doubt, if that old age is accompanied by 'aged poverty'. If this is the case, some sort of elderly welfare program is essential. This can easily be understood by reading the book's chapter titled 'The Golden Years'. Today, there are many elderly care programs in the United States to look after these senior citizens. For example, some ‘home care’ organizations in New York City provide necessary services to the elderly taking permission from the government. Although the author articulated these words in the context of America in the sixties, what he said about ‘aged poverty’ and the elderly is still relevant today. As he puts it, older people are ‘caught in a triple chain of causality’; broken health, inadequacy of finances and social isolation. These conditions may also apply to the elderly poor in many other societies, not just American. Because of poverty and, consequently, lack of proper treatment or not being cured, they carry over broken health from their youth. Therefore, in old age, they need good healthcare services. The author, however, suggests taking preventive measures in healthcare from their young age. Also, as he puts forward, lack of sense of dignity and human relationship are big problems of the elderly people. Even if survival arrangements are made for them, they are not appreciated as honorable members of the society. Thus, they become pessimistic, depressed and bewildered.
It is commonly understood that just as any part of a person's body can be crippled for some reasons, so can his mentality be for one or more special causes. These people remain very weak, unsound and disturbed in their mental or emotional space. Maybe, at some point in their lives something happened that they thought was unfair or unjust and could not accept it in any way. Thus, their souls also become very weak and imperfect. The author, in the chapter titled 'Twisted Spirit', explains in detail that the souls of people suffering from persistent poverty can also be like that. At the beginning of the chapter, the author quotes the famous Austrian neuroscientist Sigmund Freud in an attempt to convey the idea of such crippled souls of the poor. In this quote, Sigmund Freud wanted to say that the poor lag behind the rich in avoiding neurosis because, even after recovery, hard life awaits them in which they have no attraction at all. It’s further deteriorating that their illnesses make them more dependent on others. Thus, as the author articulates, these people face some stress factors in their lives which put them at risk of mental health. For example, stress factors like broken mental or physical health of parents during childhood, economic deprivation in the family, separation of parents or disagreements etc. have a profound effect on the psyche of these people. Even when they attain adulthood, these poor people face a number of similar stress factors such as work worries, shattered health, lack of money, lack of friends, marital tensions, etc. As a whole, being deprived of the opportunity to have a planned life, they live in despair and a fatalistic outlook fills in their lives. Ultimately, souls of these people turn out to be ‘twisted’ and wasted.
March 9, 2020
When published this book had a huge impact on policy. Guiding force for pres Johnson’s war on poverty.
But not much has changed from the time this book was written other than the 1 percent have even more. The levels of poverty aren’t much different and the problems of the poor remain the same. Much of this book could be written today.
There is a better safety net structure for the elderly poor. Other than that we don’t seem to have put in an effort to really tackle the issues of the poor and homeless.
But not much has changed from the time this book was written other than the 1 percent have even more. The levels of poverty aren’t much different and the problems of the poor remain the same. Much of this book could be written today.
There is a better safety net structure for the elderly poor. Other than that we don’t seem to have put in an effort to really tackle the issues of the poor and homeless.
October 2, 2011
Subtitle: Poverty in the United States. First published in 1962, then reissued in 1981 with chapters on poverty in the 70's and in the 80's. It is absolutely stunning (and heartbreaking) how relevant this book is to the U.S. we see today! A few quotes: "... there are enough poor people in the United States to constitute a subculture of misery, but not enough of them to challenge the conscience and the imagination of the nation." "At precisely that moment in history where for the first time a people have the material ability to end poverty, they lack the will to do so. ... The consciences of the well-off are the victims of affluence; the lives of the poor are the victims of a physical and spiritual misery." "It is a noble sentiment to argue that private moral responsibility expressing itself through charitable contributions should be the main instrument of attacking poverty. The only problem is that such an approach does not work." "... the moral and political energy of Washington, as well as tens of billions of dollars, were not channeled into the right war at home (Johnson's War on Poverty) but into the wrong war in Southeast Asia." We have come full circle with our current unfunded wars. Harrington argues that it is unconscionable for a nation as affluent as the US to have an "other America" with millions of poor. We have not improved those numbers since he wrote in 1962, much to our shame.
August 31, 2017
This book, sadly, could have been written last week, with dates changed, and no one would be the wiser. We haven't done a particularly good job of addressing this issue and it is primarily because of the ways in which conservative's have framed the argument. One phrase in particular has been the basis for the argument we've been listening to for decades, "culture of poverty". Harrington's choice of the phrase "culture of poverty" was taken out of context by conservative politicians hoping to gain some credibility in their fight against social welfare programs. Since that happened, we've witnessed a hardening, on the political right, against any and all forms of support. Poverty is still the greatest economic depressor we are fighting against. People who can't afford anything over and above the bare necessities can't be expected to stimulate economies via spending.
This book is brilliant for many reasons but chiefly among them is this, Harrington treats the folks experiencing life's harshest realities as regular people who are experiencing poverty, not poor people. His analysis on causes and effects is spot-on and many of his policy ideas were bold, and workable, then, as well as now.
This book is brilliant for many reasons but chiefly among them is this, Harrington treats the folks experiencing life's harshest realities as regular people who are experiencing poverty, not poor people. His analysis on causes and effects is spot-on and many of his policy ideas were bold, and workable, then, as well as now.
February 9, 2017
A book describing poverty and marginalized groups in the 1960s. Dated (the Bowery is no longer a place with inexpensive "flophouses" for "bums") but carries a lesson for society nonetheless. My late father owned the original paperback edition which I had to glue back together after reading, and of it, he said, the reason the Great Society (a number of social welfare programs on a national scale) was instituted in the 1960s was not because the monetary and political elites all of a sudden decided that they liked the lower classes, but that so many were suffering from the physical effects of extreme poverty and disease that they were failing their draft physicals as the Vietnam War ramped up and expanded.
March 7, 2018
I read this alongside The Dream and the Nightmare by Myron Magnet as a part of a project in comparing and contrasting the different perspectives on poverty and the underclass. This book propels a certain school of thought that I just cannot get on board with. Where Myron Magnet employs the theory that the culture of poverty is self-imposed and is therefore somewhat escapable, Harrington seems to merely suggest that the more federal money we throw at poverty, the better the situation will get—when in fact this is arguably the REASON the culture of poverty exists as it does today.
Overall way too anecdotal, and the general leftist agenda is a rather miserable barrier informing every detail of the book. It was difficult to plow through this dreary read.
Overall way too anecdotal, and the general leftist agenda is a rather miserable barrier informing every detail of the book. It was difficult to plow through this dreary read.
May 2, 2012
This book is amazingly current, given that it was written 50 years ago. The same problems existed then as now; jobs were lost due to factory closings, "braceros" (illegal Mexican immigrants) were blamed for lowering wages of migrant workers, "average" Americans were blind to poverty, people who owned houses or land had trouble migrating to areas with better jobs, etc. I think I've read all these points recently in the New York Times or other publications. I'm only on page 57, so have a way to go.
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