In My last blog I touched on the problem of laziness that
our culture has. In a later chapter of Wilson’s book The Truly Disadvantaged, he provides a more in depth analysis of
the issues that perpetuate the mentality of laziness. He first states that
poverty increases through three major catalysts. The first is
deindustrialization which describes the trend of factories moving from urban
centers to the surrounding suburban areas. The next catalyst is depopulation
which is closely associated with deindustrialization because as factories leave
urban areas people move with them in order to continue their employment. The
third issue increasing poverty is social isolation which takes a micro level of
analysis looks at the feelings individuals have when they live in urban
centers. This issue is the most important to Wilson because social isolation is
not an individual issue but rather it is caused by societal and economic
pressures found in urban communities.
These
catalysts historically have caused individuals to take two major perspectives
when confronting the issue of high poverty rates among black individuals.
Liberals attribute this high poverty rate to large social problems and historic
discrimination. While republicans feel that the high poverty rates are due to
flaws in individuals. Both of these perspectives oversimplify the problem of
black poverty while pushing undertones of political values. What neither side
can deny is that there is an epidemic of poverty within black urban communities.
In order to fix these problems the welfare system was created. But in practice
the welfare system carries a stigma associated with laziness by the general
population. There are many that would argue that welfare has caused the
increase in African American poverty, but according to Wilson a causal
relationship has never been determined. In the 1990’s there was a welfare
reform in an attempt to de stigmatize the system, but it may have ended up
doing more harm than good. There is a high level of female headed households
within the black population and under the old welfare system these females could
receive benefits to put towards childcare and education for themselves. With
the reform in the 90’s these childcare and education benefits were cut. These
cuts I believe have ruined the credibility of the welfare system. In my opinion
a female with children who wants to further her education, but needs money for
childcare while she is at school should be the target demographic for welfare.
If she finished her education she may enter the work force and begin
reinvesting the money she received from welfare into society in various ways.
Since the welfare reform we have not seen the stigma associated with it change
very much. The reason the stigma has not changed is due to the fact that no one
wants to acknowledge the changing demographic of those who are receiving welfare.
In
Faith Walker’s article she describes the benefits of the SNAP program which
provides food for low income individuals. This program is very similar to the
Food Stamp system that was implemented by Ronald Regan. When it was first put
in place Regan wanted society to believe that the individual receiving food stamps
was “lazy, illiterate, and worst of all black.” (Walker) This means a negative connotation is present
in the system from the start. But with the SNAP program studies show that the
biggest demographic receiving these benefits are white females, not African
Americans like conservatives would have us believe.
I do
acknowledge that many who receive benefits from the SNAP and other welfare
programs have household incomes below the poverty line with children. And if
that is the case they definitely may need the help that welfare programs
provide, but I would also acknowledge that there are many who receive welfare benefits
because it is the easiest solution to their money problems. I would argue that
those who are receiving benefits of welfare without actually needing them is a
result of the lazy mentality our culture has, but it is not only blacks who
have this problem with laziness rather its American Society as a whole. There
are many, both black and white, who were raised in households where the head of
the household relies on welfare programs to provide for their family. This is where
I feel the conservative argument has some traction. Conservatives choose to
focus on family dynamics within the black community, but that focus should be
broadened to all of American family values. There are white families who will
pass down the pattern of laziness to their children which in turn just furthers
the problems facing welfare programs. In order to change this mentality I feel
that restrictions on welfare should be merit based. That is those who show that
they are trying to progress their lives and needs some help financially along
the way should be able to receive some government help. But if the individual
cannot prove they are making strides towards improving society in some aspect
then they should not have access to the any government benefits
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