Welfare Stereotypes

A socially stratified reality is constructed by the belief that inferiority or superiority is based on an individual’s class, race, and/or gender. In Tim Wise’s film White Like Me, he discusses the widely held preconception that most welfare recipients are undeserving black people. In actuality, most welfare recipients are white, but the media creates this unfair depiction. Far too many black faces are shown in news coverage of poverty that correspond to the actual proportion of poor blacks in the U.S. This kind of interaction and experience strengthen the belief system that black people are inferior to white people, justifying the negativity and prejudice welfare recipients and blacks receive.

There are many different types of jobs in the world; some of which people feel are better than others. Factors like the amount of money and amount of education affect the stereotypical perception about certain jobs. There are two different types of work, blue-collar and white-collar. Blue-collar jobs are seen as the “working class”. The “Working class” refers to low-wage workers that are void of a college education, who struggle to get by economically. It is also perceived that the “Working class” is lazy, unproductive failures who have limited upward mobility, or relics of earlier era of industrialization. It’s important that people realize the amount of skill level it takes to do different types of jobs, and although pay may not reflect the effort or the soft and technical skills needed, or physicality that is respective for those jobs; these jobs should be viewed respectfully. Jobs like cashiers and waitressing have a bad reputation, but they take a certain skill level that people have to develop just like any other white-collar job. People skills, public speaking, ability to sell items on the menu, multi-tasking, and so much more are necessary to be a success in this type of career choice or job. Matthew Crawford talks about this in his book, along with Mike Rose, on how there is a lack of appreciation and respect for the skill set it takes to do blue collar jobs, and how the stereotypically stigma couldn’t be further than the

The most pressing problem surrounding social insurance in the United States today is a faulty perception of who deserves to receive assistance from these programs – forwardly referred to simply as deservedness. The idea that two, equally in-need people can have different levels of deservedness creates inequity within social insurance systems.

Hays goes on to say that “As anyone who has ever spent time in a welfare office knows, it is a world of women, children, and diversity.” Black and Hispanic welfare recipients make up 38% and 24.5% respectively of all welfare recipients, while those populations comprise 12.3% and 17% respectively

Although welfare is to support those in need it does comes with its own share of stereotypes. Often mothers on welfare are looked at as lazy, promiscuous, and uneducated. Moreover, in the article a mother on welfare says that a lot times the system is abused. People taking advantage of the opportunity and don’t need it. She goes on to criticize women that don’t take care of their children but always collecting

The social welfare system in the United States can be a controversial topic especially now with the new presidential elect. For this paper I was assigned to look into two different peoples perceptions and attitudes on the social welfare system. I looked into how they perceived the system and whom they believed benefits from this system. Throughout this paper the identities of the two people I interviewed will not be revealed. I will simply refer to them in pronouns. My goal during this interview was not to educate my two interviewees so some of the information contained in this paper may not be accurate. Throughout this paper the two interviewees opinions will be stated and their opinions will then be compared and discussed. Although the whole population of the United States is experiencing the same welfare system each individual perceives and has different beliefs about the system.

Since its conception welfare has been a source of continuous controversy. The main negative throughout the years has been that people on welfare will never attempt to find a job and just live off the government, but recently there has been a lot of attention brought specifically to the recipients that are drug abusers. Therefore, some taxpayers are calling for a system in which recipients are drug tested prior to receiving aid, but these systems are strongly opposed by those who are current members of welfare.

Welfare is intended for families or individuals that are in need of assistance with no or little income. For those who do not know, Welfare funds come from hard working individuals that are required to pay taxes. Now we wonder, are the tax payers’ hard earned money going to the right deserving recipients? Welfare fraud is on the rise in this country. Many are taking advantage of the system taking away the help that is meant for people that truly needed help to provide for their families or people that need assistance until they can stand on their own feet. Statistics clearly show that “785,000 to 1.2 million families are illegally receiving welfare benefits. At the average rate of $11,500 per year, this means taxpayers are being

Unfortunately, this fraudulent behavior is still happening today. People of difference race, gender, religion and etc., seeks public assistance and find ways to capitalized on the system to receive more than they are truly allowed. A 1987 national study found that 74 percent of those surveyed believed that most welfare recipients were dishonest and collected more benefits than they deserved (Martin, 2014, p 36).

Public welfare is the term which stands for the variety of tax-supported programs that provide cash assistance or services to residents who are not able to financially take care of themselves (Hansan, 2011). This program was started in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. There are several types of welfare including health care, food stamps, child care assistance, cash aid, and housing assistance. Medicaid is considered to be one of the welfare programs; it is a medical care that provides cash income assistance for the poor (“Medicaid”, 2002). Recipients must meet multiple requirements that are established prior to receiving aid. The requirements include low income, child dependency, family size, and any crisis situation such as pregnancy, unemployment, and medical emergencies (Welfare Information, n.d.). As of today, some states require welfare recipients to get drug tested when applying for financial benefits. Arguments arose whether the test should take place or not. Many people believe that the government should not drug test welfare recipients because unpleasant consequences occur. Not only does drug testing recipients create chaos in the U.S. bureaucratic system, it also labels the recipients, creating stigma and deviance especially if the test comes out positive. Welfare recipients are being discriminated by society and this may lead to knowledge gaps between the underclass and other social classes which creates a caste system. Many negative effects take place as

61% of welfare recipients are white and 33% are black. This sounds backwards, right? This is because when we hear the word welfare we think of the black population (Ebony 55).Welfare is a government financial aid. Many people use it. At first, people thought the idea was amazing. Financial aid eventually started becoming a problem when people began to take advantage of the system. This subject has been and is still very controversial. The system has gone through many reforms to prevent welfare fraud but, a lot of the attempts have failed. Many people want to get rid of it and many don’t. Welfare controversy is cooking up quite the storm. Many welfare recipients are often the stereotypes they are perceived to be, therefore welfare should be

One unaccounted for factor that is impacting the level of support for redistribution in the United States is the inseparable intersection of race and gender, or rather the dominance that patriarchal and racialized norms have on influencing American’s perceptions of poverty. The majority of the current literature on the subject of American’s support/opposition to economic redistribution tends to focus on identities such as race, class, and gender as separate entities. Applying the theories of hostile/benevolent sexism and racism, I argue that analyzing intersections of identities such as race and gender in conjunction, and as interdependent, will provide a clearer picture as to why Americans are less favorable towards redistribution, and

Perhaps another roadblock put in front of us, as explained in 7 Lies About Welfare by Danica Johnson, is the stigma people give to those of us who are less fortunate. When someone thinks of a person in poverty they think of homelessness at worst, living in subsidized housing at best. They don’t consider that it is not always like that. Some live in their own places and out of all the help provided, maybe they only need to use food stamps. Danica tells how most people do not even know what “welfare” even is, they just think of lazy individuals trying to cash in taxpayer money for luxury items and drugs. They don’t know what their tax dollars go toward, how much of it, and what the programs even do. In fact, most government assisted programs seek to provide only the bare minimum amount of help that an individual or a family need to survive. Also to be noted, most benefit programs require recipients to work at least 30 hours a week in order to be eligible. Sometimes even between 35-50 hours a week for two parent households. In addition, July 2014 Texas began drug testing their welfare applicants

After speaking to a resident, she was able to show just how ambitious some of the ladies in the shelter could be. In movies most of the women in the shelter seem like they’ve hit rock bottom and don’t plan on getting out. Or they’ve been abused so badly that being strong and independent is no longer an option. Given the opportunity to speak to a resident, her story and the things she had to say were definitely unexpected. She proved every stereotype wrong and considered herself a fighter. She definitely appeared to be one after hearing her story.

Most of the people believe that many welfare recipients are abusing the system in more ways than one.