No Shame in My Game: The Economic Sociology of Poverty

Introduction: Mythology and Stigma Surrounding Poverty

Poverty in America is such a politicized topic that it can be difficult for even the most neutral observers to discuss. Part of the reason poverty is so political is that most Americans hold a romanticized notion of the free-market system and believe that the American dream is easily achieved with sufficient hard work. However, the reality is that while America may be a free-market economy, it is also an economy where the wealthy have far greater access to politicians than the average individual, and where much of the socioeconomic political structure has been developed to preserve wealth for the upper class. Another reason poverty is such a political issue is that it is so closely linked to race in America. Many people reject the notion that the disproportionate number of minorities trapped in poverty is connected to the history of slavery and other forms of racial oppression in the United States. Yet if one considers that people are likely to die as members of the same socioeconomic class into which they were born, the link between race and poverty becomes difficult to deny. These two realities remain deeply uncomfortable for many Americans. As a result, a mythology has developed around the impoverished — one that supports the idea that the poor are somehow subhuman and deserving of their condition.

When one examines images of the impoverished in popular media, the picture that emerges is of people who are morally and emotionally destitute, as well as financially poor. The poor are frequently portrayed as criminals engaged in a wide variety of offenses — drug use, gang involvement, prostitution, drug dealing, and theft. They are depicted as valuing human life less than others, with the suggestion that life is cheap in urban environments. They are portrayed as lacking family values, with men and women alike willing to abandon their children. Many portrayals show extended family members raising children whose parents' whereabouts are unknown. The poor are shown as dependent on government handouts, with housing, food, clothing, utilities, and medical care all provided through government subsidies. Frequently, they are portrayed as sexually indiscriminate — having children by multiple partners, with little desire to marry or remain married.

This portrait of the poor, however, is profoundly inaccurate. While there are certainly individuals among the impoverished who seem to confirm these stereotypes, they do not speak for the whole of America's lower socioeconomic class. The mythology surrounding poverty is not a neutral cultural artifact — it actively shapes policy and public attitudes in ways that make it harder for impoverished communities to rise.

Works Cited

Newman, Katherine. No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City. New York: Knopf and Russell Sage Foundation, 1999. Ebrary. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.