New Book Examines Cycle of Rural Poverty and Offers Solutions
As we enter the twenty-first century, nearly nine million Americans live in poverty in rural areas, one third in communities with persistently high poverty rates. Cynthia M. Duncan, professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, has dedicated her academic career to researching rural poverty in America first-hand. Her latest book, Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America (1999, Yale University Press), is the result of an intensive five-year study of the lives of residents in isolated corners of Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta and Northern New England.
Duncan has revealed why some rural families are able to break the cycle of poverty--and why some remain economically depressed generation after generation. After conducting 350 in-depth interviews and examining ten decades of U.S. Census data, Duncan says she is convinced that the cycle of the rural poor can be shattered--if the isolation of classes, the "norms of separation," in a community are broken. Connections and interaction between rural residents of different classes encourage the growth of a middle class that supports public investment and helps make antipoverty and development programs work, she says.
Impoverished communities in the Delta and Appalachia are clearly divided into haves and have nots, she notes. The have-nots live worlds apart from the haves, socially isolated and outside the mainstream. Their isolation and poverty are reinforced by the corrupt, undemocratic politics that prevails in this kind of two-class system. The unchallenged, all-encompassing power of the haves keeps the poor personally vulnerable, while the patronage that flourishes in job-scarce communities undermines efforts to bring about political change.
The poor are stigmatized, blamed for their poverty, and often deliberately blocked from the opportunities of the world of the haves, says Duncan. They do not develop the habits, skills, and ambitions they need to make it in the mainstream. The schools, churches, and youth groups that might help them bridge those worlds are segregated by class or race, and the schools they attend are often chaotic and ineffective. In Appalachia and the Delta, she notes, inequality erodes a community's social fabric, destroying trust and undermining institutions crucial for helping poor families achieve the American Dream.
At the other end of the spectrum, in rural northern New England, a public-minded middle class maintains a rich civic culture with inclusive institutions that help those who are ready to leave poverty behind, and people of all social classes talk about the trust and lack of differences that make the community a good place to live.
Cynthia M. Duncan can be contacted in her office at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., 603-862-1993, or at home, 603-436-6306. She can also be reached at [email protected]. Information on the book can also be found at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300076282/qid=927653749/sr=1-1/002-0410536-3448037
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