Concern for the Poor

Many years ago I worked as a reporter for the Hudson Dispatch. The paper was located in Union City, New Jersey, just across the river from New York. As a result, the area it served was very urban and, in many cases, very poor.
This was also at the height of Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty; hence it came as no surprise when I was assigned to cover a meeting called by poverty workers to organize the poor. The goal was to empower the downtrodden so that they could demand the benefits that were rightly theirs.
The theory upon which this intervention was based assumed that the poor are poor because the rich keep them that way. It was therefore up to members of the underclass to force this uncaring elite to share their undeserved affluence. Only if the wealthy had their arms twisted, would they disgorge their ill-gotten gains.
Once I got to the meeting, I found the hall packed. There was standing room only, with perhaps a hundred and fifty persons present. Then, the meeting was called to order by its governmentally sponsored organizers. They wanted to know what these poor people needed in order to improve their situation.
At this, pandemonium broke out. It seemed that everyone in the room had an answer that required an immediate hearing. From front to back, virtually everyone stood up to shout out what they believed. So vociferous was this cacophony that no one was able to hear what anyone else said.
These folks were not from the middle class, therefore, they were not accustomed to turn taking. As a consequence, the meeting never did settle down. Indeed, so raucous did it become that it had to be canceled.
Now we are hearing Mitt Romney condemned because he said he did not care about the poor. It did not matter that he quickly amended his words to say that his concentration was on the middle class, but that he would make certain he maintained, and repaired, the current social safety net.
Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich, sensing an opportunity, asserted that he most certainly did care about the poor and would provide them, not with a safety net, but a trampoline, so that they could rise in society.
Gingrich’s words, however, were no more than policy by way of metaphor. What, after all, was the trampoline of which he spoke? The safety net consists of welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, and so forth. It may not be deserve rave reviews, but what it is, is known.
If by the trampoline, Gingrich meant jobs, how was he going to supply them? And did he really believe that Romney—who has promised to revive the economy—was going to prevent the poor from getting jobs thereby created? Both clearly intend to increase the middle class by lifting millions out of poverty.
The problem is that it is difficult to help the poor. Caring alone has never been enough. Even the war on poverty, despite expending trillions of dollars, was unable to get the job done. Like it or not, the poor have a way of undermining their own life chances.
We, in sociology, have been fighting over these issues for over a century. Having worked with the poor, I am among those who believe that a culture of poverty is one of the reasons why many people do not do for themselves what they could do if they put their minds to it. Many of my colleagues, however, condemn this attitude as “blaming the victim.” They claim that I am without compassion.
But I say (along with Mitt?) that there are some things only people can do for themselves. I believe, that no matter how many kind words, or trillions of dollars in transfer payments, are on offer, if they don’t help themselves, no one else can.
As a college professor, I see this in action in my classrooms. Many of my students come from disadvantaged backgrounds. But many of these have committed themselves to using a college education to provide them with an economic leg up.
Nonetheless, some don’t take advantage of this opportunity. They don’t study! What of them? Who is responsible if they don’t get out of poverty? Me? Or Mitt? Or rich people in general?
Melvyn L. Fein. Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University