The problem with this book is that it completely ignores intersectionality and systemic contributions to poverty. Things are stated without being analyzed or expanded upon and are thus dismissed. For example, the author mentions that single-parent households, especially single-mother households, are disproportionately represented, as are racial minorities. She doesn't mention how part of this may be due to continued racism and sexism in the workplace, leaving the reader free to assume whatever they want. The speech excerpts of those in poverty are distinctly, clearly based on the speech patterns of African Americans who live in poverty and yet this is never once mentioned or alluded to. In saying that those in poverty accept their position and expect the government to support them, she perpetuates harmful stereotypes that also happen to be completely untrue. Research has proved, repeatedly, that the vast majority of people in ANY class want to be self-sufficient. However, I can understand why the author doesn't know this, as she has done absolutely no research.
Everything she writes is based solely on her individual experiences, which she presents as all-encompassing. The writing looks down on all but the middle class - the poor joke about people and sex, the wealthy joke about social faux pas. The idea that a class jokes exclusively or predominantly about one thing is ridiculous. Are you telling me that seniors in poverty make sex jokes? That 10-year-olds who come from wealth giggle to each other about wearing business casual to a gala? In our increasingly globalized world, how is it possible that the wealthy alone are aware of international issues?
The crux of my criticism is the way the author confuses mindset with class. An achievement-based value system isn't defined by income, nor is classism itself. The idea that only the wealthy value status or that only the middle class thinks about the future are generalizations so broad they are untenable. Generalizations are acceptable when speaking of groups as a whole, but this book is meant to be applied to individuals. At that level of specification, awareness of nuance will be the difference between condescension and compassion. As a book meant for educators and health care workers, this does much more harm than good.

fantastic book

This book would have better reviews if the Appendix was the first chapter. If you're given to screaming "RACISM" at the mildest provocation, you might want to start at the end and work your way back. It helps that the appendix is nestled between about 20 pages of research notes and 9 pages of bibliography, so you won't be tempted to yell "THIS IS ANECDOTAL SHIT" either.

All those reviews are from people who stopped reading before Chapter 3.

It isn't hard to accept that different classes have different rules for engagement. We know the wealthy are not like us. It is not hard to read the list of rules provided and nod at how superficial and cruel the wealthy can be. And we can read the list of middle-class rules and nod because those are all good and right and proper and how we live.

The reason people struggle to leave their class is partly due to this moralizing we do about "our" rules. We don't see them as game rules that we live by. We seem them as moral imperatives and the correct way to live.

So when someone lists the rules for poverty and they include behaviors that are antithetical to middle-class values, we have three options:

1 - believe that poor people are morally bankrupt and inferior humans.

2 - deny the rules of poverty and shout "racism!" and "lack of research!" (both absurd as these rules are studied across cultures and one of the more cited researchers worked with European immigrants to Israel; ergo, Caucasian poor).

3 - rise above the narrow moral box you've been raised in, see that there is more on heaven and earth than is thought of in the philosophy you were raised in, and accept that these rules exist because they are beneficial and correct *in their own context*. This is what Dr. Payne does with this book.

This book passes zero judgement on the people upon whom it focuses. Dr. Payne repeatedly states not to judge or attempt to change how students behave; rather, the goal is to expand their toolbox to include middle-class rules, as those are the ones necessary to rise out of poverty.

It's funny, because a while ago there was a big internet "gotcha" that the marshmallow trick doesn't predict success so much as the background of the child. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds were less able to delay gratification. This was considered some kind of anti-racist discovery, although I'm not sure how. (It also supposedly negates the original study, which it does not.) It does, however, perfectly jive with what Dr Payne writes in this book. She lists a number of skills that are necessary to succeed in the (primarily middle class) workplace, including delayed gratification. She explains that these skills, for whatever reason (she does not propose a reason why) are less common in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. And she provides an outline for how to teach these skills, so they can succeed.

This book provides a new lens through which to see the world. It is a useful lens that makes sense of things that are otherwise difficult to parse. And it provides tangible ways for middle-class people to rise above their values and help those who need it.

This book is trash. It doesn't rely on research informed practices, it's all about her personal opinion about children in poverty being sold as fact. I read it as a social worker simply to understand the false facts being solid to teachers.

This is a VERY basic, but helpful primer for understanding poverty, esp., in terms of thinking about class in terms of registers. It's not the most exhaustive book you've read, but it's quick and gets straight to the point of what issues our students in poverty may be facing, and the perspective from which they may be engaging school, etc. It is exactly what it claims to be: a "framework," which is to say it is a way of understanding class differences (that of registers), but this is as helpful as it gets. I was largely uninterested in the "solutions" Payne proposed, as I am looking for various frameworks for understanding poverty, and I agree with other reviews that this book in no way addresses the root causes of poverty or is particularly thoughtful about how to address the class differences it identifies. I also agree that the book itself slipped into an uncomfortable register at times and seemed to blur race and class at various points, itself a racist act. But simply as a way to frame poverty, I found that specific aspect helpful.

Taught me a different way of seeing our world.

This has some really good points and research, but is also missing more of the macro approach to poverty.

Tom and I had a pretty intense conversation about this book. Tom thinks this book is highly racist. I think this book has a mix of good and bad qualities and shouldn't be the ONLY book you read about poverty. It's a decent start though.

I've seen this book referenced at a lot of workshops and poverty trainings. I think it gives a basic understanding in academic terms for people who may receive "culture shock" (as my mom likes to say) when not use to dealing with people from different socio-economic backgrounds. I like  Freakonomics way better in understanding a broad level of poverty, but again, I could see how in the late nineties this book was probably revolutionary. I also love how just 20 years later, you can already see how ineffective most of the strategies may be or are. Anyway, it gave some background knowledge and understanding on "labels/terms" that I have seen all my life. I have notes to have a thought provoking discussion about it.

Extremely insightful. Put perspective on my life as well as thinking about how I address my students. It also gave further understanding to why I do some things in teaching that I picked up along the way but didn’t know why they worked. Really recommend if you are an educator but even in general to understand how to treat/relate to those around you that did not have the same background as you.

Awakening insights!!!

There's a reason that this book is on the 6th edition. It has enduring value and insights into the class differences between poverty, middle class, and wealth. It provides the "rosetta stone," if you will, to allow translation between those 3 distinct languages along with their hidden rules.

I never thought that I would say that I enjoyed reading a textbook. However, here we are. I voluntarily picked up this title at the suggestion of a friend, and I'm glad I did. Although I am not an educator, Payne's Framework allowed me to understand behaviors that I have experienced from others, both as a child in my rural school, and as an adult, in my part-time retail job.

The similarities between those two poverty cultures were put in an understandable context by Payne's Framework. The book was written in a practical style, with language that was understandable and implementations that would be immediately useful for a practitioner, especially one from another socioeconomic class.

A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby Payne is a great PD read- I would recommend it for any teachers working with lower socioeconomic students. Though I would not consider it "groundbreaking new information," it provides great insight for "the what and why" of how students act, talk, and behave. It has shaped how I work with my students and design my classroom environment.