This course addresses one of the most pressing challenges of our time: poverty and inequality. The course is an interdisciplinary critical analysis of the causes and consequences of, as well as solutions for, poverty from politically and philosophically diverse perspectives. We will focus on the definition and measurement of policy; the context of poverty in the US and comparative poverty abroad; the intergenerational reproduction of poverty and inequality; the intersections among poverty and gender, race, class, family structure, and immigration; and the role of public policy, private philanthropy, and citizens in alleviating poverty.