Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Geography and Demography of Rural America
1. Where Is Rural America and Who Lives There?, by Kenneth M. Johnson
2. Poverty in Rural America Then and Now, by Bruce Weber and Kathleen Miller
Part II. Key Concepts and Issues for Understanding Rural Poverty
3. Measures of Poverty and Implications for Portraits of Rural Hardship, by Leif Jensen and Danielle Ely
4. How to Explain Poverty?, by Ann R. Tickamyer and Emily J. Wornell
Part III. Vulnerable Populations in Rural Places
5. Changing Gender Roles and Rural Poverty, by Kristin Smith
Case Study: In re Bow, Nevada Supreme Court (1997), by Lisa R. Pruitt
6. Racial Inequalities and Poverty in Rural America, by Mark H. Harvey
Case Study: Engaging Black Geographies—How Racism Continues to Produce Poverty within the Black Belt South, by Rosalind P. Harris
7. Immigration Trends and Immigrant Poverty in Rural America, by Shannon M. Monnat and Raeven Faye Chandler
Case Study: Immigration and New Rural Residents, by J. Celeste Lay
Part IV. Community and Societal Institutions
8. Rural Poverty and Symbolic Capital: A Tale of Two Valleys, by Jennifer Sherman
Case Study: Symbolic Capital and Sources of Division in “Golden Valley,” California, and “Paradise Valley,” Washington, by Jennifer Sherman
9. The Old Versus the New Economies and Their Impacts, by Brian Thiede and Tim Slack
Case Study: Buoyancy on the Bayou—Louisiana Shrimpers Face the Rising Tide of Globalization, by Jill Ann Harrison
10. Food Insecurity and Housing Insecurity, by Alisha Coleman-Jensen and Barry Steffen
Case Study: Food Insecurity and Hunger in the Rural West, by Sarah Whitley
11. The Environment and Health, by Danielle Christine Rhubart and Elyzabeth W. Engle
Case Study: The Environment and Health, by Michael Hendryx
12. Education and Information, by Catharine Biddle and Ian Mette
Case Study: Education, Economic Disadvantage, and Homeless Students in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale Gas Region, by Kai A. Schafft
13. Crime, Punishment, and Spatial Inequality, by John M. Eason, L. Ash Smith, Jason Greenberg, Richard D. Abel, and Corey Sparks
Case Study: Violence Against Women in America’s Heartland, by Walter S. DeKeseredy and Amanda Hall-Sanchez
Part V. Programs, Policy, and Politics
14. The Safety Net in Rural America, by Jennifer Warlick
15. The Opportunities and Limits of Economic Growth, by Gary Paul Green
16. Politics and Policy: Barriers and Opportunities for Rural Peoples, by Ann R. Tickamyer, Jennifer Sherman, and Jennifer Warlick
Contributors
Index

About the Author

Ann Tickamyer is professor of rural sociology at the College of Agricultural Science at the Pennsylvania State University. She is the coeditor of Economic Restructuring and Family Well-Being in Rural America (2011) and coauthor of Power, Change, and Gender Relations in Rural Java: A Tale of Two Villages (2012). Jennifer Sherman is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Washington State University. She is the author of Those Who Work, Those Who Don't: Poverty, Morality, and Family in Rural America (2009). Jennifer Warlick is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Notre Dame and the director of their Poverty Studies Interdisciplinary Minor. She has also been an economist at the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and a fellow at the Institute of Research on Poverty.

Reviews

This book covers the historical development of rural poverty research and policy, brings together the core theoretical literature, and addresses significant substantive issues including food insecurity, race, migration, and housing. The breadth is remarkable. No other volume exists today that draws the literature together so comprehensively and engagingly. -- Linda Lobao, The Ohio State University