Poverty and social contexts of Black Americans

ANN ARBOR—Public policy to reduce poverty among inner-city African Americans requires more than just simple job creation—it also must address the social contexts of neighborhoods, work places and families in which the poor live, say University of Michigan researchers.

“We must consider the everyday processes and relationships that shape the lives of the poor,” says Sheldon Danziger, U-M professor of social work and public policy. “If we did, it may increase the likelihood that the programs and policies undertaken on behalf of the poor would be accepted and supported by the poor themselves.”

In “Coping with Poverty: The Social Contexts of Neighborhood, Work and Family in the African American Community,” a new book edited by Danziger and colleague Ann Chih Lin and published by the U-M Press, the authors reject both the liberal view that the poor are forced into adopting undesirable behaviors and the conservative view that such behaviors are evidence that the poor choose to make bad choices.

Instead, they focus on the social context of neighborhoods, family relationships and work places, showing how African Americans living in poverty are often forced to juggle conflicting obligations and to choose among undesirable options.

For example, although a young African American man who changes jobs frequently may have a hard time establishing the stable work record necessary for promotion, he may be leaving these jobs to avoid racial harassment and discrimination. A mother who keeps her children inside to protect them from the high-crime neighborhood outside may isolate herself from neighbors who could provide advice on matters ranging from parenting to job tips.

Non-resident fathers agonize over how to split paychecks between their own mothers, with whom they often live, and the mothers of their children. Teen-agers face decisions about maintaining their friendships with and loyalty to cousins and classmates who have gotten involved in the drug trade.

“People do not make choices in isolation from their life circumstances, their understanding of history, their beliefs about the world, or their networks of relationships,” says Lin, U-M assistant professor of public policy and political science.

The contributors to “Coping with Poverty,” all of whom either teach or have studied at the U-M, examine how poor people develop mechanisms for coping with poverty: strategies that are motivated by values such as parental care and worry, obligation toward relatives and neighbors, support from and trust toward authority figures, and that draw upon the available knowledge, social support and resources in their communities.

For instance, in her contribution to the volume, Carla O’Connor, U-M assistant professor of education, profiles a school where counselors and teachers often depress student achievement and dismiss student aspirations.

The at-risk high school girls with a chance of realizing their dreams are those lucky enough to have aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins who provide knowledge about scholarships and college requirements, she says. The information they get from these sources is often incomplete, but it is credible and comes from people they love and trust.

In all, Lin says, it is important for policy-makers not only to focus attention on monetary incentives and rational decision-making in finding ways to reduce poverty, but also to adapt policy goals and policy tools that complement the mechanisms that those coping with poverty have created for themselves.

“Traditional policy solutions—economic growth, public or private job creation, better schools, changes in tax structures, social assistance—have an important role to play,” Lin says. “But just as it was once innovative for government to influence growth, create jobs, improve schools, impose an income tax or create a system of social provision, we now need to learn to incorporate human relationships, the social nature of information, and non-monetary incentives into policy-making.”

Sheldon DanzigerAnn Chih Linpolitical scienceCarla O’Connor