Child Poverty in America Today: [4 volumes]

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Description

In a 2004 study by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations it was reported that a large number of American families are currently faring poorly in their struggle to provide for themselves. Low-income and poor families were found to contain one-third of all of the children in American working families. Low-wage jobs without benefits mean that families at or below the poverty line live a precarious existence. This four-volume set is designed to reveal, explicate, analyze, and assess the effects of an inadequate income on children. Each volume contains original essays written by an interdisciplinary roster of contributors. The first volume, Children and the State addresses policy and legislation that affect low-income families. One issue that is considered in this volume is the lack of a national housing policy in the United States. The second volume, Health and Medical Issues includes discussions on the status of Medicaid, the lack of mental health services available for low-income families, and the difficult-to-access healthcare for the rural poor. Volume three, Families and Children explores the effects of welfare reform, especially the issue of childcare and the increased work expectations of parents. Other compelling topics in this volume include low-income families and the Family and Medical Leave Act, poor children and the internet, and the increase in economic insecurity among low-income families who increasingly live on credit. In the final volume, The Promise of Education, universal pre-kindergarten, Head Start, and the education of immigrant children are all explored.

Reviews

This four-volume encyclopedia is a collection of essays from a wide variety of disciplines addressing issues of child care, health, education, and government policies toward child poverty in the US.In these well-researched essays, child experts show that without attention to job training, fair wages, adequate health care, and strong early and K-12 education, the US will continue to lead the industrial nations in child poverty. Comparisons with Europe, where free education and health care for 3-6-year-olds is provided, put the US to shame. The essays are concise and clear, with a few geared toward professionals only. Useful as a reference source for all who are interested in child poverty in the US. Recommended. All levels/libraries. * Choice *
[A]n outstanding resource and an essential purchase for both academic and special libraries. Without a doubt, this set is one of the most important social science reference books published this year. * American Reference Books Annual *
Arrighi and Maume present, over the course of four volumes, around 40 interdisciplinary papers examining the demographic, political, economic, and social contexts of persistent child poverty in America. Recurrent themes that cut across the chapters include an emphasis on structural factors such as racial and ethnic residential segregation or gender-based occupational segregation, problems in measuring and defining poverty, the necessity to more directly measure economic hardship, the need for child poverty analyses to take into account how race and ethnicity impact the experience and dynamics of child poverty, how neighborhood race-ethnic and household composition characteristics interact and impact child poverty, and the deep relationship between child poverty and women's poverty. * Reference & Research Book News *

Author Bio

BARBARA A. ARRIGHI is Associate Professor, Sociology, Northern Kentucky University. DAVID J. MAUME is Professor, Sociology, University of Cincinnati and Director, Kunz Center for the Study of Work and Family, University of Cincinnati.