Sarah Halpern-Meekin: Social Poverty: Low-Income Parents and the Struggle for Family and Community Ties

Poverty in the United States is frequently conceptualized as an economic struggle. Sarah Halpern-Meekin pushes back against that idea in her book, Social Poverty: Low-Income Parents and the Struggle for Family and Community Ties, in which she argues that the definition of poverty should be expanded to encompass a lack of social resources. She asserts that social poverty is not a by-product of income poverty. She targets sociologists in an attempt to persuade researchers and policy makers that these concepts are related, but they are not the same. In an effort to further explore social poverty, Halpern-Meekin conducts a study of a relationship education program in Oklahoma City called “Family Expectations” that is funded with welfare reform dollars. Many participants in the study are economically disadvantaged young parents in their twenties. They are experiencing a transition of “emerging adulthood” that conflicts with the social roles required of committed parents and partners. Halpern-Meekin draws the reader in through anecdotes and concludes that the participants are experiencing not only income poverty, but also a lack of social connection that leads to social poverty and effects their relationship outcomes. …