SOC 2805 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Mollie Orshansky, Mount Meager, Blue-Collar Worker
Chapter 8
Poverty in America
Poverty is defined as…
• Mollie Orshansky (1974), an economist with the Social Security Administration, developed a
measure of poverty that would become the official federal standard.
• Orshansky put two pieces of information together from government surveys:
o The cost of a minimum nutritious diet for a family of four.
o The proportion of income the average family then spent on food.
• In 1960 Orshansky calculated the poverty line for a family of four to be $3,000.
• In 2016 the poverty line was $24, 350 for a family of four.
• The official poverty line is adjusted annually for inflation, but it does not take into consideration
standard of living.
• The poverty line measure has been criticized for underestimating the number of Americans in
poverty.
Who are the poor?
• Between 37 and 65 million Americans are poor.
• Race and poverty
o There are many more white poor than black or Hispanic poor.
• Age and poverty
o A high proportion of the poor are children.
o Few of the poor are elderly.
o The rate of poverty among seniors declines significantly after accounting for cash
transfers.
Who are the poor?
• Gender and poverty
o There are about as many poor in families headed by married couples as in families
headed by single women.
o Even after cash transfers to female-headed households with children, a large percentage
remain in poverty.
• Geography and poverty
o Only a minority of the poor live in the central cities of metropolitan areas.
o The majority are spread out among suburbs, small towns, and rural areas.
Trends in Poverty
• Similar to the trends we observed for wages, income, and wealth, poverty rates have shifted with
the transition from the Age of Shared Prosperity to the Age of Growing
• Inequality.
• The rate of poverty among families with children has not seen the same level of decline witnessed
among seniors.
• The proportion of people with household incomes under half the poverty level has climbed
substantially since the late 1970’s.
The Underclass & the Transitory Poor
• Many Americans experience poverty temporarily due to loss of a job, physical injury, or divorce.
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