Many Americans believe that people are poor because of individual failings, such as lack of skills or work ethic. Poverty and Power challenges this view, showing that American poverty instead is a structural problem, resulting from failings of our political, economic, cultural, and social systems. The book examines the social forces and institutional problems that contribute to growing inequality and the persistence of poverty in the United States. Throughout the book, the author compares individualistic and structural approaches and makes a case that a structural perspective on American poverty is the best explanation of the persistent inequalities and disparities that hold back progress and advancement for the country.

The fourth edition features new material throughout, including discussions of how poverty intersects with race, ethnicity, and gender; the divisive, growing political and cultural polarization in the country and its impacts on structural poverty; the exacerbating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on structural poverty; and the role of social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter and the backlash of white nationalism as they relate to structural poverty.