Seeing And Making Culture: Representing The Poor By Gloria Watkins

More times than not stereotyping can have a negative effect rather than a positive one. It is very important to understand that stereotyping is both useful and bad utter Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald. In their article “On Stereotypes” they claim that “categories are the basis for normal prejudgment.” They are useful in the sense that when we come across someone we instantly put them into categories that we find to be true. We trust people to be who they appear to be, for example, when we are driving on the road we trust that drivers around us are being responsible and following the laws of the road like ourselves. These assumptions allow us to go on throughout our day comfortably because without stereotypes we wouldn’t be able …show more content…
In the article “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor” by Gloria Watkins, she alludes to the main four groups that she has come to identify as, “the poor, who were destitute; the working folks, who were poor because they made just enough to make ends meet; those who worked and had extra money; and the rich” (Watkins 483-484). Gloria Watkins better known by her pen name bell hooks focuses on how those living in poverty in America are frowned upon and judged. How the misconceptions that we have towards these individuals really do have a negative effect on them. Watkins talks about how the majority of those being labeled come from those living in poverty, the middle and working class. The ones caught in these particular junctures feel worthless, and with no purpose in this world. These human beings are told that their lives will never be meaningful and after a while they begin to believe it. According to Watkins, “society is telling them that poverty and nihilism are one and the same” (Watkins 486). Nihilism is the belief that life is meaningless, for many of these folks this is exactly how they feel. That as long as they are living in poverty life will never be significant. Americans and people all across the world living in poverty often feel that they will never escape this reality, therefore becoming content with this lifestyle. Many of these individuals in the first group are living in a state of destitution. These human beings are literally penniless, and are never sure of where their next meal is going to come from. These folks come from poor cities that have little to no resources and are begging for any government assistance. These families often starve to death and occupy horrific living conditions. It’s sad that our government allows this to happen, allows these human beings to live in these