Researching urban poverty

some lessons from Evicted and Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond

Abstract

This essay builds on the reading of Evicted and Poverty, by America, two books by North American sociologist Matthew Desmond, to extract a set of theoretical, methodological and analytical lessons that can inform the design and development of sociological research on urban poverty. Even if these books refer to the very specific case of the United States of America, the fact is that they provide students of social and urban inequality with relevant supporting elements for a renewal of perspectives on what remains to be known - and what can be done - to confront that phenomenon.