The discussion of the poor and the rich are just not becoming a conversation that is being discussed publically. There is a huge difference between the two and many people do not know how it is done. Within “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor” by Bell Hooks, She makes these keep information known to the public. The information that most people know, but just do not want admit. She tells the entire aspect of the poor situation, through the struggles, the emotions, and the hidden mentalities. She express her point of view, that poor is look down upon even though it the majority of the nation and they should think of themselves that way nor should anyone else think of them that way, through the use of several literary and rhetorical …show more content…
She talks about the ethos used in these television shows to make the working class feel lower than they actually are. Then she uses pathos to strength her argument about the television. This is understood by, “Yet it is clear that humor masks the longing to change their lot, desire to ‘move on up’ expressed in the theme song of the sitcom The Jefferson” (Hooks 434). She used this to express peoples feeling about their economic status. They are never really satisfied with the amount of money they have. They are always looking to get more or find a way to get another object. Therefore, when people watch these television shows, they think they have a clear picture of what the poor or working class looks like, but in reality they do not. They show the working class a people that has situations thrown at them all the time or have a situation in their family that just keeps them down. This situations are not always true. Sometimes there is just not a job out there for a person in the economy. She expresses the view of poverty when she writes, “Poverty in their minds and in our society as a whole, is seen as s synonymous with depravity, lack, and worthlessness” (Hooks 434). This statements creates a question in the person mind. Is the definition of poverty that I always though was correct been wrong this entire time? Hooks knows that when a person ask this question, it is a loaded question. She …show more content…
In this conversation Hooks point out the importance of image in this society. She wrote, “In their apartments they have the material possessions that indicate success (a VCR, a color television), even if it means that they do without necessities and lunge into debt” (Hooks 435). This proves that some of the poverty in the country is not solely on the persons fault, it is also the society that was created around us. People are buying objects that they do not need, just to make them seem more economically stable than they actually are. They do not want to look like they are poor because they are afraid that people will look at them differently, just like the workers at Hooks’ university. This was a good way to answer the question that most people had in their minds at this point. Then Hooks transitions into logic, explaining how the media creates these ideas in people’s
In The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler tells the story of a handful of people he has interviewed and followed through their struggles with poverty over the course of six years. David Shipler is an accomplished writer and consultant on social issues. His knowledge, experience, and extensive field work is authoritative and trustworthy. Shipler describes a vicious cycle of low paying jobs, health issues, abuse, addiction, and other factors that all combine to create a mountain of adversity that is virtually impossible to overcome. The American dream and promise of prosperity through hard work fails to deliver to the 35 million people in America who make up the working poor. Since there is neither one problem nor one solution to poverty, Shipler connects all of the issues together to show how they escalate each other. Poor children are abused, drugs and gangs run rampant in the poor neighborhoods, low wage dead end jobs, immigrants are exploited, high interest loans and credit cards entice people in times of crisis and unhealthy diets and lack of health care cause a multitude of problems. The only way that we can begin to see positive change is through a community approach joining the poverty stricken individuals, community, businesses, and government to band together to make a commitment to improve all areas that need help.
The only type of media left out of Loewen’s article is social media and the younger generations are major consumers in the twenty first century. Watkins article uses the specific social media platforms Facebook and Myspace. Facebook typically had white users that were considered middle class. However, Myspace users were usually Black or Latino and came from the working class. People use social media to interact and trends of social stratification are apparent. TV is not interactive so the division of classes should not be as obvious, but “Poor people are more likely to watch TV.” (Loewen, 204). Hooks feels that “Television shows and films bring the message home that no one can truly feel good about themselves if they are poor.” (Hooks, 434). He uses Pretty Woman as evidence for this and says that the show portrays the ruling class or rich as “generous, eager to share, and as unattached to their wealth in their interactions with folks who are not materially privileged.” This sends a stronger message than interacting with others of a social media because it is not reality. TV can really send the wrong message to the poor or the rich. The privileged may get the idea that they have to take care of the poor, when the poor are hardworking people with values and morals just like the rich. From this the poor may see themselves as not as competent in society. Hooks mentions that self-esteem issues
The book two dollars a day by Kathryn Edin is a book that highlights a spiraling poverty in America. One thing I feel contributed to the poverty talked about in the book is some types of American political culture. People in America who are in need of welfare often won’t take it until they have become so impoverished there is no other option due to the stigmas that come with welfare. American political culture also creates a persona for poor people it often paints them as lazy minorities that don’t want to work though they would be capable if they tried too. The pull yourself up by the boot straps mantra only creates more detestation for the poor and impoverished that already don’t seem to fit into the American dream.
“The "discovery" of poverty at the beginning of the 1960s was something like the "discovery" of America almost five hundred years earlier. In the case of each of these exotic terrains, plenty of people were on the site before the discoverers ever arrived.”—Barbra Enrenreich. Barbra’s humor kept all readers on there toes while reading the novel, Nickel and Dimed. Although, at times, her comments were offensive or over-the-top it never took away from her arguments. She was clear in her goal and motive and was able to prove her point in writing the novel. Thanks to Barbara’s novel, she was able to raise awareness of how the poor were looked upon and treated. Through a waitress in Ohio, a maid in Maine, and a Wal-Mart employ in Minnesota Barbara gave great entertainment and great truth.
In addition, the poor are overburdened they always have been, especially in 2014. This is owing to the fact that the middle class is close to disappearing, which is forming a large gap between the poor and the rich. Furthermore, banking can be more expensive for nearly all poor people, whom are usually put in extreme circumstances where they are required to pay more taxes. And the poor are usually shut out from society and are left on the street as if they were a piece of garbage, which is why it is particularly difficult to attain a job as a poor person. Not many people in the world care for the poor. It is surprising to think that the poor had not been oppressed in 1791. Someone would think the poor have always had a heavy burden. The majority of America’s population is poor and they are ignored and portrayed as aliens whom we should have no contact with.
After substantial decreases in the 1990s, poverty rates stopped their decline in 2000 and have actually started to again creep upward. The great conundrum of how one simultaneously alleviates the multiple causes of poverty has become a central obstacle to poverty reduction. Into this debate comes author David Shipler, a former New York Times Pulitzer Prize winner, with an aptly titled look at the state of poverty in America today, The Working Poor. Shipler's book is more anecdotal and descriptive than analytical and prescriptive. Yet it is a valuable portrait of poverty in America, just as Michael Harrington's landmark book, The Other America, was in 1962. While he does not offer many concrete solutions, Shipler provides readers with an intimate glimpse of the plight of the working poor, whose lives are in sharp contrast to the images of excess w...
Poverty is a worldwide social problem that effects billions of people and in the video clip People Like us: Social Class in America: Tammy’s Story we are able to get a deeper look into just one of the many heart wrenching cases. Tammy’s story is a documentation of the life of the Crabtree family in Waverly, Ohio, a family that lives in rural poverty. The Crabtree family consist of the mother Tammy and her four children in which only two are featured, Beau and Matt. Tammy is the only money-earning member of the family with a minimum wage job at Burger King. This amount of income leaves them below the poverty line in the United States, which classified them as an impoverished family. In the video clip the Crabtree family discusses various negative effects of being below the poverty line including not having enough money
Many of these groups utilize surveys and other census data to compile a greater amount of statistics. These studies find that a large amount of Americans that are in poverty today actually have far greater privilege in household appliances and conveniences than did those in poverty in previous years. According to surveys from 2012, 80% of households in poverty have air conditioning as compared to only 36% of all homes in 1970. About 75% have one vehicle and around 31% have two or more vehicles. Over two-thirds also have cable/satellite TV and DVD/VCR machines(Sheffield). Some commentators chalk this up to the devaluation of goods and the commonality of many of these household appliances but others see this as an increase in quality of living. Most people thinking of poverty also think of hunger and malnourishment. In the memoir, we see that the kids often go hungry do to lack or mismanagement of money by their parents. A quote from the book, “When other girls came in and threw away their lunch bags in the garbage pails, I’d go retrieve them” displays the struggle the writer had in finding enough
The idea of this essay is to explain how poverty is being represented the wrong way by nonprofit organizations here at home. The author uses the title to explain to the readers that poverty is not being represented the correct way. The way organizations represent poverty is by using images from a third world country instead of using pictures of people that live here at home that are living at poverty. The author explains how there are children here in America that need help just to get their basic needs, she explains “There are so many children like her – children that are deprived of their basic necessities right here in America” (George 668). The author is referring to “Mandy”. The picture of the girl on the Children Inc. flyer. She looks normal but she is need of help. The title gives an understanding to the reader about what is about to be
In "Class in America", Gregory Mantsios says that "when politicians and social commentators draw attention to the plight of the poor, they do so in a manner that obscures the class structure and denies any sense of exploitation." Based off our readings, class discussion and films, income inequality is known to be erased or ignore. Our society frowns upon the expression of income in our daily conversations, as it could be seen braggy or a complaint depending on your status of income. Because it's frowned upon to talk about, the topic of income inequality becomes erased or ignored. In addition, income inequality in America's class structure can affect people's ability to reach their American Dream.
In bell hooks’ “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, she discusses the portrayal and misrepresentation of poverty in our society and the methods behind the dilemma. In this excerpt, retrieved from her book Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (1994), hooks focuses on the negative effects of contemporary popular culture and its contribution to the negative societal views on poverty.
According to Schwartz-Nobel, America will lose as much as 130 billion in future productive capacity for every year that 14.5 American children continue to live in poverty (Koppelman and Goodhart, 2007). Sadly the seriousness of poverty is still often clouded by myths and misunderstandings by society at large. This essay studies the issue of poverty and classism in today's society.
The television programs that I watch are Modern Family a network show that deals with things like family structure and interpersonal problems and Shameless a series on Showtime that deals with more mature themes such as alcoholism and unemployment, and poverty. Certain themes show up more readily in Shameless versus The Modern Family and these shows are depictions of the America's class system. For Shameless, the themes that would jump out to a viewer are cycles of poverty and lack of social mobility. For example, when Lip was about to get kicked out of college since he couldn't afford pay his tuition bill, he begged the financial aid officer and told him that if he were to return back home, he would get into the criminal lifestyle that his family is involved in and he's doesn't want that. By watching that scene, a viewer can emphasize on how difficult it is to escape the criminal life in the U.S.
Poverty is the most important theme in Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, because it affected Junior’s life in a negative way. Poverty is the main theme because it affected the whole Indian community, Junior’s family, and Junior’s decisions. Poverty can affect you in many ways but to Junior, his family, and the whole Indian community in the reservation, poverty was a life threatening problem to them. Even so, poverty is a repeating cycle that will continue until you step out of that cycle and decide for yourself that that’s not the path you want to take. Poverty can happen to anyone, and everyone will experience poverty at some point. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to stay in poverty or not.
Throughout Society, many families have seen struggle and lived through poverty. The economy is not always thriving which takes a toll on people who suffer through unemployment or low wage jobs. The Frontline documentary, “Two American Families”, is the perfect example of struggle in the United States. It shows the lives of two struggling families and their efforts to survive. Two essays, “The Sociological Imagination” by C. Wright Mills, and “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All” by Herbert J. Hans, support the analysis of the video strongly. They express many ideas that relate to the world and struggle throughout society. Also, there are many sociological terms that depict the events that occurred in the documentary.