America's rural areas have always held a disproportionate share of the nation's poorest populations. Rural Poverty in the United States examines why. What is it about the geography, demography, and history of rural communities that keeps them poor? In a comprehensive analysis that extends from the Civil War to the present, Rural Poverty in the United States looks at access to human and social capital; food security; healthcare and the environment; homelessness; gender roles and relations; racial inequalities; and immigration trends to isolate the underlying causes of persistent rural poverty. Contributors to this volume incorporate approaches from multiple disciplines, including sociology, economics, demography, race and gender studies, public health, education, criminal justice, social welfare, and other social science fields. They take a hard look at current and past programs to alleviate rural poverty and use their failures to suggest alternatives that could improve the well-being of rural Americans for years to come. These essays work hard to define rural poverty's specific metrics and markers, a critical step for building better policy and practice. Considering gender, race, and immigration, the book appreciates the overlooked structural and institutional dimensions of ongoing rural poverty and its larger social consequences.

Until this book was originally published in 1996 there had been little detailed research concerning the geographic location of the poor in America. The book examines the spatial distribution of the poor within the US and discusses the general characteristics of the poverty population. It explores the complex web of theory pertaining to poverty, presenting different categories: no fault theories, individual responsibility theories, societal responsibility theories, governemntal and institutional responsibility theories, and responsibility of the economic system theories. Information on poverty from the 1980s and 90s in the US is provided, as well as historical background. The problems and complexities associated with defining and measuring poverty are also discussed.

Serves as an index to Eric reports [microform].