Mark Robert Rank

Mark Robert Rank
Mark Robert Rank
Nationality	American
Other names	Mark R. Rank
Occupation(s)	Social scientist, Professor
Years active	1984-present
Known for	poverty expert
Awards	American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare Fellow (November 10, 2012)
Academic background
Education	University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.A 1978, M.A. 1980, Ph.D. 1984)
Thesis	(1984)

Last updated September 22, 2023

"Despite its enormous wealth, the United States leads the industrialized world in poverty."
— OUP. 2005. One Nation, Underprivileged.

One Nation, Underprivileged provided a "new understanding of poverty in America".^[3]One Nation, Underprivileged earned the "Honorable Mention for Outstanding Book Awards 2005 by The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights".^[9] According to the University of Oxford Press, Rank provided "a new paradigm for understanding poverty, and outline[d] an innovative set of strategies [to] reduce American poverty. One Nation, Underprivileged represents a profound starting point for rekindling a national focus upon America's most vexing social and economic problem."^[9]

Chasing the American Dream: Understanding What Shapes Our Fortunes (2014)

The book titled Chasing the American Dream which Rank co-authored with two other social scientists — Thomas A. Hirschl from Cornell University and Kirk A. Foster — won the "2016 Society for Social Work and Research Book Award".^[10] The authors used a "multi-methodological approach to explore the nature of the American Dream and the economic viability of achieving the Dream".^[3] They "analyzed social mobility at the lower end of America's economic spectrum".^[1] They investigated the "percentage of Americans that "achieved affluence", "how much income mobility [Americans] actually have", home ownership, and why "nearly 80 percent of [Americans] "experience significant economic insecurity at some point between ages 25 and 60", and how "access to the American Dream be increased".^[10]

"Combining personal interviews with dozens of Americans and a longitudinal study covering 40 years of income data, the authors tell the story of the American Dream and reveal a number of surprises. The risk of economic vulnerability has increased substantially over the past four decades, and the American Dream is becoming harder to reach and harder to keep."
— OUP on Chasing the American Dream

The American Dream is "fundamental to the essence of America... It has captured the imagination of people from all walks of life and represents the heart and soul of the country".^[11] Three core components of the American Dream are the "freedom" and "opportunity" to "pursue one's interests and passions in life".^[11] A second element of the Dream is "economic security and well-being" — "having the resources and tools to live a comfortable and rewarding life", "working at a decent paying job", "provid[ing] for your children", "owning a home", "having some savings in the bank, and being able to retire in comfort".^[11]

"These are seen as just rewards for working hard and playing by the rules. Individuals frequently bring up the fact that hard work should lead to economic security in one's life and in the life of one's family. This is viewed as an absolutely fundamental part of the bargain of what the American Dream is all about."
— Rank. 2014. What is the American Dream?

The third component of the American Dream, is having "hope", "confidence", optimism" and an "abiding faith in progress" that applies "to one's own life", the "lives of one's children and the next generation, as well as to the future of the country as a whole".^[11]

In a review of Chasing the American Dream by British Association for American Studies (BAAS), Benjamin Sporle described how the authors used "a series of occasionally shocking statistics" to "challenge some of the pre-conceived ideas about the attainability of the American Dream". While many of those interviewed for the book still "believe[d] that hard work should result in economic security", the authors were "careful to explain that whilst this may have been the case in previous generations, it [was] no longer a guaranteed formula for success." Their findings revealed that 80% of Americans would "experience at least one year of significant economic insecurity between the age of 25 and 60".^[12] Sporle cited their findings that the "American Dream [was] in reality harder for everyone than at any time over the past four decades of statistics examined, including the average white male. Median wages for this section of society peaked as far back as 1973." Men had "lost ground in terms of wages over the course of four decades, despite an increase in output per employee".^[12]

Economic risk calculator

Twelve "percent of the population will find themselves in the top 1 percent of the income distribution for at least one year" but a "mere 0.6 percent will do so in 10 consecutive years"... 39 percent of Americans will spend a year in the top 5 percent of the income distribution, 56 percent will find themselves in the top 10 percent, and a whopping 73 percent will spend a year in the top 20 percent of the income distribution".
— Rank. 2014. The New York Times

By 2016, ordinary citizens, academics and policy makers were preoccupied with two economic issues in particular: "widespread economic insecurity and soaring levels of income inequality".^[13] Based on "44 years of longitudinal data regarding individuals from ages 25 to 60" Rank and Hirschl studied how many Americans would experience "different levels of affluence during their lives".^[14] According to Rank, between the early 1970s and 2014, "those in the top 20 percent... experienced real economic gains" and the "gap between the top and bottom of the income distribution" in the United States "expanded significantly". Gains were "heavily concentrated in the top 10, 5 and — most famously — 1 percent".^[14] However, the United States does not have "static, income-based social tiers... [A] large majority of people will experience either wealth or poverty — or both — during their lifetimes.^[14]

In 2009, Rank, Hirschl and Daniel A. Sandoval co-authored an article on poverty and life course research in Demography in which they examined how the dimensions of "poverty incidence, chronicity, and age pattern" changed from 1968 to 2000.^[15] Using "hundreds of thousands of case records taken from a longitudinal study of Americans that began in 1968" — Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) — to study the "life course dynamics of relative poverty over time".^[1] The PSID is "nationally representative of the non-immigrant U.S. population." Their "empirical results" suggested that the "risk of acute poverty increased substantially, particularly in the 1990s" particularly "for individuals in their 20s, 30s, and 40s; for all age groups with respect to extreme poverty; and for white males".^[15] The Census Bureau's data showed "little overall change in the U.S. poverty rate from 1968 - 1998 in contrast to their findings using the "life course approach." Their findings reveal "a rising economic risk of acute poverty for individuals, one that is consistent with recent observations and research suggesting that a growing number of Americans will eventually find themselves in an economically precarious position".^[15] Their claim is corroborated by other analysts who have revealed "indicators and patterns over the [same] three decades. They cite weakened "job security", more Americans who were "without health care", increased "income volatility and downward mobility", a "seriously eroded" "social safety net", stagnation in men's earnings, the widening gap in income and wealth inequality, and a record high level of consumer debt.^[15] They demonstrated "for the first time that the risk of American poverty had become "exceedingly high" and had "increased substantially during the 1990s in comparison with the 1970s and 1980s". "[P]overty has become a routine and unfortunate part of the American life course".^[15]

Common myths about poverty in America

In a November 2, 2013 op-ed for The New York Times , Rank dispels common assumptions about poverty in America. These include, the "notion that poverty affects a relatively small number of Americans, that the poor are impoverished for years at a time, that most of those in poverty live in inner cities, that too much welfare assistance is provided and that poverty is ultimately a result of not working hard enough".^[16] He asserts that poverty in the U.S. is mainstream^[16] and the "likelihood of experiencing relative poverty at least once in their lifetime is surprisingly high".^[1]

Based on "factors like race, education, marital status and age", they "constructed an [riskcalculator.org economic risk calculator]" through which an individual could assess their "chances of experiencing poverty in the next five, 10 or 15 years." In 2015, the poverty line in the United States for a family of four was about $24,000."^[13]

By 2013, "nearly 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 60 will experience at least one year below the official poverty line during that period ($23,492 for a family of four), and 54 percent will spend a year in poverty or near poverty (below 150 percent of the poverty line)."^[16] By 2015, Rank and Hirschl reported that "24.9 percent of the [U.S.] population will encounter five or more years of poverty, and 11.4 percent will experience five or more years of extreme poverty".^[1]^[17]

Related Research Articles

Economic inequality is an umbrella term for a) income inequality or distribution of income, b) wealth inequality or distribution of wealth, and c) consumption inequality. Each of these can be measured between two or more nations, within a single nation, or between and within sub-populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Dream</span> National ethos of the United States

The American Dream is the national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals including representative democracy, rights, liberty, and equality, in which freedom is interpreted as the opportunity for individual prosperity and success, as well as upward social mobility for oneself and their children, achieved through hard work in a capitalist society with few barriers.

In economics, income distribution covers how a country's total GDP is distributed amongst its population. Economic theory and economic policy have long seen income and its distribution as a central concern. Unequal distribution of income causes economic inequality which is a concern in almost all countries around the world.

In economics, a cycle of poverty or poverty trap is caused by self-reinforcing mechanisms that cause poverty, once it exists, to persist unless there is outside intervention. It can persist across generations, and when applied to developing countries, is also known as a development trap.

A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society and ones that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Social issues are the source of conflicting opinions on the grounds of what is perceived as morally correct or incorrect personal life or interpersonal social life decisions. Social issues are distinguished from economic issues; however, some issues have both social and economic aspects. Some issues do not fall into either category, such as warfare.

The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status. They are the health promoting factors found in one's living and working conditions, rather than individual risk factors that influence the risk for a disease, or vulnerability to disease or injury. The distributions of social determinants are often shaped by public policies that reflect prevailing political ideologies of the area.

Economic mobility is the ability of an individual, family or some other group to improve their economic status—usually measured in income. Economic mobility is often measured by movement between income quintiles. Economic mobility may be considered a type of social mobility, which is often measured in change in income.

Poverty in the United Kingdom refers to the portion of the population of the United Kingdom that is considered to be in poverty under some measures of poverty.

Poverty is measured in different ways by different bodies, both governmental and nongovernmental. Measurements can be absolute, which references a single standard, or relative, which is dependent on context. Poverty is widely understood to be multidimensional, comprising social, natural and economic factors situated within wider socio-political processes. The capabilities approach argues that capturing the perceptions of poor people is fundamental to understanding poverty.

Income inequality has fluctuated considerably in the United States since measurements began around 1915, moving in an arc between peaks in the 1920s and 2000s, with a 30-year period of relatively lower inequality between 1950 and 1980.

Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It poses and creates a gender gap between individuals that limits the accessibility that women have within society. The differentiation preference of access to social goods in the society is brought about by power, religion, kinship, prestige, race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, and class. Social inequality usually implies the lack of equality of outcome, but may alternatively be conceptualized in terms of the lack of equality in access to opportunity. This accompanies the way that inequality is presented throughout social economies and the rights that are skilled within this basis. The social rights include labor market, the source of income, health care, and freedom of speech, education, political representation, and participation.

Economics of corruption deals with the misuse of public power for private benefit and its economic impact on society. Economies that are afflicted by a high level of corruption are not capable of prospering as fully as those with a low level of corruption. Also, economies that are corrupted are not able to function properly since the natural laws of the economy can not function freely. As a consequence, corruption, for instance, leads to an inefficient allocation of resources, poor education, and healthcare or the presence of a shadow economy, a kind of economy that includes illegal activities as well as unreported income from the production of legal goods and services for which taxes should be paid, but are not.

Social epidemiology focuses on the patterns in morbidity and mortality rates that emerge as a result of social characteristics. While an individual's lifestyle choices or family history may place him or her at an increased risk for developing certain illnesses, there are social inequalities in health that cannot be explained by individual factors. Variations in health outcomes in the United States are attributed to several social characteristics, such as gender, race, socioeconomic status, the environment, and educational attainment. Inequalities in any or all of these social categories can contribute to health disparities, with some groups placed at an increased risk for acquiring chronic diseases than others.

Theories on the causes of poverty are the foundation upon which poverty reduction strategies are based.

In the United States, poverty has both social and political implications. In 2020, there were 37.2 million people in poverty. Some of the many causes include income inequality, inflation, unemployment, debt traps and poor education. The majority of adults living in poverty are employed and have at least a high school education. Although the US is a relatively wealthy country by international standards, it has a persistently high poverty rate compared to other developed countries due in part to a less generous welfare system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redistribution of income and wealth</span> Political philosophy

Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, confiscation, divorce or tort law. The term typically refers to redistribution on an economy-wide basis rather than between selected individuals.

Socioeconomic mobility in the United States refers to the upward or downward movement of Americans from one social class or economic level to another, through job changes, inheritance, marriage, connections, tax changes, innovation, illegal activities, hard work, lobbying, luck, health changes or other factors.

Poverty in South Korea has been in drastic decline since the mid-20th century, particularly the absolute poverty rate. Relative poverty was also in decline until the late 1990s, rose in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis, and has been in decline since the 2010s. While only about 2% of South Koreans are affected by absolute poverty today, about 14-15% of these 2% are elderly and are affected by relative poverty. Elderly relative poverty has been in consistent decline since 2011, according to the OECD.

Effects of income inequality, researchers have found, include higher rates of health and social problems, and lower rates of social goods, a lower population-wide satisfaction and happiness and even a lower level of economic growth when human capital is neglected for high-end consumption. For the top 21 industrialised countries, counting each person equally, life expectancy is lower in more unequal countries. A similar relationship exists among US states.

South Korea was the 5th most equal country in the world in 2019, however economic inequality is growing. According to data from 2010, low-income earners make up 37.8% of South Korea's labour force. Conversely, the highest income earners make up 1.4% of the labour force.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 "American poverty prospects higher than expected". ScienceDaily. July 23, 2015. For Americans, the likelihood of experiencing relative poverty at least once in their lifetime is surprisingly high, finds a new analysis from a noted poverty expert.
↑ "CV" (PDF). February 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
1 2 3 4 "Mark R. Rank". Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. nd. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
↑ Mark Robert Rank
1 2 "West Virginia Poverty & Inequality Symposium Being Held At Concord University March 9". Concord University . Athens, West Virginia. March 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
↑ Rank, Mark Robert (1994). Living on the Edge: The Realities of Welfare in America . Columbia University Press. pp. 266. doi:10.7312/rank08424. ISBN 9780231533294. JSTOR 10.7312/rank08424.
↑ DeParle, Jason (January 5, 1994). "Clinton Puzzle: How to Delay Welfare Reform Yet Seem to Pursue It". New York Times. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
1 2 3 4 Newman, Katherine S. (March 1996). "Life on the Edge". Social Service Review. Book Reviews. The University of Chicago Press. 70 (1): 159–161. doi:10.1086/604170.
1 2 Rank, Mark Robert (July 28, 2005). One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All. Oxford University Press. p. 368. ISBN 9780195189728 . Retrieved May 27, 2017.
1 2 Rank, Mark Robert; Hirschl, Thomas A.; Foster, Kirk A. (April 1, 2014). Chasing the American Dream: Understanding What Shapes Our Fortunes. Oxford University Press (OUP). p. 232. ISBN 9780195377910 . Retrieved May 27, 2017.
1 2 3 4 Rank, Mark Robert (July 1, 2014). "What is the American Dream?". Oxford University Press (OUP) Blog. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
1 2 Sporle, Benjamin Harvey (November 14, 2014). "Chasing the American Dream – Understanding What Shapes Our Fortunes by Mark Robert Rank, et al". U.S. Studies Online: Forum for New Writing. Book Review. British Association for American Studies (BAAS). Retrieved May 27, 2017.
1 2 Rank, Mark Robert; Hirschl, Thomas (March 20, 2016). "Calculate Your Economic Risk". The New York Times . Sunday Review. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
1 2 3 Rank, Mark Robert (April 20, 2014). "From Rags to Riches to Rags". The New York Times . The Great Divide. St. Louis. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
1 2 3 4 5 Sandoval, Daniel A.; Rank, Mark Robert; Hirschl, Thomas (November 2009). "The Increasing Risk of Poverty Across the American Life Course". Demography. 46 (4): 717–737. doi:10.1353/dem.0.0082. PMC 2831356 . PMID 20084826.
1 2 3 Rank, Mark Robert (November 2, 2013). "Poverty in America Is Mainstream". The New York Times . The Great Divide. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
↑ Rank, Mark Robert; Hirschl, Thomas (July 22, 2015). "The Likelihood of Experiencing Relative Poverty over the Life Course". PLoS ONE . 10 (7): e0133513. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1033513R. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133513 . PMC 4511740 . PMID 26200781.

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