Tackling the myths about poverty and the poor

[DanaC]

Whilst reading a piece about recent austerity measures, I came across a link to a recent publication by a collection of church organisations.

The lies we tell ourselves: ending comfortable myths about poverty

A report from
the Baptist Union of Great Britain,
the Methodist Church,
the Church of Scotland
and the United Reformed Church

It's really interesting. Here's the link: http://www.jointpublicissues.org.uk/...rt-smaller.pdf


And some highlights, beginning with a little of the intro:

In 1753 John Wesley, the founder of Methodism
said, “So wickedly, devilishly false is that common
objection, ‘They are poor, only because they are
idle’.”Yet today many churchgoers and members
of the general public alike have come to believe
that the key factors driving poverty in the UK
are the personal failings of the poor – especially
‘idleness’. How did this come about?

The myths exposed in this report, reinforced
by politicians and the media, are convenient
because they allow the poor to be blamed for
their poverty, and the rest of society to avoid
taking any of the responsibility. Myths hide the
complexity of the true nature of poverty in the
UK. They enable dangerous policies to be imposed
on whole sections of society without their full
consequences being properly examined. This
report aims to highlight some comfortable myths,
show how they have come to prominence and test
them against serious evidence.

The report begins with a case study, Troubled
Families and Troubled Statistics, showing how
facts and evidence were bent to meet the needs
of policymakers. The reputations of society’s most
disadvantaged families became collateral damage
in the rush to defend a new policy. Perhaps we are
not surprised by this but we should be appalled.
The myths challenged are not a comprehensive list
but were chosen because of their prominence in
public debate, and their widespread acceptance.

And here are a sample of some of the myths covered in the report:

Myth 1
‘They’ are lazy and don’t want to work
The most commonly cited cause of child poverty by
churchgoers and the general public alike is that “their
parents don’t want to work”. Yet the majority of
children in poverty are from working households. Inwork
poverty is now more common than out of work
poverty. It is readily accepted that across the country
there are families in which three generations have
never worked. Examples of such families have not been
found, and the evidence suggests it is unlikely we ever
will. How did we come to believe these things?

MYTH 3
‘They’ are not really poor – they just don’t manage
their money properly
Nearly 60% of the UK population agrees that the poor
could cope if only they handled their money properly. The
experience of living on a low income is one of constant
struggle to manage limited resources, with small events
having serious consequences. Statistics show that the poorest
spend their money carefully, limiting themselves to the
essentials. How did we come to believe that poverty was
caused by profligacy?

MYTH 4
‘They’ are on the fiddle

Over 80% of the UK population believe that “large numbers falsely claim benef ts”. Benefit fraud has decreased to historically low levels - the kind of levels that the tax system can only dream of.
Less than 0.9% of the welfare budget is lost
to fraud. The fact is that if everyone claimed and was paid correctly, the welfare system would cost around £18 billion more. So how did we come to see welfare claimants as fraudulent scroungers?

MYTH 6
‘They’ caused the
deficit

The proportion of our tax bills spent on welfare has
remained stable for the last 20 years. It is ridiculous
to argue, as some have, that increasing welfare
spending is responsible for the current deficit. Public
debt is a problem but why is it being laid at the feet
of the poorest?

The case studies are also very interesting, and set alongside the political rhetoric current in our culture they are powerful.

Worth a read.