Quotes by Sociologists

If I wrote in Jacob Riis' time, I'd be writing about teeming slums in our cities and kids dying of tuberculosis or outhouses in Philadelphia or kids losing their toes because they were living in homes without heat. He took on a battle in 'The Battle with the Slums' - and we won. Matthew Desmond
Time Battle Writing Losing Living Teeming Took Our Kids Cities About Slums He Wrote Because Without Were Won Heat Tuberculosis Jacob Dying Toes Homes Philadelphia
Exploitation. Now, there's a word that has been scrubbed out of the poverty debate. Matthew Desmond
Debate Word Poverty Exploitation Out Has-Been Been Now
I have always been really troubled by the amount of poverty in America. Americans are matched in their rich democracy with the depth and expanse of poverty. That's really always unsettled me. Matthew Desmond
Me Democracy Poverty Rich Troubled Unsettled Matched Always Been Expanse America American Depth Really Amount
Between 2007 and 2010, the average white family experienced an 11% reduction in wealth, but the average black family lost 31% of its wealth. The average Hispanic family lost 44.7%. Matthew Desmond
Family Wealth Black Lost White Black Family Between Reduction Hispanic Experienced Average
I love Milwaukee, the rust belt. It's a very special part of America that's full of promise but also full of pain, where poverty is acute. Matthew Desmond
Love Poverty Pain Promise Rust Part Also Very America Where Full Special Acute Belt Milwaukee
Do we believe housing is a right and that affordable housing is part of what it should mean to be an American? I say yes. Matthew Desmond
Affordable Housing Believe Say Part Housing Yes Affordable American Mean Should Right
It takes a good amount of time and money to establish a home. Eviction can erase all that. Matthew Desmond
Time Good Home Money Takes Erase Time And Money Establish Amount
You do learn how to cope from those who are coping. Matthew Desmond
You Those Learn How Who Cope Coping
A lot of people didn't know just what eviction does to people, how it really sets their life on a different and much more difficult path, acting not like a condition of poverty but a cause of it. Matthew Desmond
Life People Cause Path Poverty Difficult Sets More Like Know Does How Condition Lot Just Different Much Really Acting
Just strictly from a business standpoint, kids are a liability to landlords, and they actually provoke evictions. Matthew Desmond
Business Strictly Kids Provoke Just Landlords Standpoint Actually Liability
Ours was not always a nation of homeowners; the New Deal fashioned it so, particularly through the G.I. Bill of Rights. Matthew Desmond
Rights Nation Ours Through New Particularly New Deal Deal Always Bill Bill Of Rights
Tenants don't have any right to court-appointed attorneys in civil court, so they're either facing their landlord - or his or her attorney - alone, or they just don't show up. That reflects a severe power imbalance. Matthew Desmond
Alone Power Imbalance Severe Civil Facing Attorney Attorneys Court His Up Reflects Any Just Either Landlord Show Her Right
If we continue to tolerate this level of poverty in our cities, and go along with eviction as commonplace in poor neighborhoods, it's not for a lack of resources. It will be a lack of something else. Matthew Desmond
Will Poverty Else Our Resources Neighborhoods Cities Something Something Else Along Go Continue Lack Commonplace Poor Tolerate Level
American greatness can be further unlocked if opportunity is expanded to all people within its borders. Matthew Desmond
People Opportunity Unlocked Further All People Borders Within Greatness American
A lot of the stories about urban America tend to be written on the margins. We focus a lot on these big global cities - New York, San Francisco - or we focus on cities that are having the toughest time - Detroit, Newark, Camden. Matthew Desmond
Time Focus Big Francisco Cities About Having Tend Detroit Toughest Written New Global Camden Lot America York New York Stories Newark San San Francisco Urban Margins
Some white Milwakeeans still referred to the North side as 'the cire', as they did in the 1960s, and if they ventured into it, they saw street after street of sagging duplexes, fading murals, twenty-four hour daycares, and corner stores with 'WIC Accepted Here' signs. Matthew Desmond
Signs White Corner Side Saw Some Fading Hour Accepted Still Referred North Did Stores After Twenty-Four Street Mural Here
These days, there are sheriff squads whose full-time job is to carry out eviction and foreclosure orders. There are moving companies specializing in evictions, their crews working all day, every weekday. Matthew Desmond
Day Job Every All Day Out Carry Days Sheriff Squads Orders Moving Working Full-Time Full-Time Job Companies Whose
In college, when I was kind of confronted with facts and figures about inequality in America, a big impulse I had was to go hang out with homeless people around my university and hear them out and understand their situation from their perspective. Matthew Desmond
People Perspective College Big Situation Out Kind About Facts Had Around Inequality Understand Go Hear America Hang Impulse Them Confronted Figures Homeless University
When I want to understand a problem, I want to understand it from the ground level. Matthew Desmond
Problem Understand Want Ground Level
This country has so much wealth and so much poverty, and that seemed wrong to me. 'Evicted' was my Ph.D. dissertation. Matthew Desmond
Me Wealth Poverty Country Dissertation Seemed Wrong Much
I think that we value fairness in this country. We value equal opportunity. Without a stable home, those ideals really fall apart. Matthew Desmond
Home Opportunity Value Country Fall Think Those Ideals Equal Equal Opportunity Fairness Without Stable Apart Really
Without the ability to plant roots and invest in your community or your school - because you're paying 60, 70, 80 percent of your income to rent - and eviction becomes something of an inevitability to you, it denies you certain freedoms. Matthew Desmond
You School Plant Community Ability Percent Something Invest Freedoms Because Without Becomes Rent Inevitability Denies Certain Roots Your Paying Income
An eviction is an incredibly time consuming and stressful event. Matthew Desmond
Time Incredibly Consuming Time-Consuming Event Stressful
There are moving companies specializing in evictions, their crews working all day, every weekday. Matthew Desmond
Day Every All Day Moving Working Companies
I wanted to write a book about poverty that wasn't only about the poor. I was looking for some sort of narrative device, a phenomenon that would allow me to draw in a lot of different players. I was like, 'Shoot, eviction does that.' Matthew Desmond
Me Book Poverty Looking Draw Would Some About Only Write Allow Device Like Sort Narrative Does Lot Shoot Different Wanted Poor Players Phenomenon
African American women, and moms in particular, are evicted at disproportionately high rates. Matthew Desmond
Women High Rates Particular American African African-American American Women Moms Disproportionately
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