To the untrained eye, the lives of the rich and people of the poor seem gentle years aside; virtually antithetical. Social establishments, just like the media, do little to recommend in any other case. Arguably, these vantage factors are dependent upon the observer, however typically the lives of the rich are portrayed as extravagant and sans fear or fret, whereas these of the poor are portrayed as downtrodden, and wrought with stress.
The rich are sometimes characterised as noble individuals who have earned the fruits of their labor deserving the riches of their harvest, leaving many to spend their lives on a quest for this perceived elite standing. Enter “Affluenza” stage left. Conversely, the poor are sometimes labeled as lazy, untrustworthy, and solely answerable for their subpar social positions. They’re blamed for abominable choices and the majority of the world’s crime regardless of having “equal” entry. As a result of, for goodness sake, legalized slavery is over, desegregation is legislation and we used to have a Black president!
Inside poverty and wealth narratives, the commonalities of the prince and pauper have been consigned to the panorama. Seldom are we introduced with core commonalities of poverty and wealth. This text addresses that omission. I argue that wealth and poverty are essentially the identical; neither higher nor worse than the opposite. Essentially.
One extension, nevertheless, is that wealth has privilege, thus the ability to form collective consciousness into believing that individuals who make a life out of poverty are inherently unhealthy. Because of incessant sound/visible bites, poverty and wealth have taken on racialized photographs. Whenever you hear “Wall Road banker,” what involves thoughts? A white man in a swimsuit? Whenever you hear “welfare queen,” what photographs come to thoughts? A Black mom? Thanks, Ronald Reagan.
Let’s take a look at 5 similarities throughout poverty & wealth which will shock you a bit.
1) Poverty & Wealth are Each Systemic: Be clear. Regardless of imagery depicting poverty as inherently destructive and wealth as inherently optimistic, poor folks ain’t the one ones ‘sucking from the system.’ System utility is just not monopolized by poor Again individuals. The rich additionally grasp their given techniques and strategize methods to solidify their stake.
Poverty and wealth are each social buildings with a objective and a perform. Whether or not that objective is to take care of the present construction in ways in which most profit you or whether or not that perform is to make sure that the following era acquires capital. We are able to view poverty and wealth as means to entry fundamental human rights or dignity. Whether or not we’re discussing how rich individuals entry meals and shelter techniques or how poor individuals entry schooling and vitality techniques.
2) Poverty & Wealth are Each Generational: Be clearer. Poor individuals additionally ain’t the one ones who’re snug, stay of their station, and train their youngsters easy methods to suck from the system. Rich individuals, too, hand down methods on easy methods to keep their wealth and profit most from ‘the system. So please let’s kill this polarized poverty view of race & class-based system manipulation.
Daily, some rich child absorbs info round them on easy methods to keep their household’s wealth whether or not explicitly said or passively acquired. From easy methods to body a dialog with a mortgage officer to spice up perceived worth or overhearing their father’s dialog along with his brother on value factors. Every day, some poor child is absorbing info on easy methods to report earnings that can enable their household to proceed to qualify for Part 8 housing or easy methods to negotiate with a utility supplier on paying the least quantity to maintain the lights on.
Each poverty and wealth are handed down. That is in regards to the expertise acquired in each areas that assure the survival and continuation of stated techniques. Essentially, a dope boy passing down his enterprise acumen to his son isn’t any completely different than a Wall Road banker passing down his enterprise acumen to his son. Essentially.
3) Poverty & Wealth Are Each Recipients of Welfare: Please don’t let these sound/visible bites idiot you. Rich folks obtain substantial authorities subsidies. Arguably, greater than poor folks. Welfare checks and unemployment compensation pale compared to governmental bailouts. However they file unemployment claims, too.
Again in 2012, per Oklahoma U.S. Senator Tom A. Coburn, MD, over $9.5 billion in governmental funds have been paid to millionaires since 2003, together with $74 million in unemployment checks and $9 billion in retirement checks. Yep, the identical unemployment and retirement checks which have been stereotypically related to poor Black folks. However solely the poor are sucking the system dry? Miss me with the mythology.
The silence round welfare for the rich feeds the racialized view that poverty equals Black. FACT: White Individuals make up 42% of the poor however eat 69% of presidency advantages. FACT: Black Individuals comprise 22% of the poor however eat 14% of presidency advantages. Even the time period ‘welfare’ is classist and racially charged and has turn into the catchphrase for Black individuals (moms) who obtain governmental money help and/or meals stamps.
4) Neither Poverty Nor Wealth Are Sometimes a Results of Meritocracy: Opposite to in style opinion, few purchase wealth merely by means of exhausting work. Most have been born into it. The facility inherent in wealth permits it to put in writing its personal story and promote a meritocracy narrative. Equally, most poor individuals have been born right into a social class with little to no acquired social/cultural capital, thus solidifying their social place. Conversely, the absence of inherent energy in poverty permits others to put in writing the favored shiftless derelict poverty narrative.
North America operates on a caste system regardless of not being formally labeled as such. And as most of us know, you will have a larger probability of becoming into your elementary college denims than shifting up in caste. Given the capitalist course of, one is sort of assured to die in the identical (or decrease) caste than born.
Sure, I do know you realize somebody who was born in abject poverty and labored actually exhausting, pulled themselves up by the bootstraps, and died wealthy, possibly even rich. And since that particular person did, all of us have equal entry and if all of us work actually exhausting, we are able to all die as rich as Invoice Gates. However keep in mind, exceptionalism doesn’t negate structural inequalities and anecdotal proof pales compared to systematic inequities.
5) Each the Poor and the Rich Spend Cash on Ish They Don’t Want: Nuff stated.
