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Constructing “the poor”

Constructing “the poor”. Diversity Literacy Week 11 / Lecture 2. Prepared by Claire Kelly. Prepared by Claire Kelly. Marginalization : expulsion from useful participation in social life; beyond distribution of resources (Iris Marion Young, p. 42).

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Constructing “the poor”

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  1. Constructing “the poor” Diversity Literacy Week 11 / Lecture 2 Prepared by Claire Kelly

  2. Prepared by Claire Kelly Marginalization: expulsion from useful participation in social life; beyond distribution of resources (Iris Marion Young, p. 42)

  3. South Africa homeless 'further marginalised' by World Cup - Dec 09 Prepared by Claire Kelly • Insert: video about how homeless were “evicted” from Cape Town city centre during World Cup, or other similarly appropriate example. • South Africa homeless 'further marginalised' by World Cup - Dec 09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-sq3ygqQ5c

  4. Constructing “the poor” (Gough et al., 2006) Prepared by Claire Kelly • “Three aspects of the construction of poverty that combine inextricably the economy, the state and social life” • Forms of social oppression • Hostile attitudes to the poor • Aspects of national economy, state, social life “Hostile attitudes to the the poor are reproduced by, and reinforce, material causes of poverty” (p. 128)

  5. Popular hostile attitudes to “the poor” (Gough et al., 2006) Prepared by Claire Kelly • Hostility arising from competition for resources • Material threat – “scroungers” • Presences of social groups exacerbates hostilities • Hostility from fear of what the poor advertise • Moral threat – “they should pull themselves together” • Irrational transference of fear of economic instability • Associations of poor with “dirt”, disease, danger • Construction of the poor inside discourse of dirt, “Othering” • Criminalization of the poor (Desai)

  6. Prepared by Claire Kelly "Homelessness and begging are big problems in the city. You have to clean your house before you have guests. There is nothing wrong with that."Johannesburg City Official "We feel like we are thrown away here, like the government is just throwing us away. It's like a dump." Gavin Brooks, Blikkiesdorp resident Extracts from: South Africa street clean-up beginsFirosaMoondahttp://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/781592/ce/uk/&cc=3888?ver=global [Accessed: 3 May 2011] South Africa Hides Its Homeless Ahead Of World Cup Anders Keltohttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127593697 [ Accessed: 3 May 2011]

  7. Constructing “the poor” (Culhane, p. 54) Prepared by Claire Kelly • “The debate over poverty has not fundamentally changed since the 1820’s, and neither have many of the relief practices.” • determining the “truly needy” from the “fake needy” “impotent” vs. “able” transformed into “worthy” vs. “unworthy”(morally corrupt, lazy, criminal etc.)

  8. Prepared by Claire Kelly “Subpopulations may be displaced, once again, from one miserly institution to another, but the underlying structural problems, unless addressed directly, will remain….” (Culhane, p. 68)

  9. Alternative constructions Prepared by Claire Kelly • Insert:images from Political Graffiti (93): Homelessness In Toronto • http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/political-graffiti-93-homelessness-in-toronto/

  10. Centres / Margins margin POWER centre Prepared by Claire Kelly

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