The Cycle of Poverty

Modern Western societies, such as The United States, put a huge stress on the idea that the mix of working hard and natural talent will lead to achieving any goal...sometimes even bragging that that is something our society allows. While that is a beautiful idea, the divide between social classes only continue to rise, making it harder and harder to reach the top. Social class shapes how one views themselves and how they view other people. So how then can one's socioeconomic status keep them stuck in a cycle of poverty? Could it be that a mind shift change is what it takes to pull someone stuck in a poverty cycle out and into a brighter future?

A person's lens for life, how they see themselves and others, is all based upon the social class context in which they were raised and currently live in. Living in a social context of lower ranking, usually means less resources for necessary items and way less opportunities. A few practical examples may be a lack of money for extra help in school maybe through tutoring, or even no time for extra activities that most young people experience due to survival needs. These survival needs could be the need to work or to babysit younger siblings while a parent works. Living in a higher social class ranking however automatically provides the privilege of many more readily available resources and opportunities. Again a few practical examples may be extra money on hand for help through tutoring in school, which keeps those children with the better grades in turn leading to more future opportunities. Or the biggest difference being no need to worry about survival matters like children of lower socioeconomic status do.

Because people of lower socioeconomic status usually have less resources and opportunities, they tend to see things as out of their control and have to rely on help from others. The power of others' has a greater influence than they do, which causes a mindset that they are at the mercy of other people for help. People with higher socioeconomic status tend to have greater control over their lives due to a multitude of reasons with some being: access to better healthcare, schools, jobs, enough money for extra things and so on. They are the voices that get to be heard in society.

Poverty over a long period of time erodes dignity. Dignity is being worthy of respect, and even though that is true for all human beings who belong to any social class, sometimes one's sense of self pride is destroyed in poverty. Someone may also be demeaning towards a poorer person, helping their dignity to wear down further. When a parent or guardian does not have the means to have their child's needs met, they can begin to be demeaning towards themselves as well and it can feel very hopeless.

The truth is raw talent and working really hard is not enough to achieve any goal. As unfair as it may be, for a person of lower ranking in the social class to have any type of long term success in our society, they must have a mindset shift. For a young person it is important to always stay in school and have hope towards getting out of the poverty cycle. Hope is a powerful motivation along with the strong willed ability to keep dignity, because everybody should have respect. With a mind shift change towards hope and the ability to keep dignity, poverty does not have to be a family birthmark, it is possible to escape.

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