Poverty, by America

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapter 9-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapter 9-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 9 Summary: “Tear Down the Walls”

Chapter 9 describes the final step required to abolish poverty—namely, the end of segregation between the poor and everyone else. Allowing the poor into wealthier neighborhoods, even without increasing their incomes, has a profound impact by removing them from the many social ills that fester in high-poverty areas.

Many of the boldest proposals surrounding poverty focus on giving them more money, but Desmond worries that this is just another way to make people feel like they are solving a problem without requiring meaningful structural action. The experience of segregation has trained people to keep the poor at a distance and turn their problems into an abstraction, and so the solution must be to quite literally place the problem on people’s doorsteps.

The same arguments against class integration were used against racial integration, and they proved false: Integrated Black children did better in school, while white children remained largely unaffected. Integration actually does more to improve student outcomes than an increase in educational resources. One way to move forward is to adopt inclusionary zoning ordinances, which not only forbid an exclusionary policy toward public housing but also actually incentivize and, in some cases, require active efforts to build affordable housing. Many other countries have led the way on this policy, and in the United States, New Jersey has made the greatest strides toward inclusive housing while also ranking first in the nation in public education. Congress could subsidize such efforts or withhold federal funding from those that refuse to comply.

Such efforts are sure to meet with fierce resistance from the small minority who take the most active interest in local politics, and so those invested in ending poverty must be willing to take on the challenge and organize. America is steeped in a culture of fear regarding the loss of privilege and social status, even though a more equitable society is well within reach. While the costs are undoubtedly significant, an obsession with scarcity limits the imagination and pits worthy goals, such as poverty abolitionism and climate justice, against one another so that they reinforce longstanding social conflicts. It is time to shift away from the fixation on scarcity and recognize the nation’s incredible wealth and capacity, thereby realizing the dreams of the poor as readily as those of the rich.

The transition to a new state of affairs is always uncomfortable, and often painful, but the reduction of certain material privileges for some will give way to a much richer sense of community, as opposed to the isolating effects of wealth. There will still be plenty of wealth and privilege, and, more importantly, there will be genuine equality of opportunity as well as a broader guarantee of health and safety. Poverty exacts a high social toll on everyone, not just the poor, corrupting a country’s prosperity and wearing down its social bonds. Living in a more equitable society would have a salutary effect on civic life and make people freer.

Epilogue Summary

The Epilogue is a call to action for the abolition of poverty. Ordinary people must come together and denounce all forms of social oppression, including those from which they have historically benefited. Mass movements often make a difference in American history, including the labor organizing ahead of the New Deal and the Civil Rights marchers who compelled President Johnson to advance the Great Society. There is evidence of such a movement taking shape today, linking those focusing on equitable housing with those fighting for fair wages. Nevertheless, this cannot be an effort only by the poor but one that includes people from all walks of life working on behalf of the poor. Not everyone needs to carry a picket sign—there are countless ways to contribute, and no one should be turned away.

Different classes, ethnicities, and political ideologies can and do work together to end poverty. Democrats and Republicans may not agree on much, but a living wage and access to housing should be on the list. Polarization may itself be another function of the scarcity myth, this time limiting goodwill instead of money. People across the political spectrum recognize the decay of a system beholden to the rich, and so there should be a massive majority campaigning for economic justice.

In addition to working collectively, people can also work individually to ensure that they and their families divest from the system of poverty and do what they can to improve the conditions of the poor. The most important thing is not to identify the right policy, but to unite with those who would otherwise be deemed strangers or even enemies.

Chapter 9-Epilogue Analysis

At its conclusion, Desmond’s argument presents a paradoxical combination of warning and hope. On one hand, he rejects the claim that solving poverty is a win-win situation for all involved. He states plainly and repeatedly that there will be sacrifices, and not just for the ultra-wealthy, if Americans are to end the two-tier system of Private Opulence and Public Squalor. Scarcity might be an argument invoked to justify massive inequality, but ultimately there is only so much money to go around, and benefiting some will impose costs on others, both in terms of material losses and the discomfort that comes from a necessary change in lifestyle. In essence, Desmond insists that the more privileged need to learn to share: The ultra-wealthy must pay their share in taxes and help invest in the public realm, residents in privileged neighborhoods must welcome those of lower income to create more equitable mixed neighborhoods, and both sides of the political spectrum need to share power to solve these common issues instead of seeking to “win” over one another.

Throughout the book, Desmond has argued against The Myths of Scarcity in American Society, and in these closing chapters, he revisits these myths to denounce them one last time. Desmond asserts that centering policies and beliefs around the idea of scarcity has been both misleading—since America is a wealthy country and its greatest sources of financial burden are not the poor—and limiting—since Americans are encouraged to be anxious and to hoard as much as they can for themselves instead of seeking to raise society as a whole. He also points out, in drawing comparisons between racial integration and class integration, that divisive fears toward disadvantaged groups are unfounded: Just as racial integration did not harm the performance of white students and led to significant improvements in outcomes for Black students, so too will class integration help improve the poor’s prospects and way of life while still leaving plenty of wealth and privilege available for the middle and upper classes.

Finally, Desmond notes that prosperity is not just about money. Raising people out of poverty means providing an expectation of health, security, and support in all spheres of life, regardless of whether one can afford a large house or exotic vacations. By emphasizing The Importance of Poverty Abolitionism, Desmond is not proposing a world where there is no inequality, but rather one in which a relative lack of money does not preclude anyone from enjoying basic human rights. Desmond believes that all Americans should be able to meet their physical needs, such as food and shelter, and their psychological needs, such as safety from violence and an expectation that one’s children have a bright future ahead of them.

People who might pay more in taxes or have a public housing unit in their neighborhood will be more than compensated in their ability to let their guard down because a society without poverty is one where citizens do not see themselves as locked in a struggle for resources with one another, thus eradicating The Myths of Scarcity in American Society for good. Every single day, Americans hear all about the things that divide them, wearing down an already fragile social fabric. The struggle to abolish poverty is the best chance available for restoring social unity.