In this timely work, William Kelso analyzes how the persistence of poverty has reversed liberal and conservative positions during the last thirty years. While liberals in the 1960s hoped to eliminate the causes of poverty, today they increasingly seem resigned to merely treating its effects. The original liberal objective of giving the poor a helping hand by promoting equal opportunity has given way to a new agenda of entitlement and equal results.

In contrast, conservatives who once suggested that trying to eliminate poverty was futile now seek ways to eradicate its causes.

Poverty and the Underclass suggests that the arguments of both the left and right are misguided and offers new explanations for the persistence of poverty. Looking beyond the code words that have come to obscure the debate - "underclass," "family values," "the culture of poverty" - Kelso emphasizes that poverty is not a monolithic condition, but a vast and multidimensional problem.