Kategoria BISAC: Social Science >> Human Services

In spite of an unprecedented period of growth and prosperity, the poverty rate in the United States remains high relative to the levels of the early 1970s and relative to those in many industrialized countries today. Understanding Poverty brings the problem of poverty in America to the fore, focusing on its nature and extent at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

Looking back over the four decades since the nation declared war on poverty, the authors ask how the poor have fared in the market economy, what government programs have and have not accomplished, and what remains...

Workers' compensation, begun in the early 1900s to address some of the human costs of the Industrial Revolution, was the first of Canada's social institutions. It aimed to redress social instability by reimbursing workers for their suffering while protecting companies from costly court cases. The need for its regulatory function did not diminish over the course of the century; indeed the need is just as significant today. Nevertheless, making workers' compensation work in Canada at the end of the century is a difficult task.

Today employers feel overburdened and workers believe they...

You can drive out of Charlottesville, Virginia, in any direction and within ten minutes find yourself in third-world rural poverty. In 1988, University of Virginia academics began pondering how the institution's vast resources could be used to improve the lives of these rural poor. The result was the Rural Elder Outreach Project, an innovative experiment that for five years evaluated and provided in-home nursing care for rural elder poor in five Virginia counties.

As volunteer and observer, Susan Garrett traveled with the project's nurses, doctors, and social workers. Based on her...

For nearly a decade, international efforts to combat famine and food shortages around the globe have concentrated on the critical situations in sub-Saharan Africa. In the Sudan, the largest country in Africa, prolonged drought, complicated by civil strife and debilitating economic problems, has caused widespread human suffering. The Sudan illustrates the proverbial worst-case scenario in which urgent food needs have been denied, food has been used as a weapon, and outside assistance has been obstructed.

"The Challenges of Famine Relief" focuses on the two famine emergencies in the Sudan...

Since it was first published, Garbage in the Cities has remained one of the best historical treatments of the subject. This thoroughly revised and updated edition includes two...