4. Re-conceptualizing poverty

Discussion: Review the benefits and drawbacks of a relative measure of poverty. The review should also emphasize how the papers written for Lesson 3 would have been different had a different measure of poverty been employed.

Demonstration: Instructor present “% Ratio of Income to Poverty” measure used by Social Explorer, and demonstrate how this ratio is calculated using the current threshold.

Discussion & Demonstration: Instructor will lead a discussion on the slide show, “Re-conceptualizing Poverty: Eight Case Studies,” which follows-up on the previous slide show, but uses this different measure of poverty to compensate for the current measure’s shortcomings.

Fianl assignment: Students are to revise and resubmit their 500-750 word paper. The revisions should focus on how their interpretation of the distribution of poverty has changed as a result of using the ratio measure provided by Social Explorer. The paper should also advocate for the measure that they believe most accurately portrays the scope and distribution of poverty.