By Alexander Riley, Public Discourse. (Photo: Susie Ho/Unsplash)
There is no single better guarantee of continuing poverty than single parenthood. Studies consistently show that single parenthood has a comparatively negative effect on the economic well-being of the family across all income groups, but this effect is exaggerated when it comes to the lowest-income groups.
A colleague at work (I teach in a university) recently sent out a link to a PBS documentary on poverty in America. Born Poor begins with three children whose families are living in conditions of material scarcity in the U.S. and follows them into early adulthood. The unspoken narrative thrust of the documentary is that the financially dire conditions these Americans were in during their childhoods prove utterly impossible for them to escape. At first glance, the underlying message of the film is: there is no hope for the poor in America. No matter what they do, they will remain poor. Yet a little decoding of the film in the language of human agency and responsibility tells another story.
The narrative of Johnny’s family runs roughly thus. During his childhood, his father was making good money and the family—Johnny’s father, mother, and three or four children counting him—lived in a middle-class home. Then a recession hit and the father’s earnings fell off. In short order, they could not afford to stay in their home.
Later, as a teen, Johnny takes up behaviors destined to negatively affect his economic future. He starts smoking marijuana and is arrested for shoplifting. This offense leads to his being sent to Chicago to live with his grandmother. He manages to get his act together sufficiently to make it to a small Baptist college, where he is on the football team. He dreams of using his athletic talents to make his fortune in life. As a college student, he has a wife and three children, and the couple are expecting a fourth. He has no job, and they live on welfare.