Scholars and politicians have argued about the extent of inequality and the intractability of poverty in the United States. This course will address the phenomena of inequality and poverty. The issues we will explore include: What is poverty and who are the poor? What economic, historical, and sociological theories have been advanced to explain poverty? What policies has the United States government adopted to ameliorate poverty and what policies should the government adopt? We will discuss the validity of these theories and policies from an empirical as well as a normative perspective. Requirements: class participation, two short papers, and a final paper. No prerequisites. Open to first-year students with Advanced Placement credit in American Politics. Priority to Political Science and Political Economy majors. Enrollment limit: 39. American Politics Subfield