Poverty is a fundamental and damaging feature of American culture that is ingrained in the structures, practices, and values of our institutions. An adequate understanding of the roles and functions of poverty requires the contributions of both the liberal arts and the social sciences and cannot be shunted off to social work. Upon Whom We Depend challenges readers to examine their own ideas, beliefs, and attitudes, and to recognize how institutions can become instruments for overcoming the social arrangement by which poverty is perpetuated.