The Changing Map of American Poverty in an Era of Economic Restructuring and Political Realignment

Abstract

The intent of this study is to demonstrate that an understanding of poverty in geographic and historical perspective can powerfully inform the societal debate over the causes of poverty. I argue that conservative theory, attributing poverty to individual deficiencies, such as indolence and low aspirations, falters when the spatial dynamics of poverty in the United States are considered. The changing map of American poverty does not represent an ebb and flow of lassitude among the nation's population; rather, it reflects the geographic contours of recent transformations in the American political economy. I begin by investigating the changing map of poverty over the last two decades of economic restructuring and political realignment in the United States. I then present five brief case studies to demonstrate that poverty is geographically produced, as alterations in the market and the state emanating from the global and national levels are differentially translated into the social order of locales to generate distinctive prospects for affluence or impoverishment. Taken together, the five vignettes illustrate geographic diversity not only in the incidence of poverty, but also in the generative processes, modes of resistance or accommodation, and experience of poverty.

The Political Economy of Land Conflict in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon

“…In an attempt to dissect the factors influencing relative land scarcity, the conceptual design examines the interaction of numerous forces at the global, national, regional, and local levels (Massey 1984(Massey , 1994Massey and Allen 1984;Kodras 1997). At the local level, land scarcity is the precipitate factor to conflict.…”

Natures and wars : neoliberal discourse and the contested future of east Kentucky.

“…A major outcome of the new economy was the intensification of competition among international and interstate companies (Kodras 1997;Hansen 2001). Businesses needed to become more efficient and productive, which often necessitated advances in technology (Peck 2002).…”

“…This is especially prominent in the South (Hansen 2001). Conveniently, new conservative "think tanks" and the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations were erstwhile blaming poverty on the poor (Harvey 2007;Kodras 1997). Cheap labor was a way for the impoverished to "forego the enticements of welfare and go to work" (Kodras 1997:74).…”

“…During the 1960s and 70s, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) had worked to bring manufacturing jobs to distressed counties under Johnson's War on Poverty and Great Society initiatives (Eller 2008). However neoliberal economic restructuring enabled these manufacturing jobs to find cheaper means of production overseas (Anglin 2002;Eller 2008;Kodras 1997). If manufacturing facilities did open or reopen in east Kentucky, they often were non-union (Kodras 1997:85).…”

“…In other words, low-wage jobs, or "free labor," "made available to businesses through K-TAP's eligibility requirements," became normalized in congruence with a bourgeoning labor pool (Anglin 2002;Kodras 1997). In essence, wellpaying union jobs were being rapidly exchanged for temporary, low-wage employment options which people had to take based on the new welfare requirements (Anglin 2002;Kodras 1997). These changes were justified by what Peck would call "neoliberal conviction politics" (2001:445).…”