Many Americans believe that people are poor because of individual failings, such as lack of skills or work ethic. Poverty and Power challenges this view, showing that American poverty instead is a structural problem, resulting from failings of our political, economic, cultural, and social systems. The book examines the social forces and institutional problems that contribute to growing inequality and the persistence of poverty in the United States. Throughout the book, the author compares individualistic and structural approaches and makes a case that a structural perspective on American poverty is the best explanation of the persistent inequalities and disparities that hold back progress and advancement for the country. The fourth edition features new material throughout, including discussions of how poverty intersects with race, ethnicity, and gender; the divisive, growing political and cultural polarization in the country and its impacts on structural poverty; the exacerbating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on structural poverty; and the role of social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter and the backlash of white nationalism as they relate to structural poverty.
Edward Royce is professor emeritus of sociology at Rollins College, where he was a recipient of the Cornell Distinguished Faculty Award. In addition to Poverty and Power, he is also the author of The Origins of Southern Sharecropping (1993) and Classical Social Theory and Modern Society: Marx, Durkheim, Weber (2015). He currently lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.
At a time when America is facing a crisis of inequality and rising poverty, Edward Royce's Poverty and Power is a critical guide to understanding the true causes of economic hardship in our country and to avoiding falling for the false and misleading ideas about poverty that are so popular in the mass media. Poverty is a problem created by political power--Royce shows how it's done, and how it can be undone.--Gordon Lafer, Professor, University of Oregon Clear, accessible, and powerfully argued, Poverty and Power offers readers a deeply informed exploration of how we tend to explain poverty in the United States and how those dominant explanations differ from what we know about the reality of being poor in America. There may be no better single-volume introduction to the issue than this compelling and comprehensive book.--Stephen Pimpare, Casey School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire Edward Royce's Poverty and Power provides a comprehensive look at the reasons why poverty persists in the United States and why it is so often taken for granted by many Americans. Royce's compelling argument identifies the cause of poverty as rooted in inequalities in power and politics and shows the inadequacies of individualistic, cultural, and human capital theories of poverty.--Ellen Reese, University of California, Riverside I use Royce's book Poverty and Power when teaching a sociology course focused on social class. In a clear and up-to-date manner, Royce challenges common myths about social class in the U.S., and presents data and corresponding arguments that reveal structural causes of poverty, rooted in economic, political, social, and cultural systems.--Laurel R. Davis-Delano, Professor of Sociology, Springfield College This updated edition of Poverty and Power remains the single most comprehensive exploration of structural inequality I have ever read. The book brilliantly excoriates our prevailing belief that poverty and inequality result from individuals' poor decisions or bad personal attributes. For my colleagues, Poverty and Power has become the 'go-to book' for undergraduate and graduate classes that examine the economic, cultural, political, and social layers of systemic inequality.--Rick Eckstein, Villanova University
