The Political Economy of Urban Poverty

This is a study of poverty in our cities--its causes, its composition, its dimensions, and its solutions. It is not a book which will please those who worship America's high standard of living. Nor will it please liberal reformers who say our social welfare policies have begun to eliminate the problem. (Indeed, it is suggested that urban poor exist in greater numbers and in greater misery than ever before, despite statistics to the contrary.) And it will not please radicals in search of support for abolition of the capitalist system because liberal reforms have failed in the past.