The concept that the poor are poor because they deserve it or that they are somehow unworthy dates back to Victorian times.
However, according to this recent study on food poverty, these attitudes are still alive today, and are a very important part of How those who receive a benefit from social security are perceived.
Poor unworthy
According to the study cited, people consider or tend to consider that the poor are lazy, that they are not trying hard enough to alleviate their own difficulties, which makes them less deserving of help.
The idea of the deserving and undeserving poor is linked to our understanding of the causes of poverty: whether it is the result of “agency” or “structure.” Agency refers to the actions of an individual, while structure is the external forces that may have led to an individual's poverty.
If we are in the second case, then many people consider that the poor do not deserve help, as exemplified this tweet:
For example, if people with financial problems spent money on conspicuous or considered services, such as a streaming service or a manicure service, it was understood that they did not deserve help to feed their children. Or if they did not buy cheap and abundant food, they were considered to be somehow They did not manage their resources well and they deserved their situation. However, perhaps poor people are not so battered that they need to vent in one way or another, or have they not received enough support to manage their resources more intelligently?
It is something similar to when, in a Spanish television debate, a debater pointed out that an activist politician: "You are too fat for the hunger you are experiencing" (when in reality it is precisely the poor who are the most obese because they eat cheaper and more caloric food).
Poor people are usually born with various burdens, even at a neurochemical level, just as if they had been affected by a virus. They have less self-control, less tenacity, less intelligence, less ability to thrive, generally speaking; And furthermore, this is not so much a question of poverty itself as of inequality. So, in the debate over whether someone is responsible for their situation or not, we should at least be aware of it, as I elaborate in the following talk given at the BCNspiracy TALKS 2020:
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The news
If it is perceived that the poor are poor because of their responsibility, we tend to believe that they do not deserve our help.
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.