Poverty, a Direct Treatment: A Study of the Concept of Guaranteed Annual Income; Its Implications to Social Casework and Public Assistance; Attitudes of the Department of Welfare Staff, New York City, 1965-1966
Abstract
Poverty, the "insufficiency either in possession of wealth or flow of income", is an old concept; an ancient condition and way of life. Some men have long known the endless despair of continual want, the piercing pangs of hunger and the empty hopes that result from the thorough humiliation of deprivation. However, this was not a universal experience, some of the abled-bodied could escape the chilling and deteriorating effects of poverty by working. Hard work, however, was not always the solution to impoverishment. There is ample economic and historical evidence of generations of diligent men, both in the United States and abroad, who labored long hours for less than a living wage; this condition still exists today. Since the very beginning man had to live by the "sweat of his brow”, he had to suffer the hardships and toil of the open fields, the stifling effects of the closed, crowded city factories; and the drudgery and the darkness of underground mining, all for a meager existence. Nevertheless, there was opportunity, opportunity not rooted in years of advanced education and technical training but in courage, vision and physical strength. On the whole, survival depended on individual effort. Under these circumstances the unwanted and unlucky, the infirm and lazy were unemployed.
Subject Area
Economics|Social work
Recommended Citation
Moore, William I, "Poverty, a Direct Treatment: A Study of the Concept of Guaranteed Annual Income; Its Implications to Social Casework and Public Assistance; Attitudes of the Department of Welfare Staff, New York City, 1965-1966" (1966). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30308729.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30308729
