underdog & underclass

[dotinthesky]

This awful concept of underclass is really horrifying… You’re not lower class, you are excluded – outside. I read a horrifying account of the new American ghettos as the dumping grounds of unnecessary people and how they become greenhouses of hatred. We normally speak about the money aspects of poverty which are extremely important and I wouldn’t play them down because it’s the conceit of people who are better off that being deprived of money is not a painful thing. But I think we underestimate often the pain of humiliation, being denied the value of your worth and identity, of how you earned your living and kept your commitments to your family and neighbours.

In a consumer society, people wallow in things, fascinating, enjoyable things. If you define your value by the things you acquire and surround yourself with, being excluded is humiliating. And we live in a world of communication, everyone gets information about everyone else. There is universal comparison and you don’t just compare yourself with the people next door, you compare yourself to people all over the world and with what is being presented as the decent, proper and dignified life. It’s the crime of humiliation.

- Zygmunt Bauman

Comments

[jellyfishfur.livejournal.com]

very very very true.

i've often thought about the fact that our justice system seems to put absolutely no thought into WHY certain people turn to crime...how the circumstances of poverty can truly offer little to no other options. if i lived in a ghetto, hell i'd probably be shooting up crack too, if it helped me to escape, AND i'd hate the bastards cruising up and down in their escalades with no thought to "the other side of the tracks" and want to rip them off. until higher education is available to everyone, regardless of class/money (and for people to get there, secondary education would have to improve in impoverished areas also), it doesn't seem like much is going to change. i understand it's more complicated than that, this is just one spoiled middle-class white girl's opinion...but is jail really doing anything to reform criminals? there's so many different sides of this question, i mean i'm coming from an idealistic POV, giving no thought right now to logistics, but it makes me head want to explode.

Re:

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

it`s really terrible in brazil. if you are black, then you most likely are excluded, living in shanty towns... and being white immediatly opens many doors for you. Education is private and whatever the government offers is falling apart (with the exception of universities). Therefore, the elite just perpetuates itself and the poor get even more poor. Because of this, black kids will kill white kids just to get their Nikes. It's fucked.

One thing I like about England is that every kid has to go to school. If the kid doesn't go, the parents can be sent to jail. So education is forced on everyone and opportunities for the poor are multiplied (though racism still exists and is strong.) I read in the Tube today that England came in 3rd place in the number of literate 10 year olds. Only behind Sweden and Holland. That's why guns are not allowed here.