Description:
This book is unlike any other. Poverty in Canada provides a unique, interdisciplinary perspective on poverty and its importance to the health and quality of life of Canadians. This volume considers a range of issues that will be of great interest to a variety of audiences - those studying or working in Community and Developmental Psychology, Education, Health Promotion, Health Studies and Health Sciences, Medicine and Nursing, Political Science and Policy Studies, Public Health, Social Work, and Sociology, as well as the general public.
Central issues include: the definitions of poverty and means of measuring it in wealthy, industrialized nations such as Canada; the causes of poverty - both situational and societal; the health and social implications of poverty for individuals, communities, and society as a whole; and the means of reducing its incidence and responding to its effects. Particular emphasis has been placed on the lived experiences of poverty throughout the book.
This second edition has been thoroughly updated and features a new chapter on anti-poverty programs, updated data on poverty rates and information on newly developed Canadian measures of deprivation, and an extended discussion of what Canadians can do to first reduce - and then eliminate - poverty in Canada.
Reviews and Comments
"You are holding in your hands the single most valuable reference on poverty in Canada, a book whose dog-eared copy sits prominently on the bookshelf in my office."
- Rob Rainer, Executive Director, Canada Without Poverty
"The author's passion for the topic comes across well and is important to creating a sense of the importance and urgency of the issues addressed. This passion is reinforced and matched with the provision of evidence and well-founded arguments."
- Jessica Polzer, School of Health Studies, University of Western Ontario
"I would certainly have no hesitation recommending this text to both undergrads and grad students. In fact, I would say that this type of book should be a compulsory text for all undergrads, in all disciplines."
- Susan Fowler-Kerry, Director, College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan
"This text makes the concept of the social determinants of health come alive. There is no parallel Canadian treatment of the cumulative range of this material."
- Harvey Frankel, Dean, Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba
Dennis Raphael is Professor of Health Policy and Management at York University.
Table Of Contents
Foreword to the Second Edition
Rob Rainer
Foreword to the First Edition
Jack Layton
Preface
Part I: Defining and Measuring Povery in Canada
Chapter One: Poverty and the Modern Welfare State
Chapter Two: Canadian Perspectives on Poverty
Chapter Three: Who Is Poor in Canada?
Chapter Four: Making Sense of Poverty: Social Inequality and Social Exclusion
Part II: The Experience of Poverty
Chapter Five: Pathways to Poverty
Chapter Six: The Lived Experience of Poverty
Chapter Seven: Interactions with the Social Assistance and Health Care Systems
Part III: Poverty, Health, and Quality of Life
Chapter Eight: Poverty and Health
Chapter Nine: Poverty and Health: Mechanisms and Pathways
Chapter Ten: Poverty and Quality of Life
Part IV: Politics, Public Policy, and Poverty
Chapter Eleven: The Politics of Poverty
Chapter Twelve: Canadian Public Policy and Poverty in International Perspective
Chapter Thirteen: Anti-poverty Strategies and Programs
Chapter Fourteen: Poverty and the Future of the Canadian Welfare State
Copyright Acknowledgements
Index
