Poverty is a social problem, and finding solutions requires us to look closely at our society, laws and social institutions. Families in Poverty brings together the best and most recent quantitative and qualitative data to examine poverty among U.S. families, the problems poor families face, and discusses how solutions to poverty do exist. Some major topics found in the text include: Trends in poverty in the United States; Discussion on how poverty is measured and defined; Critiques on several explanations of poverty; Consequences of poverty on children and adults; Labor market issues such as unemployment, minimum wage, employer-sponsored fringe benefits; Programs in the United States designed to eliminate or red. Families in Poverty: Volume 1 in the “Families in the Twenty-First Century Series”, 1/e Karen Seccombe Meenan , Portland State University (HEPM ID: 4935242) - Susan J. Ferguson , Grinnell College (HEPM ID: 8391990) - ISBN: 0205502547 Poverty is a social problem and finding solutions requires us to look closely at our society, laws, and social institutions. Families in Poverty brings together the best and most recent quantitative and qualitative data to examine poverty among U.S. families and the problems poor families face, and discusses how solutions to poverty do exist. Some major topics found in the text include: Trends in poverty in the United States - Discussion on how poverty is measured and defined - Critiques on several explanations of poverty - Consequences of poverty on children and adults - Labor market issues such as unemployment, minimum wage, employer-sponsored fringe benefits - Programs in the United States designed to eliminate or reduce poverty Karen Seccombe, Ph.D./MSW, is a sociologist and Professor of Community Health at Portland State University, whose research focuses on social stratification and family sociology. Her work on the health and well-being of poor families, and on the affect of U.S. health and welfare policies, appears frequently in leading social science journals. She is the author of several other books including “So You Think I Drive a Cadillac?” Welfare Recipients’ Perspective on the System and Its Reform , Second Edition (Allyn and Bacon, 2007), Families and their Social Worlds (Allyn & Bacon, 2008), and (with K. Hoffman) Just Don't Get Sick: Access to Health Care in the Aftermath of Welfare Reform (Rutgers University Press, 2007). The "Families in the 21st Century" Series Editor is Susan Ferguson, Associate Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College. Her own research interests include the never-married and women's health issues. She is the author of Shifting the Center: Understanding Contemporary Families, 3/e (McGraw-Hill, 2007).