Baker University
Do The Stereotypes of Poor People Keep Them Poor?
Samantha Jett
Social Psychology 236
Sara Crump
May 10th, 2016
Stereotypes box individuals into certain categories usually affecting them negatively. There is an interesting stereotype of poor people. We assume that they are lazy and/or uneducated and so on. Do the stereotypes of poor people keep them poor? The Looking glass self is how a person grows based on how society treats them. If we keep treating poor people as if they are second class citizens then they will see themselves as just that, second to the rest of society. Which is not okay. Most poor people are not poor because of their actions. Many poor people are born into poverty and when you are born into poverty it is very hard to get out of because you aren’t given the same resources which leaves you at an unfair advantage. The self fulling prophecy is the cycle in which someone already has a preconceived idea of someone so they act differently when interacting with them leading that person to fulfil the persons stereotype of them. Those who are not living in poverty hardly have to interact with those who are so when they do have to interact with each other the person not in poverty is going to act rude towards that person causing the poor person to fulfill the stereotype.
Many came and still come to America to live the “American dream” which is if you start poor you can still become wealthy and
They came to the United States in hope of fulfilling their dreams. When they got here they thought they would be able to make a life for themselves and be able to live happily. Their
But, why do people still want to come to U.S?Because of various reasons, some of them want freedom, others says they have escaped from their government, some people consider U.S the land of dreams, some people might come because of employment opportunities, some others want to get rich, quite a few others want to practice their religion without any fear. Finally, they all came to have and build a better life. They want to have a better future, a good job, a fancy car, a huge house, and safety.
Since America continues to be seen as a nation of prosperity, opportunity, and freedom there will be those who wish to come to America. Immigrants have always come to America looking for a better life and Americans are always forgetting that their forefathers were once looking for that same life.
There are many different types of jobs in the world; some of which people feel are better than others. Factors like the amount of money and amount of education affect the stereotypical perception about certain jobs. There are two different types of work, blue-collar and white-collar. Blue-collar jobs are seen as the “working class”. The “Working class” refers to low-wage workers that are void of a college education, who struggle to get by economically. It is also perceived that the “Working class” is lazy, unproductive failures who have limited upward mobility, or relics of earlier era of industrialization. It’s important that people realize the amount of skill level it takes to do different types of jobs, and although pay may not reflect the effort or the soft and technical skills needed, or physicality that is respective for those jobs; these jobs should be viewed respectfully. Jobs like cashiers and waitressing have a bad reputation, but they take a certain skill level that people have to develop just like any other white-collar job. People skills, public speaking, ability to sell items on the menu, multi-tasking, and so much more are necessary to be a success in this type of career choice or job. Matthew Crawford talks about this in his book, along with Mike Rose, on how there is a lack of appreciation and respect for the skill set it takes to do blue collar jobs, and how the stereotypically stigma couldn’t be further than the
There were many reasons motivating the immigrants to come to America. A few of them were mainly being free, and having better jobs. So economic opportunity, and religious or political freedom. They wanted to be around a free atmosphere, where they didn't have to be controlled and follow rules. Another reason was because they wanted to be reunified with their family. Some of their family had already ventured out to America before them, and told them about America's benefits and they decided to follow along. America's land was cheap, and had an abundance of hiring jobs. Once immigrants heard about this they were ecstatic and immediately planned on coming to America. For the abundance of jobs America was hyped up in many countries as the 'land of opportunity'. Really the motivation for
The most pressing problem surrounding social insurance in the United States today is a faulty perception of who deserves to receive assistance from these programs – forwardly referred to simply as deservedness. The idea that two, equally in-need people can have different levels of deservedness creates inequity within social insurance systems.
Between the years 1861 and 1941 almost 30 million people immigrated from Europe to the United States. Many left for a new life, some left because the crops were dying and they were starving, some came for a job, and lastly people left because of religious persecution. In the 1800s, two of the main contributions of the immigrants in the U. S. were the larger population and different cultures.
Many came from eastern and southern Europe such as the Irish, Germans, Italians and Polish. Immigrants came to America with hopes and dreams of prosperity, freedom of religion, freedom from fascism and dictatorship with the possibility of wealth and security. Many if not all of the immigrants encountered the complete opposite. Hard labor, poor living condition, low wages and illnesses were the problems often faced by the
better way of life, people immigrate to the United States. Some people say that when an
In the late 18th century, European migrants such as Germans, Polish, and Italians came to America to start a better life, little did they know that coming to a new country such as America wouldn't be the easiest. Many Germans, Polish, and Italian immigrants began searching for a new life in America in the late 1800’s. As easy as they thought is was going to be, many immigrants had a tenacious time being part of America. They needed to leave the country that they knew and their loved ones, hoping their lives would improve after arriving in the United States. German immigrants moved to America because of poverty, conversely being so indigent that they couldn't provide for themselves. They also came to America to provide for their families whom they brought along. Polish immigrants came to earn more money then the earned in Poland. Italian immigrants came to America to escape the wars that were happening as well as pursuing a better economic opportunity. Immigration to America was a time where European immigrants wanted to start a new life with their families.
It was a nation built by immigrants and a place where those who came bragged to other across the world, which naturally enticed others to come see for themselves. Whether it was Italians, Germans, Polish, or even the Japanese all came to America with these hopes. However, with Mexico being the neighbor to the south no other group had the ability to migrate like citizens of Mexico. As cited by Zong and Batalova (2014), Mexican citizens have always migrated to the United States in an effort to better their lives. The first influx of migration occurred prior to World War II when “the number of migrant workers used by private labor contractors for agriculture rose from 105,200 in 1900 to roughly 624,400 in 1930 (Zong & Batalova, 2014). This large scale migration continued and it was because of the labor needs of the United State that Mexican citizens traveled back and forth across the border. However, in1965 changes to the law imposed the first numerical limits on the amount of Mexican and other Latin Americans that could enter the country legally. It would become even more difficult to enter the United States for work, and as the economic changes occurred more low skilled labor jobs immigrants from Mexico began to enter the country with hopes of settling permanently and this time it was not like the migrations of the 30s. This is because instead of
In this experiment researchers are testing the hypothesis of whether or not there is a link between race and people’s attitudes towards welfare programs and recipients. Most Americans claim to want wealth to be distributed more equally among people of different socio-economic classes. However, many Americans continue to vote against policies that would redistribute money more evenly. Researchers believe that people hold racial biases that form their opinions about welfare programs and welfare recipients, specifically African Americans.
Many people migrate from their country and go to the U.S. There are many reasons why people do this. Lack of job opportunity, poverty, diseases, tends to push people to leave the country. For example, in the movie “El Norte,” Rosa and Enrique, the brother and sister, lived in Guatemala, where they lived under the Mayan time. Guatemala isn’t a modern country. It doesn’t have electricity or advanced farming tools or fancy houses or flushing toilets. Life is difficult there. The poor work as farmers, but are paid very little. They are extremely poor and if they try to fight for their rights, the government kills them.
The presences of stereotypes are overwhelming and are developed by both the environment a subject is raised in and their family. Stereotypes, which are pervasive throughout different societies, become intertwined in the collective values of the society as justification for all forms of social, economic, and political inequality among groups (Devine and Elliot 2000;Kaplan 2004; Operario and Fiske 2004). As people become more exposed to stereotypes they start to become a permanent part of a person’s life, they begin to stereotype themselves almost always involuntarily.
In recent times we have seen the income distribution in many developed nations expand, meaning that the gap between rich and poor has grown. Coupled with this is the resultant degradation of economic and social mobility. This serves to show that they there is a tendency for those that are poor, to remain poor. There are a number of causal factors that seemingly predicate this fate of a poverty cycle. The issues that contribute to this range from the education and wellbeing of the individual, societal influences and values, their spending habits, their living conditions as well as their ability to access funding as a means of fuelling entrepreneurial endeavours.