Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Stereotyping: Poverty

What stereotypes are there about "the poor"? Do you know people who hold these stereotypes? How do these stereotypes impact our society? In what ways are the poor held back in our society? What benefits are afforded the poor (i.e. govenmental, educational, etc.)

9 comments:

jamie said...

People think they have the right to stereotype poor people, even though nobody has the right to stereotype anybody. Poor people get free food at bread lines. At the same time poor people dont have health insurance and have life alot harder. I personally dont think that poor people are any different from us. Minus the fact that some poor people wasted all of their money on drugs or alcohol, they are still human and deserve to be treated like one.

Anonymous said...

The stereotype for porr is that they live on the streets or a one floor house. One place for there to be many stereotypes is morristown because every morning they could out on main street to look for a job for $100 a day. The benefits for poor people is that they get charity and people helping them get through there problem.

andrew j. said...

People that stereotype the poor are usually presuming they are weird and dirty, and that they just dont want to be near them. Also people say that poor people smell and make fun of the clothes they wear. Its not about the clothes you wear, people dont need top of the line clothes. People who are poor dont need to be stereotyped, everyone needs to chip in and help, because they are struggling and their families were not having the best luck. So there should be sympathy for them not stereotypes.

mark said...

stereotype the poor? if there were any id assume the poor would be stereotyped as dirty and wear the same clothes all the time. i dont know anyone who stereotypes the poor. stereotypes only impact our society when they are made into jokes. after stereotypes are made into jokes they usualy become racial cause thats where most stereotypes come from. the only governmental thing i can think of would be welfare. educational, id have to day finacial aid at a decent school.

Tlanders said...

"The poor" are often sterotyped as lazy. They can be thought of as dirty, dumb, and low-life. These sterotypes impact our society because a person may need help and others may think they don't deserve it because they are just lazy. Poor people may be held back in society because they may not be able to afford top notch educations. On the other hand sometime you hear of poor people that are given opportunities such as free education and government aide that are not available or affordable to the average middle class person. This doesn't always seem fair.

VVV-Constantine said...

I personally do not like judging people by how poor or wealthy they are. But one thing I know is that we're all humans and should be treaded fairly the same. We never know why some people end up being poor because we dont know thier life stories. In other words we dont know what might have happenned to them in the past and how they got to a point where they became poor. I dont think that these stereotypes impact us in any way. Poor people live a harder life and like Jamie said many of them dont have life insurance. I dont know about anybody alse but thye are not harmful and dont affect me at all.

katelynn said...

Every type of person has a stereotype. The main stereotype of the poor that i have heard is them being unsuccessful, drug addicts. Also, living on the streets begging for money. I do not personally know anyone who holds these stereotypes, but i have seen many people who are stuck on the streets, playing instruments and/or juggling for money. I dont think that poor people are any different than rich people. They may have made some wrong decisions down the road, but who hasnt? The poor is looked down upon just because they do not have as much money as everyone else. They should really just be treated the way anyone else is treated.

satori said...

In a town like mendham and chester many people consider poverty in a different light than is the norm. I would say living in Mendham and Chester in itself takes you away from calling anyone poor because its high rent town kind of deal. there is the ocassion of people living in rich houses and really not having anything to there name but there over due payments and failing business. The poor usually recieves care when needed by the government.

Peru said...

There are stereotypes about the poor like the fact that they are related to crime and drugs in the news. Others would be that they are involved in a gang because of their background of living in a poverty stricken. There are other stereotypes like poor people are on welfare and they go to food lines and go to the salvation army for clothing. I do not really know any people who uphold those stereotypes. They impact our society a lot because society tends to look down upon the poor. It makes the poor feel like they are less of human beings because they don't have a lot of money. The poor aren't able to afford a good education so they tend to have poor paying jobs which keep them in poverty stricken areas. There are multiple programs that are intended for the poor. There is welfare that helps poor people get money for their certain type of situation. There are also programs that help the poor provide money for a childs education.