Do you believe that poverty is a form of deviance? Do you believe that some people feel that the poor are stigmatized—less worthy human beings, inferior in some way—relative to people who are not poor?

Do you believe that poverty is a form of deviance? Do you believe that some people feel that the poor are stigmatized—less worthy human beings, inferior in some way—relative to people who are not poor?

Do you think that the poor live in poverty because they deserve it, because they just don’t work hard enough?

Do you believe that other people put the poor down simply because they are poor? Is this a majority or a minority position?

Can you imagine social situations in which the poor would be excluded? How can poverty be eliminated in American society?

Do you believe the Bible’s injunction, “For you always have the poor with you” (Matthew 26:11)? Can you imagine a future society in which poverty does not exist?

Or is poverty the price a society has to pay for achievement, innovation, and risk?

What are the reasons that poverty has persisted for as long as it has?

How can we eliminate it? Who is in favor of solving this problem and who is opposed—and at what cost?