Working Poor Book Summary
Three Main Points The Working Poor was written by David K. Shipler. The book gives readers a perspective of what life is like after poverty strikes. Each chapter focuses on either the contributing factors, the causes, or the effects of poverty. In the introduction of the book, Shipler paints the disturbing picture of what it’s like to live in poverty. The line on page 4, “an inconvenience to an affluent family- minor car trouble, brief illness, disruptive child care- is a crisis for them” helped illustrate this. This book provided evidence to back this up and I have also witnessed the unfortunate truth behind this statement. In early October, my tires got slashed, along with 40 other people in my neighborhood. As a member of the middle class, this was just a nuisance for me. My insurance company towed my car the next morning and I had new tires by the end of the day. This wasn’t the case for every victim of the vandalization, however. I noticed a few days after the incident that one of my …show more content…
In this course, we discussed the importance of social work practice with families. This practiced is favored by many social workers because it builds a support system for the clients and helps them overcome their difficult times (Birkenmaier, Berg-Weger, & Dewees, 2011). Similarly, in chapter seven of The Working Poor Shipler stresses the importance of kinship for families who live in poverty. He used the story of the King family to illustrate this. Their story showed how helpful it can be to have family on your side during difficult times. They helped one another overcome drug addictions, Kara’s health problems, and their overall financial crisis. They used their love and loyalty to one another to overcome the most difficult times. No matter what the crisis, family can be a powerful tool to help clients to conquer their
Three Main Points The Working Poor was written by David K. Shipler. The book gives readers a perspective of what life is like after poverty strikes. Each chapter focuses on either the contributing factors, the causes, or the effects of poverty. In the introduction of the book, Shipler paints the disturbing picture of what it’s like to live in poverty. The line on page 4, “an inconvenience to an affluent family- minor car trouble, brief illness, disruptive child care- is a crisis for them” helped illustrate this. This book provided evidence to back this up and I have also witnessed the unfortunate truth behind this statement. In early October, my tires got slashed, along with 40 other people in my neighborhood. As a member of the middle class, this was just a nuisance for me. My insurance company towed my car the next morning and I had new tires by the end of the day. This wasn’t the case for every victim of the vandalization, however. I noticed a few days after the incident that one of my …show more content…
In this course, we discussed the importance of social work practice with families. This practiced is favored by many social workers because it builds a support system for the clients and helps them overcome their difficult times (Birkenmaier, Berg-Weger, & Dewees, 2011). Similarly, in chapter seven of The Working Poor Shipler stresses the importance of kinship for families who live in poverty. He used the story of the King family to illustrate this. Their story showed how helpful it can be to have family on your side during difficult times. They helped one another overcome drug addictions, Kara’s health problems, and their overall financial crisis. They used their love and loyalty to one another to overcome the most difficult times. No matter what the crisis, family can be a powerful tool to help clients to conquer their