Demonstrates how people reacted to poverty and highlights their coping strategies

The book contains that there are misconceptions and vague ideas in society about slum settlements. A general notion is that the slum dwellers are only a burden and a source of public nuisance. It is always acute poverty in the homeland which compels this depressed class to migrate.

This book examines the socioeconomic links among farm employment, immigration, and welfare use not only within California's Central Valley, but also along the state's Central Coast and in its southern regions. Using U.S. Census data and information collected from extensive community-level site visits, the authors find that immigration, largely from rural Mexico, is changing the face of rural California, increasing levels of population, poverty, and public service demands. The authors caution that upward mobility among these immigrant workers may be limited and that recent legislative changes are reducing the public resources available to help newcomers adjust, just as the number of immigrants is increasing.

"In wealthy nations such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, issues of poverty and homelessness have often been displaced or sidelined by the accelerating number of studies on income inequality and wealth disparity. In Poverty and Austerity amid Prosperity, Gregg M. Olsen refocuses our attention on rising levels of poverty and homelessness, suggesting what we can do to address these issues. Highlighting the important differences between Canada, the UK, and the US, this volume explores the broad and narrow ways that poverty and homelessness have been conceptualized, and how this has shaped the way they are defined, measured, and addressed in each country. After a careful examination of poverty in these three countries, the volume draws comparisons with European nations that have been more successful in keeping issues relating to poverty under control. Olsen presents and critically contrasts the two main theoretical traditions, individual versus society, that have emerged to explain poverty and homelessness. Olsen argues that societal approaches to the study of poverty are better equipped to explain the developments unfolding across these nations, and that the eradication of poverty will only happen when the socio-economic system has been seriously overhauled and founded upon economic democracy."--

Includes annual numbers.

Chronicles the history of poverty in the twentieth century, and discusses how Americans view poverty, what steps have been taken to alleviate the problem, and other related topics.

A history of the Birmingham Settlement from Victorian roots to 20th century social work as a registered charity.