According to our author, poverty is neither cause nor effect. But maybe a proxy for an underlying social disease-specifically, inequality and economic segregation (Conley, 2015, pp. 374-376). In fact, there is an argument that poor people have adopted certain practices that differ from those of middle-class society in order to adapt to economic circumstances; also know as, culture of poverty. Throughout the reading, the author uses a real life example of how poverty can affect children, and ultimately their way of life up through adulthood. Marlin, a man who grew up in poverty, gives us a real example of the effects of growing up in a household that’s barely making it. From the time in the womb, Marlin’s life reflected American social policy: