This volume is an attempt to broaden the perspective of poverty in America by making the reader more aware of the larger and more universal aspects of this problem. The first chapter, an "Introduction," argues that a very narrow view of poverty is prevalent in the U.S. In the second chapter, "Material Deprivation: An Historical View," certain aspects of traditional peasant and primitive societies are described in order to put the entire question of objective material deprivation and socially-defined poverty in perspective. In chapter 3, "The Transition to Urban-Industrial Society: The Western Case," the transition to urban-industrial society in Western Europe, and in particular, the transformation of English society, is discussed. Chapter 4, "Material Deprivation: A Cross-Cultural View in Contemporary Developing Societies," focuses on the implications of the technological-economic revolution in the nonindustrial capitalist world. Chapter 5, "Coping Responses of the Urban Poor," attempts to show that certain behavioral responses to poverty become widespread because they are adaptive to capitalist urban-industrial poverty conditions. Chapter 6 discusses "Poverty and the American Scene." Chapter 7 includes the "Summary and Conclusions." (Author/JM)