No more of 'the poor' For people who live in poverty, the stigma they face and the shame it creates can be as devastating as the economic consequences Ruth Lister Wednesday November 17 2004 The Guardian
Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin sang about it; politicians pontificate about it; "the poor" are denied it. Respect - or rather disrespect - is key to understanding what poverty means to those experiencing it. The statistical trends that dominate the political debate are vital in holding government to account. The huge increase in poverty under the Conservatives is a stark reminder of their regressive policies. The slow but steady reduction in child and pensioner poverty under Labour is one of the few beacons for those who had hoped for a more aggressive assault on inequality and injustice. Statistics are also essential for pinpointing groups at the highest risk of poverty - for example, Pakistani and Bangladeshi families and female-headed households - and for illuminating the impact of persistent poverty. But statistics don't bleed. So sometimes they are embellished with human interest stories that ask people to parade their poverty. However well intentioned, these can treat "the poor" as objects of pity - passive victims lacking agency. Less sympathetic accounts represent them as a source of moral contamination, a threat, an economic burden or even an exotic species. All are examples of a process that treats "the poor" as different from the rest of us. The language used to describe "the poor" has been articulated by more powerful groups - media, politicians, academics. It is a language rooted in the historical division between the "deserving" and "undeserving". The more obviously demeaning examples today are "underclass", "welfare dependent" and the American "trailer trash". But the less value-laden "poor" can itself be problematic. It is an adjective that "we" apply to "them". Yet people in poverty are often reluctant to wear what they perceive to be a stigmatising label, with its connotations of inferior, as in "poor quality". As a noun, "the poor", like "the disabled", robs people of their individual humanity. People in poverty are not asked how they want to be described. This is symptomatic of a failure to listen to what they have to say about the meaning of poverty. Lack of respect, denial of dignity and a consequent sense of shame and worthlessness are constant refrains when people in poverty talk about how they are treated. Two contributions at a national hearing held by Church Action on Poverty are representative: "The worst blow of all is the contempt of your fellow citizens. I and many families live in that contempt"; and "I just feel very angry sometimes that people are ignorant of the fact that we are humans as well and we do need to be respected." The effects were described graphically by a participant in a UK Coalition against Poverty workshop: "You're like an onion and gradually every skin is peeled off you and there's nothing left. All your self-esteem and how you feel about yourself is gone - you're left feeling like nothing and then your family feels like that." The stigma can be particularly difficult to bear for children: the wrong clothes, for example, can trigger bullying and exclusion from the social activities of their peers. From the playground to the social services department, disrespectful treatment adds psychological insult to the economic injury of poverty. What are the implications for the politics of poverty? Collective political action requires the kind of collective identity that has historically fuelled working-class movements. This is difficult when "poor" represents a shameful economic condition to be endured rather than an individual, never mind collective, identity to be embraced. Disabled people and gays and lesbians have been able to transform a negatively ascribed category into positive affirmation of a collective identity as the basis of a politics of recognition of their own difference. But "proud to be poor" is not a banner under which many want to march. And the last thing people in poverty want is to be seen as different. Moreover, practical barriers and the struggle for day-to-day survival, which can sap energy and health, make political action difficult. Nevertheless, there are countless examples worldwide of deprived communities organising to effect change. Women are often the driving force. Political agency is strengthened in the process. Disrespectful treatment can itself provoke political action. A poverty activist in the US tells how it was the indignity of having to line up daily to receive a ration of five pieces of toilet paper, rather than homelessness itself, that provoked a group of homeless people to organise. Respect for dignity is the foundation stone of a human rights discourse increasingly being deployed by people with experience of poverty to counteract the negative discourses imposed on them. In August, in a rare willingness to claim poverty as a political identity, thousands marched through New York under the banner of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. It was born in 1997 when families marched from Philadelphia to New York to charge the government with violating their economic human rights. In the UK also, some people are using whatever opportunity they can to proclaim the right to be heard. They argue that our unwillingness to listen is itself disrespectful and a denial of the expertise born of experience. As Moraene Roberts, an ATD Fourth World activist, put it: "No one asks our views ... But we are the real experts of our own hopes and aspirations ... We can contribute if you are prepared to give up a little power to allow us to participate as partners in our own future, and in the future of the country." People with experience of poverty are forging a politics that combines traditional demands for redistribution - money still matters - with claims for recognition and respect. In the words of an activist with the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, it is a struggle "for power, not pity". Ruth Lister is professor of social policy at Loughborough University; her new book, Poverty, is published by Polity Press -------------------------------------------------------------- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
