The Multidimensional Aspects of Poverty

Pushed to the Bottom: The Experience of Poverty in the U.S.

What do we really know about poverty?

POVERTY GOES MUCH DEEPER THAN JUST INCOME LEVEL.

Poverty means having to swallow your pride when accessing a much-needed subsidy, knowing that your children are not receiving the same quality education as their peers, being trapped in a run-down community that lacks resources, being told to be grateful for the little bit you do have and being shamed if you are not. These are some of the essential aspects of poverty.

The MAP Project

The Multidimensional Aspects of Poverty (MAP) research was the U.S. component of an international project conducted from 2016 to 2019 in six countries: Bangladesh, Bolivia, France, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Conceived as a partnership between ATD Fourth World and the University of Oxford, this participatory research sought to determine the various aspects of poverty as identified by people who live in poverty every day.

Poverty in the United States

In the United States, the research was coordinated by a national research team that had a balance of members who lived in poverty and members who did not. The coordinators deliberately created a team that reflected as much as possible the racial and geographic diversity of the United States and that included members from both rural and urban areas.

The Findings

Poverty is not just a component of individual or family circumstances. It is a complex byproduct of how our society is organized. First and foremost, poverty in the United States is shaped by features of our culture and values that create a structural process of subjugation. None of the aspects of poverty identified here would be present without subjugation.

Our Methodology

During the course of the research, a total of twenty-three peer group meetings took place, in Appalachia (southwest Virginia), Boston, Gallup (New Mexico), New Orleans, New York City, and Oakland. Following these meetings, the national research team presented its work at a national Merging of Knowledge session attended by peer group participants from across the United States. The results offer a unique voice in the discussion of poverty in the United States.