I can't count the number of times that this sort of meme makes it way around the internet:
Of course, it could just as easily be something along these lines:
What these memes share in common is an idea that 27% of Americans share: The poor are lazy, and a good many of them are drug-users.
The poor are often blamed for their lot. They are lazy, undisciplined, and lacking in work ethic. "Work ethic" here is a dispositional and character trait. A thing intrinsic to the person. (Or, worse, that the character of the poor in question is one of low moral standing.)
Those of us who paid attention in psychology, though, know about the fundamental attribution error. The fundamental attribution error is how we tend to revert to characterological, trait-based, personality-driven, and dispositional factors in explaining behavior. For example, I might look at your work ethic and conclude that you are lazy. The problem is intrinsic to your character. Your personality is flawed and is to blame. You're a bad apple.
Another way of describing the fundamental attribution error is to say that we tend to downplay or ignore the power of situations. When we see bad behavior we don't tend to look at the environmental context, the situational causes and pressures. We tend to go looking for bad apples.
Why do we do this? Because it's easier, quicker and cleaner. It's easier to locate, blame and punish a lone perpetrator than to rethink environments, systems and organizations that produce the "bad" apples. Reimagining and reconfiguring those environments might implicate me, as both cause and solution. I might have to make some changes. And that's no fun. So it's easier to allow the fundamental attribution error to do its work, allowing me to blame people rather than broken environments or toxic systems.
And yet, social psychology has long known that the fundamental attribution error is, well, an error. Time and time again social psychologists have pointed to the power of situational pressures in explaining behavior. One only needs to think of some of the most iconic studies in social psychology -- like the Milgram Obedience Studies and the Stanford Prison Study -- to see this.
This is precisely how those memes talk about the poor in our capitalistic culture. But if social psychology is to be believed things like work ethic, thrift, self-control and motivation might be better viewed as environmentally driven. And if that is so then attending to environments, rather than blaming people, is critical in effecting change in the world.
It's too easy to blame individuals. In fact, it's a mistake that psychologists have a name for: The fundamental attribution error.
So, avoiding the error, let's turn to the research.
A few years back the World Bank conducted a study of the experiences of people in developing countries who had escaped extreme poverty. It found two common factors -- opportunity and initiative.
The memes tend to think that the poor are poor because they lack initiative. Research supports (time and time and time and time again) that what they really lack is opportunity. They live in economies that don't generate sufficient jobs and where wealth is captured by an elite; experience poor health, infrastructure and education; are frequently the object of discrimination; and are often living in areas prone to conflict and disaster.
That's why economic development has to focus on the creation of opportunities. At the macro level, we have to build economies that generate jobs and allow equal slices of wealth. At the micro level, we have to develop communities in which care and compassion are spread widely for communal health.
Of course, Christians who take this "the poor are lazy" line usually quote back to me Proverbs: "Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth" (10.4). Unfortunately, that misunderstands Proverbs -- and the rest of Scripture! Proverbs is filled with pithy sayings, but not all apply well universally. The reader is even encouraged to see where which proverb might apply (1.2-6; 21.2; etc.). Moreover, Proverbs provides wisdom for those who lead -- particularly the king and his court -- so it's speaking to privilege and wealth. It's more appropriate, then, to apply this saying to those who hoard money without contributing to that wealth with the work of their hands. In fact what Proverbs does say about the poor specifically might shock a few of these folks:
Of course, this poverty-is-lazy meme is refuted throughout the rest of the Old and New Testaments. As some evidence:
If you want a biblical vision of poverty, don't start by looking at the poor and saying they're lazy. Look to Jesus, and hear what he says: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God".
Can laziness cause poverty? Sure. But that's such a minor part of the genuine analysis at play. Especially for Christians.
I grow really tired of those who profess to follow Jesus as disciples, but circulate these cultural memes, that are the antithesis of what the Bible actually says.
The biblical approach when it comes to dealing with poverty is to focus first on injustice, not laziness. That's also borne out by the best in economics, psychology, sociology, and history that we have.
Which means that that wisdom -- while ancient -- is relevant. At heart, the lack of opportunities available to the world's poor occur because of the misuse of power -- men who discriminate against women; cultural majorities that marginalize minorities; the stigmatizing of people; corruption; tax fraud and exploitative labor practices by multinationals; lack of generosity; and more. How important then that we work to reverse these abuses of power, including our own, and towards a world of opportunity for all.
Of course, it could just as easily be something along these lines:
What these memes share in common is an idea that 27% of Americans share: The poor are lazy, and a good many of them are drug-users.
The poor are often blamed for their lot. They are lazy, undisciplined, and lacking in work ethic. "Work ethic" here is a dispositional and character trait. A thing intrinsic to the person. (Or, worse, that the character of the poor in question is one of low moral standing.)
Those of us who paid attention in psychology, though, know about the fundamental attribution error. The fundamental attribution error is how we tend to revert to characterological, trait-based, personality-driven, and dispositional factors in explaining behavior. For example, I might look at your work ethic and conclude that you are lazy. The problem is intrinsic to your character. Your personality is flawed and is to blame. You're a bad apple.
Another way of describing the fundamental attribution error is to say that we tend to downplay or ignore the power of situations. When we see bad behavior we don't tend to look at the environmental context, the situational causes and pressures. We tend to go looking for bad apples.
Why do we do this? Because it's easier, quicker and cleaner. It's easier to locate, blame and punish a lone perpetrator than to rethink environments, systems and organizations that produce the "bad" apples. Reimagining and reconfiguring those environments might implicate me, as both cause and solution. I might have to make some changes. And that's no fun. So it's easier to allow the fundamental attribution error to do its work, allowing me to blame people rather than broken environments or toxic systems.
And yet, social psychology has long known that the fundamental attribution error is, well, an error. Time and time again social psychologists have pointed to the power of situational pressures in explaining behavior. One only needs to think of some of the most iconic studies in social psychology -- like the Milgram Obedience Studies and the Stanford Prison Study -- to see this.
This is precisely how those memes talk about the poor in our capitalistic culture. But if social psychology is to be believed things like work ethic, thrift, self-control and motivation might be better viewed as environmentally driven. And if that is so then attending to environments, rather than blaming people, is critical in effecting change in the world.
It's too easy to blame individuals. In fact, it's a mistake that psychologists have a name for: The fundamental attribution error.
So, avoiding the error, let's turn to the research.
A few years back the World Bank conducted a study of the experiences of people in developing countries who had escaped extreme poverty. It found two common factors -- opportunity and initiative.
The memes tend to think that the poor are poor because they lack initiative. Research supports (time and time and time and time again) that what they really lack is opportunity. They live in economies that don't generate sufficient jobs and where wealth is captured by an elite; experience poor health, infrastructure and education; are frequently the object of discrimination; and are often living in areas prone to conflict and disaster.
That's why economic development has to focus on the creation of opportunities. At the macro level, we have to build economies that generate jobs and allow equal slices of wealth. At the micro level, we have to develop communities in which care and compassion are spread widely for communal health.
Of course, Christians who take this "the poor are lazy" line usually quote back to me Proverbs: "Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth" (10.4). Unfortunately, that misunderstands Proverbs -- and the rest of Scripture! Proverbs is filled with pithy sayings, but not all apply well universally. The reader is even encouraged to see where which proverb might apply (1.2-6; 21.2; etc.). Moreover, Proverbs provides wisdom for those who lead -- particularly the king and his court -- so it's speaking to privilege and wealth. It's more appropriate, then, to apply this saying to those who hoard money without contributing to that wealth with the work of their hands. In fact what Proverbs does say about the poor specifically might shock a few of these folks:
An unplowed field produces food for the poor, but injustice sweeps it away (13.23)
Better the poor whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse (19.1)
A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops (28.3)
The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern (29.7)Let those sink in. What Proverbs is saying about the poor: (1) Poverty is often the result of injustice and (2) far from being lazy, the poor are often blameless in character.
Of course, this poverty-is-lazy meme is refuted throughout the rest of the Old and New Testaments. As some evidence:
This is what the Lord says: For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. T hey trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed (Amos 2.6-16).
Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless (Isaiah 10.1-7).
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you (James 5.1-6).The Bible operates with a fundamental economic vision: Everyone should have access to God's creation for life (remember Genesis 1?). Thing is, the powerful socio-political-economic systems in place try to limit that access. As a result, the poor are often depicted in the Bible as those who have their hope in God, not in political or economic power (Psalm 40: "But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay"). What's more, God is worried about the poor: "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigners residing among you, giving them food and clothing" (Deuteronomy 10.17-22).
If you want a biblical vision of poverty, don't start by looking at the poor and saying they're lazy. Look to Jesus, and hear what he says: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God".
Can laziness cause poverty? Sure. But that's such a minor part of the genuine analysis at play. Especially for Christians.
I grow really tired of those who profess to follow Jesus as disciples, but circulate these cultural memes, that are the antithesis of what the Bible actually says.
The biblical approach when it comes to dealing with poverty is to focus first on injustice, not laziness. That's also borne out by the best in economics, psychology, sociology, and history that we have.
Which means that that wisdom -- while ancient -- is relevant. At heart, the lack of opportunities available to the world's poor occur because of the misuse of power -- men who discriminate against women; cultural majorities that marginalize minorities; the stigmatizing of people; corruption; tax fraud and exploitative labor practices by multinationals; lack of generosity; and more. How important then that we work to reverse these abuses of power, including our own, and towards a world of opportunity for all.