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Stammering and Identity; Land of Too Much

Poverty versus abundance in the US - Laurie Taylor asks why America has more poor people than any other developed country. Also, the stigma of stammering.

Poverty versus abundance in the US - why does America have more poor people than any other developed country? How can its great wealth fail to impact on the 46 million Americans, who, according to official figures, live below the poverty line? US sociologist, , Monica Prasad, suggests some reasons. She talks to Laurie Taylor about her new book, 'The Land of too Much: American Abundance and the Paradox of Poverty", arguing that we can't answer these questions by saying that America has always been a liberal, laissez-faire state - it hasn't. Instead, she claims that a particular tradition of government intervention in America has undermined the development of a European-style welfare state. They're joined by Professor of Social Policy, Peter Taylor-Gooby, who provides a British perspective.

Also, stammering and identity - Dr Clare Butler discusses her interview based research into how people who stammer learn to control, conceal and rise above the stigma of having a style of speech which departs from the norm.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

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28 minutes

Monica Prasad

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, Illinois

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Land of Too Much: American Abundance and the Paradox of Poverty Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN-10: 0674066529 ISBN-13: 978-0674066526

Peter Taylor-Gooby

Professor of Social Policy, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, Kent University

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New Paradigms in Social Policy

Publisher: OUP/British Academy

ISBN-10: 019726493X

ISBN-13: 978-0197264935

The Double Crisis of the Welfare State and What We Can Do About It

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

ISBN-10: 113732810X

ISBN-13: 978-1137328106

Clare Butler

Lecturer in Work and Employment

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Journal: Sociology of Health & Illness

Volume: 35, Issue: 8

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.12025

Broadcasts

  • Wed 15 May 2013 16:00
  • Mon 20 May 2013 00:15

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