View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What summer job did Desmond have when he was in college?

2. In a survey of men and women released from prison in Massachusetts, what percent had witnessed a murder as children?

3. At the time Desmond wrote Poverty, by America, how many amputation occurred weekly in America's meatpacking plants?

4. What was the minimum wage in 1946?

5. What college did Desmond attend?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did poverty affect Desmond's former roommate Woo?

2. How did many welfare policies have an antifamily design?

3. What are independent contractors and how did they affect wages and benefits?

4. Why did Desmond write Poverty, By America?

5. What was the relationship between corporate profits and labor costs?

6. Had poverty gotten worse because spending was reduced?

7. How does race affect who lives in poverty and who does not?

8. Where did Desmond grow up?

9. Why did it seem unimaginable that the U.S. had made so little progress in poverty reduction?

10. Why are there millions more Americans in poverty than official statistics reveal?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Matthew Desmond was a sociologist and author. Why did he write Poverty, by America?

Essay Topic 2

There were many ways the poor were exploited, especially when it came to the housing market. What were some different types of exploitation? How did exploitation affect the poor and their ability to get out of poverty?

Essay Topic 3

Choices individuals made to improve their wealth or financial situation, could negatively impact the poor. What was structural immorality, and how did the advantages of the rich often come at the expense of the poor either through bigotry and selfishness or good intentions?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 881 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample