About Stephen Pimpare

Stephen Pimpare is Professor of Public Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School. He is the author of The New Victorians (New Press, 2004), A People's History of Poverty (New Press, 2008), Ghettos, Tramps & Welfare Queens (Oxford, 2017), and Politics for Social Workers (Columbia, 2021).

Stephen Pimpare is Professor of Public Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School.

Stephen's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Stephen:

Paul M. Renfro, "The Life and Death of Ryan White: AIDS and Inequality in America" (UNC Press, 2024)

November 10, 2024

The Life and Death of Ryan White

Paul M. Renfro
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

In the 1980s, as HIV/AIDS ravaged queer communities and communities of color in the United States and beyond, a straight white teenager named Ryan Whi…

Anne M. Whitesell, "Living Off the Government?: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Welfare" (NYU Press, 2024)

November 3, 2024

Living Off the Government?

Anne M. Whitesell
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Who deserves public assistance from the government? This age-old question has been revived by policymakers, pundits, and activists following the massi…

Lennard J. Davis, "Poor Things: How Those with Money Depict Those Without It" (Duke UP, 2024)

October 30, 2024

Poor Things

Lennard J. Davis
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

For generations most of the canonical works that detail the lives of poor people have been created by rich or middle-class writers like Charles Dicken…

Kathleen McGoey and Lindsey Pointer, "Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools for Online Learning: Games and Activities for Restorative Justice Practitioners" (Good Books, 2024)

October 26, 2024

Little Book of Restorative Teaching Tools for Online Learning

Kathleen McGoey and Lindsey Pointer
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Teaching, training, and gathering online has become a global norm since 2020. Restorative practitioners have risen to the challenge to shift restorati…

Keith E. Whittington, "You Can't Teach That!: The Battle over University Classrooms" (Polity Press, 2024)

October 17, 2024

You Can't Teach That!

Keith E. Whittington
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Who controls what is taught in American universities – professors or politicians? The answer is far from clear but suddenly urgent. Unprecedented effo…

Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor, "Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future" (The New Press, 2024)

October 9, 2024

Charging Forward

Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

A clarion call for justice in the quest for clean energy. California’s Salton Sea region is home to some of the worst environmental health condition…

Frank R. Baumgartner, "Suspect Citizens: What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us about Policing and Race" (Cambridge UP, 2018)

October 8, 2024

Suspect Citizens

Frank R. Baumgartner, Derek A. Epp, and Kelsey Shoub
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

We recently marked the 50th Anniversary of Terry vs. Ohio, the US Supreme Court case that dramatically expanded the scope under which agents of the st…

Judge Frederic Block, "A Second Chance: A Federal Judge Decides Who Deserves It" (The New Press, 2024)

September 5, 2024

A Second Chance

Judge Frederic Block
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

The police officer who brutalized Abner Louima. A purveyor of child pornography. These are some of the defendants to have come before U.S. District Co…

Raj Jayadev, "Protect Your People: How Ordinary Families Are Using Participatory Defense to Challenge Mass Incarceration" (New Press, 2023)

August 18, 2024

Protect Your People

Raj Jayadev
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Over two million Americans are currently in prison or jail. Another 4.5 million are on probation or parole. And nearly one in two Americans have a fam…

Spencer Piston, "Class Attitudes in American Politics: Sympathy for the Poor, Resentment of the Rich, and Political Implications" (Cambridge UP, 2018)

August 11, 2024

Class Attitudes in American Politics

Spencer Piston
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

It has long been a truism that Americans’ disdain for poor people--our collective sense that if they only worked harder or behaved more responsibly th…

Seth A. Berkowitz, "Equal Care: Health Equity, Social Democracy, and the Egalitarian State" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)

July 18, 2024

Equal Care

Seth A. Berkowitz
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Health inequity is one of the defining problems of our time. But current efforts to address the problem focus on mitigating the harms of injustice rat…

Premal Dharia et al., "Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change" (FSG Originals, 2024)

July 9, 2024

Dismantling Mass Incarceration

Premal Dharia, James Forman, and Maria Hawilo
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

In recent years, a searching national conversation has called attention to the social and racial injustices that define America’s criminal system. The…

Anne Kim, "Poverty for Profit: How Corporations Get Rich off America’s Poor" (The New Press, 2024)

May 30, 2024

Poverty for Profit

Anne Kim
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Poverty is big business in America. The federal government spends about $900 billion a year on programs that directly or disproportionately impact poo…

Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton, "The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison" (Routledge, 2023)

May 24, 2024

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison

Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

For 40 years, this classic text has taken the issue of economic inequality seriously and asked: Why are our prisons filled with the poor? Why aren't t…

Teresa Ghilarducci, "Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

March 30, 2024

Work, Retire, Repeat

Teresa Ghilarducci
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

The issue of the future of Social Security, on which millions of Americans depend, produced great political theater at the State of the Union address.…

Karl Widerquist, "Universal Basic Income" (MIT Press, 2024)

March 22, 2024

Universal Basic Income

Karl Widerquist
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Karl Widerquist's Universal Basic Income (MIT Press, 2024) is an accessible introduction to the simple (yet radical) premise that a small cash income…

David E. Gilbert, "Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land: A Social Movement Ethnography" (U California Press, 2024)

March 12, 2024

Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land

David E. Gilbert
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Two decades ago, a group of Indonesian agricultural workers began occupying the agribusiness plantation near their homes. In the years since, members …

Terry Williams, "Life Underground: Encounters with People Below the Streets of New York" (Columbia UP, 2024)

March 1, 2024

Life Underground

Terry Williams
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Aboveground, Manhattan’s Riverside Park provides open space for the densely populated Upper West Side. Beneath its surface run railroad tunnels, disus…

Laurence Cox et al., "Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements" (Edward Elgar, 2024)

February 17, 2024

Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements

Laurence Cox, Anna Szolucha, Alberto Arribas Lozano, and Sutapa Chattopadhyay
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Addressing practice-oriented questions, this handbook engages with both theoretical and political dimensions, unpacking the multidimensional nature of…

Nick Romeo, "The Alternative: How to Build a Just Economy" (PublicAffairs, 2024)

February 7, 2024

The Alternative

Nick Romeo
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Winners Take All meets Nickel and Dimed: a provocative debunking of accepted wisdom, providing the pathway to a sustainable, survivable economy. Conf…

Lisa L. Phillips et al., "Grassroots Activisms: Public Rhetorics in Localized Contexts" (Ohio State UP, 2024)

February 4, 2024

Grassroots Activisms: Public Rhetorics in Localized Contexts

Lisa L. Phillips, Sarah Warren-Riley, and Julie Collins Bates
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

What is the nature of grassroots activism? How and why do individuals get involved or attempt to make change for themselves, others, or their own comm…

Chrystin Ondersma, "Dignity Not Debt: An Abolitionist Approach to Economic Justice" (U California Press, 2024)

February 3, 2024

Dignity Not Debt

Chrystin Ondersma
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

American households have a debt problem. The problem is not, as often claimed, that Americans recklessly take on too much debt. The problem is that US…

Ofer Sharone, "The Stigma Trap: College-Educated, Experienced, and Long-Term Unemployed" (Oxford UP, 2024)

January 22, 2024

The Stigma Trap

Ofer Sharone
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

An eye-opening look at how all American workers, even the highly educated and experienced, are vulnerable to the stigma of unemployment. After receiv…

Daniel Campo, "Postindustrial DIY: Recovering American Rust Belt Icons" (Fordham UP, 2023)

December 20, 2023

Postindustrial DIY

Daniel Campo
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

A pioneering Detroit automobile factory. A legendary iron mill at the edge of Pittsburgh. A campus of concrete grain elevators in Buffalo. Two monumen…