Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City: Difference between revisions

'''''Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City''''' is a 2016 non-fictionnonfiction book by American author[[Sociology|sociologist]] [[Matthew Desmond]]. Set in the poorest areas of [[Milwaukee|Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], during the [[Wisconsin2007–2008 financial crisis]] and its immediate aftermath, the book follows eight families [[Eviction in the United States|struggling to pay rent]] to their [[landlord]]s, duringmany theof whom face [[financialEviction crisisin ofthe 2007–2008United States|eviction]]. Through a year of ethnographic fieldwork, Desmond's goal in the book is to highlight the issues of [[extreme poverty]], [[affordable housing]], and economic exploitation in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/247816/evicted-by-matthew-desmond/|title=Evicted |author=Desmond, Matthew |publisher=PenguinRandomHouse |date=2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://crownpublishing.com/archives/feature/23582|title=Feature: ''Poverty and Profit In the American City'' by Matthew Desmond|publisher= The Crown Publishing Group|access-date=May 27, 2017}}</ref>

''Evicted'' was well-received and won multiple book awards such as the [[2017 Pulitzer Prize]] for [[Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction|General Nonfiction]] and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. The Pulitzer committee selected the book "for a deeply researched exposé that showed how mass evictions after the 2008 economic crash were less a consequence than a cause of poverty.".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=The Pulitzer Committee|title=''Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City'', by Matthew Desmond |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/matthew-desmond |access-date=May 27, 2017 |website=pulitzer[[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer.org]]}}</ref>

In an interview with ''[[The Atlantic]]'', author Matthew Desmond expresses his goal of writing about poverty through the lens of eviction, focusing on relationships and interactions among landlords, tenants, and judges.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=White |first=Gillian B. |date=March 1, 2016-03-01 |title=America's Insidious Eviction Problem |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/03/eviction-matthew-desmond-housing/471375/ |access-date=December 6, 2021-12-06 |website=[[The Atlantic]] |language=en}}</ref> According to Desmond, “evictionevictions [acts] "as a cause, not just a condition, of poverty".”<ref name=":0" /> He picked the setting of Milwaukee, believing that it captures a broad national experience from an under-represented urban city.<ref name=":0" />

Arleen Belle, a member of one of the eight families Desmond documents, is a blackBlack single mother struggling to secure housing with her low income.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Pollitt |first=Katha |date=April 7, 2016-04-07 |title=Evicted by Matthew Desmond review – what if the problem of poverty is that it’sit's profitable to other people? |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/07/evicted-poverty-and-profit-in-the-american-city-matthew-desmond-review|url-status=live |access-date=December 6, 2021-12-06 |website=the[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref> Lamar, a blackBlack man who had lost both of his legs, has to look after a group of boys while burdened with debt.<ref name=":2" /> DesmondScott, alsoa narrateswhite themale experiencesnurse, ofstruggles Scott,to pay rent in a whitetrailer malepark nursewhile struggling with [[heroin]] addiction.<ref name=":2" /> The book is centered around the families’ interactions with their two landlords: Sherrena and QuentinTobin.<ref name=":1" /> Through following the lives of these families and individuals, Desmond illustrates the psychological, legal, and discriminatory aspects of eviction and how it is intertwined with poverty.<ref name=":1" />

According to Jennifer Senior from the ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''Evicted'' “is"is a regal hybrid of ethnography and policy reporting".”<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|last=Senior|first=Jennifer|date=2016-02-February 21, 2016|title=Review: In ‘Evicted'Evicted,’' Home Is an Elusive Goal for America’sAmerica's Poor|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/books/evicted-book-review-matthew-desmond.html|access-date=December 6, 2021-12-06|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> To complete this book, Desmond conducted fieldwork in Milwaukee from 2008 to 2009; he first lived in a [[trailer park]] known as Central Mobile Home Park to observe the residents, followed by a rooming house on the north side of the city run by Sherrena and her husband Quentin.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Martin|first=Isaac William|date=2017|editor-last=Chaskin|editor-first=Robert J.|editor2-last=Joseph|editor2-first=Mark L.|editor3-last=Desmond|editor3-first=Matthew|editor4-last=McCabe|editor4-first=Brian J.|title=New Sociology of Housing|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26425007|journal=Contemporary Sociology|volume=46|issue=4|pages=392–396|doi=10.1177/0094306117714499a |jstor=26425007 |s2cid=148988707 |issn=0094-3061}}</ref> After interviewing Milwaukee renters and defendants in eviction courts and analyzing court records, Desmond began drafting ''Evicted''.<ref name=":4" />

Historian Thomas Jackson credits Desmond for “[combining] simple, powerful narrative with vivid characterization and quantitative rigor,” which is reflected in the footnotes containing substantial quantitative and qualitative survey data.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Jackson|first=Thomas|date=December 1, 2017-12-01|title=Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jax411|journal=Journal of American History|volume=104|issue=3|pages=820–822|doi=10.1093/jahist/jax411|issn=0021-8723}}</ref> Furthermore, Desmond illustrates how groups such as black women and children are disproportionately subjected to evictions and housing discrimination.<ref name=":5" />

Sociologist David J. Harding applauds Desmond’s clear illustration of the causal relationship between eviction and the vicious cycle of poverty.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Harding|first=David J.|date=July 1, 2017-07-01|title=Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/692433|journal=American Journal of Sociology|volume=123|issue=1|pages=301–303|doi=10.1086/692433|issn=0002-9602}}</ref> However, he outlines two points of controversy from an academic perspective: 1) the potential attribution or misinterpretation of poverty to the problematic personal lives of the families and 2) Desmond’s direct involvement with the subjects.<ref name=":6" /> Regarding the first point, Harding defends the book by arguing that conditions such as domestic violence and drug abuse are likely symptoms rather than causes of poverty.<ref name=":6" /> Second, Harding emphasizes that it is unlikely for Desmond to drastically change the lives of his subjects only with a few incidences of intervention.<ref name=":6" />

[[Bill Gates]] describes ''Evicted'' as "a brilliant portrait of Americans living in poverty" through its focus on people and the transformation of quantitative data into stories.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gates |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Gates |date=December 4, 2017 |title=A searing portrait of American poverty |url=https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Evicted |access-date=December 6, 2021-12-06 |website=gatesnotes.comGates Notes}}</ref>

Katha Pollitt from ''[[The Guardian]]'' writes that, “I can’t remember when an ethnographic study so deepened my understanding of American life.”<ref name=":2" /> She applauds Desmond’s narrative approach in research and his demonstration of the intersection of housing, eviction, and poverty.<ref name=":2" />

Christian Schneider, writer for the ''[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]'', questions eviction as a root cause of poverty and argues that “​​eviction“eviction simply exacerbates the existing dysfunctions many of these people already carry with them,” including drug abuse, physical disability, domestic violence, and unemployment. Schneider describes housing insecurity as a “link” rather than a fundamental cause.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Schneider|first=Christian|title=Schneider: Desmond's 'Evicted' is a flawed masterpiece|url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/columnists/christian-schneider/2017/04/11/schneider-desmonds-evicted-flawed-masterpiece/100331610/|access-date=December 6, 2021-12-06|website=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|language=en-US}}</ref>

* 2018 [[Order of the Coif]] Book Award<ref>{{Cite web|title=Order of the Coif Book Awards|url=https://orderofthecoif.org/book-award/|url-status=live|archive-date=August 23, 2016|access-date=September 27, 2018|website=orderofthecoif.org|publisher=The Order of the Coif}}</ref>