Subject:
Sociology
Material Type:
Module
Level:
Community College / Lower Division, College / Upper Division
Provider:
Ohio Open Ed Collaborative
Tags:
  • Interventions to Address Poverty
  • Poverty
  • Sociology
  • License:
    Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial
    Language:
    English
    Media Formats:
    Downloadable docs, eBook, Text/HTML, Video

    Education Standards

    Evaluate interventions to address poverty in the U.S. from a sociological perspective

    Overview

    OER Text Material

    Economic Inequality and Poverty in the United States

    Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World: Chapter 8 Section 4. This source explains how poverty is measured. Individual and structural level explanations of poverty are provided. Also included is a discussion of the effects of poverty. There is a short section at the end of the chapter that outlines what sociologists suggest for reducing poverty.  Like many introduction to sociology textbooks, there is not a lot on specific interventions. Instructors interested in interventions should supplement this chapter with other material such as that listed below.

    Supplementary Material (Videos and Reading)

    "What's it like trying to live on minimum wage - it's a constant struggle"

    A short news story that included video sharing the story of a single mother trying to live on minimum wage.  The story include some statistics about minimum wage and data from the pew research center.

    Sociology Students Offer Solution to Poverty

    This is a newspaper article that features a high school sociology class. In the article students present solutions to poverty using the social theorists discussed in class.

    “Matthew Desmond on the Social Problem of Eviction” (Video)

    Great 7 minute interview from The Society Pages with Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted, on the relationship between eviction and poverty.

    “Social Ties and Poverty”

    This is a short and approachable reading from The Society Pages that discusses the role of social ties in addressing poverty.

    Data

    Minimum Wage Myth Busters

    This information comes from the U.S. Department of Labor, but was posted by the Council for Social Justice in 2016.