THE FIRST INCARNATION OF The Undeserving Poor grew out of an invitation in the late 1980s from André Schiffrin and Sara Bershtel, then of Pantheon Books, to write a short book on poverty for a new series on the politics of knowledge. I remain grateful for the invitation and for their support and help during the process. I will not repeat the acknowledgments in the book’s initial version. But my thanks to the individuals listed there remain as strong as ever.
This is essentially a new book, longer, updated, and with significant revisions in interpretation. There are descriptive sections that have changed little—although there are at least minor editorial changes to almost every paragraph. In a separate essay, I will try to explain the differences between editions and the reasons for them. The impetus to write the new version came from the realization that the book was still assigned to students even though parts were badly outdated. Because of its name recognition, it seemed to make more sense to capitalize on the title than to write a competing book. I received special encouragement from the students in my then-colleague Eric Michael Dyson’s class on poverty; my good friend, the great writer, Mike Rose, who, as so often before, helped me out of a writing jam; and my friend and colleague Tom Sugrue, whose work and knowledge are a continuing inspiration. Thanks to my agent, Geri Thoma, for immediately seeing the importance of the project and to Dave McBride at Oxford University Press for his enthusiasm from the first moment it was proposed. Special thanks to Autumn Hope McGrath for meticulous assistance with footnotes and proofreading.
This book draws on my writing on poverty and the welfare state in the years since the publication of the first version. In those books I have tried to thank the many people who helped me along the way and will not repeat the long list here. But, again, know that I remember your help with gratitude.
For this new version I do need to single out some colleagues and friends. When it became apparent that I had to add biology to the discussion of the undeserving poor, Merlin Chowkwanyun became my unofficial guide to literature and respondent as I shaped ideas; his assistance proved indispensable. Neuroscientist Joshua Jacobs read the section and offered reassurance. Remaining errors are, of course, my responsibility. Dennis Culhane and Mark Stern helped me to become up-to-date on homelessness. Over many years I have learned a great deal from Alice O’Connor and have leaned heavily on her work, most notably her magisterial Poverty Knowledge. My other debts to the outstanding recent scholarship on poverty should be apparent in the book’s footnotes.
Critics of the first version made it clear that the book’s treatment of gender was its weakest part. I have tried to do better this time. Thanks to Viviana Zelizer for helping me with the task. Herb Gans pointed out that the first version lacked a definition of liberalism, which this one supplies and tries to use consistently. Herb’s written work and private comments have been a beacon of engaged scholarship for decades.
In May 2012 Ananya Roy invited me to a September conference, “Territories of Poverty,” at Berkeley. For the conference, I wrote a long paper, “What Kind of a Problem is Poverty?,” which became the intellectual spine of this book. The conference came at just the right moment to push my thinking and provoke new ideas. I have been inspired, too, by Ananya’s writing, especially Poverty Capital.
My personal debts to my friends in Clioquossia remain large, as do my debts to my wife Edda and children who have given me, as always, unfailing support.