The Mentality Of Laziness

In the second chapter of Julius Wilsons’s book The Truly Disadvantaged he describes the issues facing African Americans from the 1970’s to the current time period. He first critiques previous explanations for the high poverty rate among inner city black individuals. Wilson argues that many of these studies failed to fully explain the entire issue because they were short sighted in focus. They did not address the issue of black poverty rates as a societal problem but rather described it as a psychological problem. Since this issue is a sensitive topic it is not discussed readily in modern society. Many people would be afraid of coming off racist if they generalize all African American Individuals as “Blacks.” I would argue that the high rates of poverty seen in the ghettos of urban areas come from the ideology of the individuals within those communities.

                Wilson cites the high rates of poverty seen in black communities in inner cities. In these communities there is a very high level of individuals who receive welfare checks. Often those receiving welfare checks, according to Wilson, are single parents. This means that parents will not work but still receive money to raise their children. This is where I feel the root of the problem is. A parent who does not want to work but still gets paid will pass this same work ethic on to their children. Therefore as the child grows up they see their parent receiving welfare checks they assume that type of behavior is not only acceptable, but in some circumstances acceptable. It is the responsibility of a parent to teach their children to work hard for their money. If they do not another generation of lazy individuals is doomed to become adults on welfare. I do not personally believe that all those receiving welfare are African American, but due to the high rates this mentality is becoming generally accepted. Looking at the cartoon below it proves the stereotype of an individual on welfare. But it also illustrates the idea of a lazy individual collecting welfare to spend on goods they do not need. This only furthers the ideology of laziness.

                The other issue urban ghettos face is high levels of violence. Again Wilson cites more statistics that show black individuals have higher overall crime rates. This problem I would also attribute to the attitudes of the surrounding communities. In many ghettos there are high levels of gang involvement. The gang members use deviant acts to prosper within these communities. If children see gang members profiting from their communities they may begin to believe that deviant acts are the easiest means to achieve their ends. If this is the case these children will turn to violence because the community around them pushed them to this lifestyle over one of hard work. I also feel that the inaction of communities towards gang violence and high crime rates can be attributed to laziness of individuals.

                It is not only ghettos that are faced with this mentality of laziness, but rather the entire new generation of Americans that are plagued by it. In a CNN article a columnist describes the dependency our culture is forming on handouts. “49% of the American population lives in a household where at least one person receives a government handout.” This is an alarming percentage of Americans who are dependent on government money. It is not just the government spending that is the major problem, but when individuals receive welfare checks for a long period of time they lose skills they need to contribute to the workplace. The work ethic necessary to fit in to a modern workplace can be lost extremely quickly. This could be the reason that the manual workforce has been shifting ethnic backgrounds. Individuals of Latino descent have become stereotyped as hard workers. Since the African American Community has been plagued by the mentality of laziness many employers are replacing Black workers with Latino workers due to the difference in work ethic.

                A good amount of the ideas above were based on racial stereotypes seen in our culture today. There are many exceptions to the generalizations above, but the mentality of laziness is no joke. It can be seen clearly in the newest generation of young adults. If the mentality of hard work is not restored soon the long term effects of laziness will be clearly seen. There is no substitute to hard work and that hard work does not have to be in pursuit of profit, but needs to be present in order to further our entire society.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/21/opinion/spalding-welfare-state-dependency/