Rethinking Poverty

James P. Bailey

Description

In Rethinking Poverty, James P. Bailey argues that most contemporary policies aimed at reducing poverty in the United States are flawed because they focus solely on insufficient income. Bailey argues that traditional policies such as minimum wage laws, food stamps, housing subsidies, earned income tax credits, and other forms of cash and non-cash income supports need to be complemented by efforts that enable the poor to save and accumulate assets. Drawing on Michael Sherraden’s work on asset building and scholarship by Melvin Oliver, Thomas Shapiro, and Dalton Conley on asset discrimination, Bailey presents us with a novel and promising way forward to combat persistent and morally unacceptable poverty in the United States and around the world.

Rethinking Poverty makes use of a significant body of Catholic social teachings in its argument for an asset development strategy to reduce poverty. These Catholic teachings include, among others, principles of human dignity, the social nature of the person, the common good, and the preferential option for the poor. These principles and the related social analyses have not yet been brought to bear on the idea of asset-building for the poor by those working within the Catholic social justice tradition. This book redresses this shortcoming, and further, claims that a Catholic moral argument for asset-building for the poor can be complemented and enriched by Martha Nussbaum’s “capabilities approach.” This book will affect current debates and practical ways to reduce poverty, as well as the future direction of Catholic social teaching.

Sujets

• Christian Theology
• Christian Living
• Philosophie et théologie
• United States of America
• Thomas Shapiro
• Melvin Oliver
• Dalton Conley
• Martha Nussbaum
• Ethics
• Catholic
• Christianity
• Religion
• États-Unis
• Martha Craven Nussbaum

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 14 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268076238
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Rethinking Poverty
Catholic Social Tradition
Preface to the Series
In Tertio millennio adveniente , Pope John Paul II poses a hard question: It must be asked how many Christians really know and put into practice the principles of the church s social doctrine. The American Catholic bishops share the pope s concern: Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith [and yet] our social heritage is unknown by many Catholics. Sadly, our social doctrine is not shared or taught in a consistent and comprehensive way in too many of our schools. This lack is critical because the sharing of our social tradition is a defining measure of Catholic education and formation. A United States Catholic Conference task force on social teaching and education noted that within Catholic higher education there appears to be little consistent attention given to incorporating gospel values and Catholic social teaching into general education courses or into departmental majors.
In response to this problem, the volumes in the Catholic Social Tradition series aspire to impart the best of what this tradition has to offer not only to Catholics but to all who face the social issues of our times. The volumes examine a wide variety of issues and problems within the Catholic social tradition and contemporary society, yet they share several characteristics. They are theologically and philosophically grounded, examining the deep structure of thought in modern culture. They are publicly argued, enhancing dialogue with other religious and nonreligious traditions. They are comprehensively engaged by a wide variety of disciplines such as theology, philosophy, political science, economics, history, law, management, and finance. Finally, they examine how the Catholic social tradition can be integrated on a practical level and embodied in institutions in which people live much of their lives. The Catholic Social Tradition series is about faith in action in daily life, providing ways of thinking and acting to those seeking a more humane world.
Michael J. Naughton
University of St. Thomas
Minnesota, USA
Rethinking Poverty
Income, Assets, and the Catholic Social Justice Tradition
James P. Bailey
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States of America
Copyright 2010 by the University of Notre Dame
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bailey, James P. (James Patrick), 1960-
Rethinking poverty : income, assets, and the Catholic social justice tradition / James P. Bailey.
p. cm. - (Catholic social tradition)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-268-02223-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-268-02223-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Social justice-Religious aspects-Catholic Church. 2. Poverty-Religious aspects-Catholic Church. I. Title.
BX1795.S62B35 2010
261.8 325-dc22
2010024326
This book is printed on recycled paper .
ISBN 9780268076238
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail] .
To the memory of my parents Mary Bernadine Bailey and Timothy C. Bailey
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
ONE
Why Asset Building for the Poor?
The Income Paradigm
The Welfare Reform Debate of 1996: An Income-Paradigm Debate
The Asset Paradigm
The Role of Current Policy: Exacerbating Wealth Inequality
TWO
Assets, the Poor, and Catholic Social Teaching
Asset Building for the Poor and Catholic Social Thought
Property and Ownership in Catholic Social Teaching
Contributions of Catholic Social Thought to Asset-Building Policy
Contributions of Asset-Building Research to Catholic Social Thought
THREE
Assets and Human Capabilities
Globalization and the Need for a Cross-Cultural Ethic
Capabilities and Assets
FOUR
Asset Discrimination
Asset Discrimination in U.S. History
The Stubborn Persistence of Asset Discrimination
The Cost of Asset Denial
Conclusion
FIVE
Toward Inclusive Ownership
Asset Development for the Poor: Retrieving a Lost Tradition
Are Asset-Building Proposals Politically Viable?
The Promise and Perils of Asset Building for the Poor
Appendix: A Primer on Modern Catholic Social Teaching
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
No book comes into being through the sole efforts of the author and this book is no exception. I am grateful to Duquesne University, especially President Charles Dougherty and Provost Ralph Pearson, for the support and encouragement they have given me throughout this project. Duquesne University has provided significant financial support at various stages in the writing of this book. A Wimmer Family Foundation grant helped support my first scholarly presentation on the subject of asset building at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics. My first published article on asset building, which appeared in the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics , emanated from that lecture. A second Duquesne grant, the Presidential Scholarship, helped fund a presentation I gave at Villanova University on the preferential option for the poor and asset building. That presentation was further developed and published in the Journal for Catholic Social Thought . Portions of both articles appear in chapters one and two of this book. I wish to thank as well Duquesne s Center for the Study of Catholic Social Thought for awarding me with a Paluse Fellowship. This fellowship helped to fund the research and writing of the third chapter on capabilities and asset building.
My Departmental Chair at Duquesne, George Worgul, Jr., has been an unwavering supporter throughout the whole book project. He read multiple versions of the manuscript providing helpful and insightful feedback. His unflagging encouragement and tireless advocacy made possible the completion of this book. I am also grateful for the special support and encouragement I have received from two of my departmental colleagues. Gerald Boodoo read the manuscript in its entirety and Dan Scheid read several chapters of the book. Their feedback helped to focus and sharpen the book s argument. I am deeply grateful to them. I also want to acknowledge Mary Filice, a doctoral candidate in the Theology Department at Duquesne, who provided research related to the third chapter of the book.
I have been fortunate as well to be able to avail myself of the expertise and counsel of persons and institutions outside of Duquesne. Lisa Sowle Cahill, the J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology at Boston College, has provided perceptive and insightful feedback at crucial stages during the writing of the book and the final manuscript is much improved as a result. Michael Sherraden, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, encouraged me to continue with this project after reading the first article I published on asset building for the poor. Given Sherraden s stature in the field of asset-building research, his demonstration of interest in the book project early on was enormously important. Ray Boshara, Vice President and Senior Research Fellow and former Director of the Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation, has been a constant source of information, encouragement, and inspiration throughout the writing of this project. Elisabeth Brinkmann, R.S.C.J., a friend and colleague for many years, has been reading and correcting drafts of my work for almost as long as I have known her. This manuscript was no exception. The same can be said for my friends Tom Dickens, Joyce Schuld, and Jennifer Wright Knust, accomplished scholars in their own right. They have always found the time to help me throughout this project. I wish also to thank Debi Jo Packer for her encouragement and the uniquely valuable perspective she offered during the writing of this book. Gina Hiatt also provided numerous practical suggestions that helped to advance the book s completion. Special thanks to my editor at the University of Notre Dame Press, Charles Van Hof, who has put up with me missing numerous self-imposed deadlines and has done so with good cheer. He has always given me the time I needed to get my work done while still managing to move the project along with amazing speed when it was necessary to do so. Thanks Chuck. I would also like to thank my copyeditor, Carole Roos, for her thoroughness and keen attention to detail. Her careful reading of the manuscript has greatly improved the final product.
Saving the best for last, I want to thank my wife and best friend Shelley Thacher. It is not always easy to live with someone who teaches and writes for a living but she does so with grace and good humor. It is no exaggeration to say that without her support-emotional, intellectual, and material-this book could not have been written.
Introduction
Economic inequality in the United States has reached its highest level since the beginning of the New Deal, leading a number of scholars and commentators to describe the first decade of the twenty-first century as a new gilded age. 1 In such an age it is especially appropriate to rethink public policy approaches to poverty, policies that have focused almost exclusively on addressing the income and consumption needs of the poor while neglecting the role that savings and asset building can play in helping the poor to become nonpoor. This focus on income and consumption alone has much to do with the way in which we define poverty, which is almost always exclusively in terms of insufficient income. This definition is evident in policies of the political left that attempt to bolster income, like minimum wage laws, and in cash and non-cash income supports, such as food stamps, housing subsidies, earned income tax c