What's So Bad About Being Poor? Our Lives in the Shadows of the Poverty Experts

Author:   Deborah M Foster ,  Steve Kuhn
Publisher:   Foster Potential, LLC
ISBN:  

9798989763351


Pages:   432
Publication Date:   15 January 2025
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Available To Order   Availability explained
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What's So Bad About Being Poor? Our Lives in the Shadows of the Poverty Experts


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Overview

Deborah M. Foster's What's So Bad About Being Poor? Our Lives in the Shadows of the Poverty Experts is a searing critique of how poverty is understood, managed, and exploited in modern society. The book boldly challenges the authority of poverty experts-academics, policymakers, and think tanks-whose detached analyses and data-driven solutions, Foster argues, often perpetuate harm instead of alleviating it. This incendiary work ignites debates on the commodification of the poor and the paternalistic policies that dominate anti-poverty initiatives. Foster flips the script on conventional poverty discourse by centering the voices of those who live in poverty, exposing the inadequacies and blind spots of well-intentioned but misguided ""experts."" Through vivid, raw stories of resilience and struggle, she paints a humanized portrait of poverty that starkly contrasts the cold, clinical narratives found in policy discussions. Foster accuses the elite academic and political classes of treating the poor as abstract problems to be solved rather than as people with agency, dignity, and dreams. Her critiques do not stop at the experts. Foster also takes aim at society's moral judgments about poverty, questioning why poverty is viewed as inherently bad or shameful. She provokes readers to examine their biases and consider whether poverty itself or the structures that perpetuate it are the true sources of suffering. The book's unapologetically confrontational tone has sparked controversy, with critics labeling it as incendiary and polarizing, while supporters hail it as a revolutionary call to action. What's So Bad About Being Poor? is more than a book-it's a challenge to rethink poverty, expertise, and the systems we uphold. It forces readers to confront uncomfortable truths about inequality and the ways society marginalizes its most vulnerable. Foster's work dares to ask: What if the real problem isn't poverty itself but how we choose to understand and address it?

Full Product Details

Author:   Deborah M Foster ,  Steve Kuhn
Publisher:   Foster Potential, LLC
Imprint:   Foster Potential, LLC
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.576kg
ISBN:  

9798989763351


Pages:   432
Publication Date:   15 January 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

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Reviews

""Foster's writing is remarkably clear-eyed given the traumatic experiences she describes. She resists both self-pity and neat redemption narratives, instead focusing on documenting how poverty shapes children's development and family dynamics. Her academic training and PhD adds analytical depth without dampening the memoir's emotional impact. The book's examination of religious fundamentalism's appeal to the poor is another insightful element of this memoir. Foster shows how economic instability made her parents susceptible to fringe beliefs and cult-like groups promising certainty in an uncertain world. Their brief involvement with a polygamist Mormon sect illustrates how desperation can drive people to embrace extreme ideologies."" Maria Ashford, Book-shelfie.com ""The book contains thoughtful insights on molestation, mental illness, the medical establishment and pharmaceuticals, rehabilitation vs. condemnation, depression and hypomania, parenthood, childhood, the interrelationship of national politics with family values, destructive charitableness, the dangers of unthoughtful professionals in authoritative positions, abuse of government authority, race relations, white flight and white racism, racism in general, housing policy, detachment, nutrition, misplaced trust in conmen, self-deception and self-realization, spiritual search, religious cults, food, and poverty, to name a few."" Miles Garrett, GoodReads


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