'Seeing And Making Culture: Representing The Poor'

The poor are lazy and have nothing to offer: this seems to be the mindset for most of society and media. As bell hooks (1994), a prolific writer, wrote Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor, (an excerpt from “Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations”, published in 1994), she argued that the representation of the poor portrayed by society and the media is far from actuality. In this excerpt, hooks (1994) argument was well accredited with quotes from respectable sources, relations of her own personal life experiences, effective use of emotional appeal. She concludes by offering what she believes to be some solutions to the “problem” at hand.

These families are also at an economic disadvantage since they often cannot acquire higher paying jobs, either due to underprivileged public education, or because they must support their family around the house. This creates a cycle of poverty that is often too hard to overcome, so some people result to gangs and crime, in hopes of supporting themselves and their families. Once a person has chosen a life of gangs and crime, they may have to sustain a tough appearance to other gangs and criminals that live within their communities. Since the communities are subjugated by blacks or other people of color, the results are the large percentage of black-on-black crimes. Although many of these offenders

Introduction This paper gives will give depth information on gang activity in the U.S. and explore the causes of gang memberships and it will also mention several policies that have been studied to prevent youths from joining them. As of today, gangs continue to be a huge problem in the U.S. gang members are violent and are also responsible for committing crimes from assaults to murder using firearms and other weapons to intimidate rivals, law enforcement, and the general public. The purpose of my paper is to address why many youths join gangs. My paper will also address a few policies and programs that can prevent youths from joining a gang and prevent those who are already part of it from committing crimes.

All things considered I have chosen the essay written by Diana George tittled “changing the face of poverty.” First and foremost there is an restraint of the endless controversy of poverty. Sadly as Diana Geroge dispute in her essay, the organization with the primitive purpose of abolishing global poverty are possibly the ones endowing to the very problem they battle against (George 676) Her main example wa habitat for humanity, she disputes that the organization is not sending very affective message and that they often fail to which I agree with 100%. The world assumes that they are doing more than what is actually being practiced. Furthermore George disclosed her disagreement concerning these issues. Basically she felt that all photographs that is revealed to the population pesonofi one frame of reference of poverty. She describes it in the beginning of her paragraph where she sees a New Yorker ad for children, Inc and it says “you don’t have to leave your own country to find third-world poverty.” Underneath the copy, from a black and white photo, she illustrates that the young girl, was in torn ill-fitting clothes looking directly at the viewer (George 675).

In the article, “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, Bell Hooks, Gloria Watkins penname, conveys three important things about the lower class: The ways people of lower class are treated in our society, how the mass media portrays them, and how people of lower-class see themselves.

The poor and powerless are much more likely to be arrested, convicted and sentenced for serious crimes, while the powerful and wealthy continually get off with only fines if anything. The crime rate among the poor is very high because of a lack of opportunities. The poor also lack education, skills, and a strong support system that is necessary for individuals to become productive,

Gang violence has been a problem in society for several of years and is a growing problem each and every day. The youth that is involved in gang violence will have numerous effects upon them that will come soon or later when associated with a group of thugs. Children and teenagers if they still go to school when accompanying a gang, they face the heightened risk of dropping out of school; teen parenthood; be victimized by another gang ; abuse drugs and alcohol; commit petty and violent

Gangs activities are frequently portray in the media , the exposure of gang violence have an negative impact on the minds of our youth in our communities . Gangs are described as groups that are involved in gang related crimes and other crimes , such as assaults , rape , and robberies . Gangs are mostly conform of people from the same race or ethnicity , the majority are males and are most likely to be young . The majority of the people that join this groups come from places where they suffer from economic disadvantage and dysfunctional families . One of the issue that is problematic in our society nowadays is the media coverage of gang activities .

The National Gang Center Bulletin was written in order to give us information on the presence of gangs in the schools. The percentage of students in both middle and high school really shocks and saddens me; I did not realize that this number was so high. There should not be thirty-five and forty-five percent of students in any grade level affiliated to gangs.

We learn from the things we experience, the things we see, and the people with whom we associate. We learn from our surroundings , experiences, acquaintances, friends, and family. Contends that we learn aggression like any other behaviour-by watching others and imitating their behaviour” (2014). This theory explains that people act and do illegal things because that is all they have been taught. Those in gangs who may use violence to resolve conflict and/or establish a respectable name for themselves have been surrounded with those who do the same thing.

Poverty Point is a prehistoric earthworks of the Poverty Point culture, located in the Southern United States. It is 15.5 miles from the Mississippi River. Poverty Point comprises several earthworks and mounds built between 1650 and 700 BCE, during the Archaic period in the Americas by a group of Native Americans of the Poverty Point culture (1).

Violence is an issue in all schools. School fights have decreased by 51 percent and drug use has decreased by 69 percent (“School Uniforms”). Gangs are one of the leading causes of violence in schools. Gangs can be formed by clothing, like students wearing a certain color or symbol on their shirts. If all students wore school uniforms, there would not be a way for gangs to be formed.

did a study and concluded that poor math scores for males and a student’s weak attachment to his or her teacher are both strong indicators that he or she will join a gang (2003). Researchers also said that youths who feel unsafe at school are also more likely to join a gang—for protection (Curry, Decker, and Egley, 2002; Decker & Curry, 2000). Schools that have a high teacher to student ration or schools that have poor academic quality can also increase the likelihood of a youth joining a gang (Curry, Decker, and Egley, 2002; Decker & Curry,

But there can also be a forced alliance as many can be compelled to join or work for a gang under threat so they don’t have a choice and have to follow orders for the sake of their own lives. Much of whether gangs are seen as a social problem comes from perspective. Society is more prone to seeing gangs in a negative point of view because the social reality is not reaching the ideals and standards of people’s conception of a perfect world. Many external factors such as the media and personal opinions encourage a bad outlook on gangs. The media inflicts fear and depicts gangs to be a threat, which the community looks at in a negative view.

Despite the great wealth the United States possesses, it has for long struggled with poverty which is said to be inherited from one generation to another. The culture of poverty hinders those affected from economic betterment however much assistance they obtain from social programs put in place. The term Culture of poverty is believed to have been coined by Oscar Lewis, who suggested that children who grow up in poverty-stricken families are highly likely to adopt the norms and practices that encourage poverty. Thus, these children, he believed, would replicate the adapted values in their lives which would in turn generate a cycle of intergenerational poverty in the long run (Bell et al, 2013). Thus the culture of poverty is a topic which creates heated debates in both the public and political arenas.