Great post.

I also highly recommend the following book: Without a Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class.

It touches on a lot of the same ideas, and is a solid anthology, edited by Michelle Tea.

I recently read about a study (can't remember any of the specifics, but maybe someone here has heard of it) that said that poor people living in poor neighborhoods are more likely to spend money on display items (expensive sneakers, shiny rims, etc.) than poor people who live in economically mixed or wealthier neighborhoods.

The study was actually aimed at seeing whether poor black people do this more often than poor whites. It turns out that this is true, but only because poor blacks are more likely to live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty than poor whites. Once you normalize for neighborhood income, the racial disparity on display item spending vanishes.

The study essentially concluded that most people have an impulse to engage in economic one-upmanship to a certain extent. If you're poor and the people you live near are poor, you express this with frivolous $100-$1000 purchases when you have the cash. If you're poor and the people you live near are putting in swimming pools and new decks and buying luxury cars, you don't bother competing with them.

I once had an argument with a very unpleasant individual in my extended family who insisted that there was no poverty in the United States because everyone who wanted a television owned one. He even went so far as to say that if I could find him someone without a television, he would buy one for them. I'm sorry to say I wasn't able to persuade him that the sale of a television (or not buying one in the first place) would not be sufficient to lift a person out of poverty.

I find it very interesting that someone could believe that everyone who wants a television owns one. I went five years without a television because I could not afford even a small used one, and I still know people who cannot afford a television as well as many more who cannot afford cable for their television.
I think that the issue with Nike shoes is more about perception than anything. First, we are assuming that the person wearing the Nike shoes is poor based on other aspects of their appearance, when they could very well be spending less money on clothes in order to afford the shoes, or maybe we caught them on laundry day. Also, I believe that we are more likely to notice the poor people who are wearing what appear to be expensive shoes, as it fits preconceptions of why the poor are poor, and it allows the middle class to continue living a more privileged existence without less concern over the inadequate social programs. It is one of many ways that we blame the poor for their own poverty, rather than blaming a system that allows some people to afford a closet full of Nike shoes, while others cannot afford a television.

Well put. Jagdish Bhagwati argues this (rather egregiously) in his book, "In Defense of Globalization". I'm all about capitalism, but I'm frustrated by the number of academics who defend of capitalism, but do not acknowledge the role that capitalism might play in reinforcing systemic forces of oppression. I wish I find some research that addresses this. I would like to believe capitalism can be part of the solution, but the more I learn, the more my belief in the invisible hand deteriorates.

@Megan: I hear you on the TV thing. I'm pretty sure I knew at least one family in my hometown that had a television -- but no electricity. My best friend's family had XBoxes, Gamecubes, and DirecTV -- but couldn't afford to pay the telephone bill.

I never realized how poor of an area I lived in until I went off to university. Hell, I didn't realize how little my own household was bringing in until then.

Not to mention, people who have always been able to afford new aren't aware of how cheaply some things can be had... brand name jeans at the Salvation Army and so forth. They think that everyone must have spent what they would have spent... not the case, obviously. Lots of us inherit TVs and other big ticket items from family or friends when they upgrade. And people's economic circumstances change; the TV might have been purchased in better times. All examples of things students who parents pay to put them through college might not think about.

As someone who has been both desperately poor (as in having to choose between buying food and paying rent) and has pulled herself up to lower-middle-class, I can tell you that your description of constant denial is extremely accurate. And it's really easy to lose sight of that if you've either never experienced it or have been away from it for a while. I've been comfortably lower-middle-class for a good five years or so now, and sometimes I look back to the things I went through and the sacrifices I made and wonder how I survived. If it seems unreal to me now, it probably seems like exaggeration and lies to someone who has never thought to look past his or her own privilege.

"If it seems unreal to me now, it probably seems like exaggeration and lies to someone who has never thought to look past his or her own privilege."

Fantine, you said so much with that one sentence.

I'm currently trying to lose weight. Not because I desperately want to, but because my clothes don't fit anymore and I don't have the money to buy new ones.

I'm from a lower middle class family and when my father died, we suddenly became poor. It really doesn't take that much, but many of my friends never experienced what it's like not to be able to buy that PlayStation or to travel somewhere twice a year. And what they can understand even less is that I view their behaviour as very bizarre and wonder how they survive.

"I try to explain to them that being poor is like living a life of self-denial."
Except that the two are totally unrelated. "Being poor" usually implies (at least to me) that the person who is poor is in that place due to lack of education, bad choices, or other external circumstances-in short, to say that someone is poor implies that they are in a place that they would not choose. Those who live a life of self-denial forego certain material possessions, not because they can't afford them, but because they see a cost of owning that possession that transcends the price tag. In other words, the person who practices self-denial might desire an item, but they desire something else more. On any given day, there are plenty of things that I see in my Inbox or mailbox that I would love to buy. I can even afford to buy some of those things. The question is not “Do I want that shiny game system or plasma screen TV or shoes or cars or 2,749 channels of digital-clear crap that I will never watch anyway?” The question is, “what am I going to have to forego to own this?” “What will I pay to enjoy and use this thing?” As long as we live lives that are devoid of a purpose that is outside of ourselves, we will always desire the “stuff,” because that is all there is. “Hope and the absence of fear and worry” are not things that come with stuff. They don’t come as standard options on a new car. They are not thrown in when we open the 401(k), and they certainly do not reside in the “nice” neighborhoods in town. Real hope and real peace are things that are given to us, and then they change our worldview and our actions. For me, my relationship with God has provided that hope and peace (I can see the smirks now).

I think one thing that the current credit crisis has shown us is that the pursuit of stuff (and ensuing enslavement) is not limited to one race or social status.

By the way, I came from a middle-class family. Yes, my parents paid to put me through college, but my Mom did extra jobs to make that happen. It came from a promise that she made to her children over thirty years ago, and I am grateful to both of my parents for their sacrifices that enabled their children to pursue further education-even if that degree did not hold the promise of a lucrative career. Generalizations like the one made above by timeismine show that we are still a long way off from getting it. Again, it is not about your social status or political views or income level. What do you believe, and how does it affect your life?

Doro: I totally hear you on that. I've dieted and tried to gain weight on many occasions for that very reason.

Mgreen: But it is self-denial. Here, I'll use myself as an example. I earn about $13-15k a year in take home pay, which qualifies me as poor in the eyes of most North Americans. Since getting a second job, I no longer have to choose between food and rent (yay!), but I do make choices of self denial on a regular basis. For example, I don't own a TV (and if I had one, I wouldn't have cable). I could, technically, afford to buy a TV and have cable, because that would cost about as much as a bus pass each month, and since I live fairly close to my workplaces I could walk there instead of taking the bus. I would love to have cable, but I am intentionally denying myself of that pleasure in favour of something that, while still a luxury, is a bit more practical. See? I'm forgoing one desire in favour of another. are many things that I could technically do and buy, even with my limited income. I could afford to buy designer shoes occasionally (and believe me, I would love to), but that would mean giving up something more essential - perhaps eating nothing but barley and lentils for 6 months, instead of my usual well balanced diet (including fresh produce). It depends on your priorities, and obviously not everyone can afford to make the same choices I can (I have no children and I am very lucky to have cheap housing). But it is all about choices, even if those choices are limited by circumstances.

I don't mean this to sound like poor people get into the situation of being poor because of choices - just that there is always going to be an element of self denial in a poor person's life. Rent or food? Cable or savings? Starving for a week and a meal at a nice restaurant or regular meals at home every night? It may not be my choice to be in the situation I'm in, but I can at least decide what I want to do with my resources.

"most trappings of an adult life (your own apartment, framed pictures on the walls, matching dishes)"

that sounds really strange... I'm 23, maybe a bit on the hippie/punk side, and living in eastern europe - in a different planet, I know. My family has all these things, and my friends' families, too (the flats mostly because the ones built under socialism were easy to buy by the people lived in them, when it ended) - but I would never, ever define my adulthood in relation with all this things.

A place rented with flatmates, posters on the wall, preferably some, that weren't intended to be posters, and enough plates/plate-like objects to feed all the friends that came over... I'm happy with it.

I have made a photo report about the flats of some of my friends, wich I consider nice and enjoyable. I'd be curious of your reactions.

http://eletmod.transindex.ro/?cikk=9654

Wow this is really sad. Im glad I read this. I used to have prejudices about what I thought poor people were like but this really made me think. Thanks for making me see poor people in a different way.

Many times people in poverty do not own an automobile. Also, depending on where you live public transportation can be a nightmare. So the alternative to get anywhere is to walk. I know this because I grew up in poverty without a car. When your feet are your only means of transportation you try to take care of them the best way you know how. Not with an endless supply of high heels but with comfortable tennis shoes that will last a while. You do not get comfortable shoes that last from Wal-Mart or a five and dime. Sometimes you can find designer shoes that have not been worn out at a thrift store other times you have to sacrifice something else in order to have the shoes. This is the life of many people in poverty. High quality shoes become a necessity - not necessarily for the name but because they last.

This post is just great. One of the finest from SocImages.

Another area of research looks at "ego depletion" (not really what it sounds like). The research shows that self-control demands brain resources, and we have a finite amount of that.

We all suffer from this as we try to resist marketing, chocolate bars etc. Eventually we deplete our resources and make increasingly bad decisions. People who are poor have much greater demands on their resources--they must resist many more demands, plus theu must figure out cheap food, pay bills, worry about work, navigate the beuraucracy of social services--and so they are in a muchmore constant state of ego depletion.

What this piece leaves out is that we live in a hyper-consumeristic culture that places a high value on material possessions that affects all of us. Perhaps that may be what is fueling the view that things make us "normal".

While I would never claim to be living in poverty, I live in a house that's owned by my in-laws, with a car they own and pay for registration and insurance on and they buy us new appliances when they break (washing machine, fridge etc). We would never be able to survive on a single income on our own and yet from the outside we appear to be living a very comfortable life indeed. Sometimes not everything is as it seems. People need to judge others less.

Point made and taken, but why the nasty headline?

It is worth noting that just because a poor person has a thing that looks nice it does not mean that it was purchased new at full price. I got a leather jacket at a rummage sale for $20. It looks quite presentable and it cost as little as a less presentable jacket you'd buy at Wall-Mart. Poor people also have birthdays and Christmases and occasionally are given gifts on these occasions. So you can't tell what a person spent by looking. Nor do you know why the person has prioritized what they have. When I had jobs where I stood on my feet all day I invested in a good pair of comfortable shoes.

My husband and I grew up in poverty and have lived in poverty while we worked our ways through school. Now that he is one semester from a B.S. in Computer Information Systems and I from my teaching credential, a little bit of comfort is in sight. Like the sender of that PostSecret, I drop a few dollars on a lottery ticket when I am feeling all out of hope. The person behind the counter, or someone in line, never fails to say something shitty about it. Like I am stupid or frivolous and don't understand the odds. Nevermind what they spend on cigarettes and alcohol as their form of distraction...

I grew up desperately poor, I hankered after things most took for granted. Clean, not torn or broken clothes or shoes that fit and kept me warm or cool, a meal when I was hungry, of food that wasn't boring or old, and was enough to keep me from being hungry still/again very soon, a home that actually kept the elements out and was somewhat clean... and friends, because being so poor meant most kids hated me.

I've never seen a poor person with expensive shoes that they actually bought. I've seen poor people with donated shoes and clothing, often expensive items are donated as they are seconds, faulty in some way, or end of line goods, or they didn't sell for some reason. Or maybe even the CEO of the company decided to do a good deed, or someone donated second hand, gently worn items or bought new ones to donate (people actually do that, they are angels).

But most genuinely poor people have a long list of things they would spend their money on before the Nikes (or similar) got to the top of the list.

Woody Guthrie said it best: "It takes a ten dollar shoe to fit my feet...your two dollar shoe hurts my feet."

Another factor in the lack of understanding of poverty/ the working poor, is that the middle class often take crappy summer jobs when they are university students and therefore think they understand what it is like to have a crappy soul destroying job. What they don't understand is that there is a world of difference between having a crappy job for four months, knowing that one is going back to university and a life of prospects, and having a crappy job and knowing that this is IT for the rest of your life. One can survive almost anything for four months, knowing it will soon be over; knowing it will never get better is an entirely different matter...

The problem isn't that there are people who judge poorer people for buying and wearing nikes. We should debate and engage with these people rather than telling them to shut up. The problem is the consumerism of modern society and the resulting denial that poorer people face.

I'm replying to this becuase of the recent tweet linking to this article. But I'd like to add something here, as that picture of the lottery ticket brings to mind a particularly snotty Twitter exchange between Nate Silver and Wil Wheaton, who both sneered condescendingly at people who bought lottery tickets. They implied not too subtly that most who buy a lottery ticket do so becuse they are poor flks too stupid know better and that they really shouldn't be wasting their meager income like that. Becuase this is the other thing about being poor: you not only deny yourself many things that other take for granted, others are all to happy to deny you the basic respect they show others about their personal, day-to-day choices. Every financial choice, be it to buy $150 sports shoes, or a $1 lottery ticket, is up for intense scrutiny by comfortably secure folks like Silver and Wheaton. It's just one of many ways we shame poor people for being poor--treating them like children who need to be told how to spend their money. Which is absurd--I'm poor and the first thingany poor person learns in order to survive is how to not waste money. And yes, that means sometimes havign a few dollars over to be able to "waste" a few dollars on a lottery ticket because poverty is a living hell and a little faint hope soemtimes gets people by.

As someone who just spent the last decade supporting herself with minimum wage jobs, I have to say that I’m disappointed to read such a narrow-minded defense of Consumerism.

I know this picture too well for comfort.

When we talk about the poor, we need to remember one thing. Often the poor has nothing to save so that their life becomes easy and well organised. When you have nothing to save, the only option one has is to use the little that you have to make yourself happy. If a apir of shoes makes the poor happy, we need to be emphatic but not judgemental.

I like this story...

Another point people fail to think about is the number of people who were once middle or working class, but since the recession, have become poor, or even homeless. Those people owned things before being poor, often including cars. To judge someone on their things doesn't account for that.

There is good in this article. However, there is one important error. It is NOT true that "Most people who are poor remain poor their whole lives." Do a little research. Please. The future for poor people in America is not as bleak as you may think. The keys to success are: 1. Get married and stay married. 2. Don't have children until you are married. 3. Have at least a high school education. 4. When you get a job, go to work everyday, and do your best. Thankfully, very, very few people who do these four things remain poor.

Been poor, have had money, never bought $250 shoes.

So you're saying we should encourage this perpetual denial? Does this denial last until they die?

Is this the same denial that welfare people use to get a payday advance loan?

We live in a time where everyone realizes that EVERYTHING is disposable. I do not believe it is appropriate for those on government assistance to wear expensive clothes and drive expensive cars.

Why give them assistance at all if they're not putting it towards things to help themselves?

Not that I would recognize expensive clothes. I climbed my way up to my first million from an hourly job. Counting every penny to be my own boss did not afford such luxuries as denial.

If you are on government assistance, you should be doing everything you can to get off of it. Those programs are for people who really have no way to work and get by.

I believe it toxic NOT to discourage this.

Why would a man who gets a free fish every day want or need to learn how to fish?

I don't judge people on what they buy, but it's when the people coming right out high school or college are buying things they can't afford. I'm not saying that New Nikes or a cellphone are bad to have but it is when they decide that they need $1,000 Yeezy's or they need an iPhone six when they can barely afford their own rent, I'm not saying I was rich right after I got out of college but I wore cheap dress shoes and the same shirt and tie to work for about 10 months to a year before I started buying more luxury items. It's when poor people without a job are asking for handouts. There are no excuses for not having a job unless of a medical condition. Maybe you just got out of college and you've had no job offers but I would find some sort of way to support myself at least until I find a job that I will do for life.

yeah I know people who think this way.. and are not even wealthy .. me being on ssi due to mental illness .. Sometimes would get looks and some snarky comments even from family.. "WOW that's a really nice phone! how did you afford that!?" (back when my phone was still relatively newish) People don't seem to realize or even understand that they might have gotten the item as a gift.. or the possibility of people actually SAVING every little bit here and there to afford something nice.. it might take me a few months to save for something really nice.. but i think it makes me appreciate things more.. Also about the shoes bit... whats the point in buying $20 cheap shoes if they gonna fall apart in a month? I tried that route once.. got $20 walmart shoes.. things crapped out and came apart in less than a month.. and ANY shoe with that CRAPPY Styrofoam sole shit.. its just asking for trouble.. they are not just cheap but made cheap and not made to last.. I get shoes to last me a while.. they usually last about a year and a half for me maybe two.. I usually get a brand called Airwalks (sketcher knockoff) but they are becoming more rare now.. my $40ish is no longer buying the same quality of shoes.. so i might have to jump in to the $60+ shoes cause now all i am seeing for my price range is crappy foam sole shoes.. I found today a nice pare of Nikies that felt the way i would want them too on sale for $60 down from $80 I also seen $100ish on brand shoes sliced down to $60ish - $70ish today.. last thing i want is some snarky sob snickering at me in the grocery line cause i payed with food stamp card and have nice shoes for once in my life that i bought on a decent sale...

in short ppl just need to shut their mouths.. you don't know their situation, you don't know the full story or even how they might have aquired such an item.. for all you know they could have just gotten really lucky at a goodwill (it happens!) or there was some really awesome sale (this also happens) or they got it as a gift (this too happens)..

"One of the things that gets harped on is the idea that poor people spend money on frivolous things; somehow some people believe that, if the poor just gave up their cell phone and Nikes, they would pop up into the middle class."

I think few people would assume that they would just "pop" into the middle class. What is true objectively is that, while a pair of shoes is necessary, an expensive pair isn't. A flip phone can sufficiently handle communication needs and does not require a data plan.

A waste of capital can be cut no other way, regardless of how much self-denial you go through. Does it suck to be poor? You bet. However, if your goal is get out of poverty you have to keep your eye on the prize.

So, no, people should not "shut up." When I was poor and I took on a wasteful expense I got eviscerated by my family, and that got me back on track. It may stink to hear that you have to cut back in order to succeed, but that is reality.

It's not just the expensive NIkes. It's also the expensive Escalade, the cable tv, the lobster at the grocery store using foods stamps (taxpayer money).

Taxpayers hate when the recipients of taxpayer money waste it on such stupid shit.

http://www.amren.com/archives/reports/the-color-of-crime-2016-revised-edition/

There's a major crime problem. It's not about surviving. It's not about food and clothing. It's about violence, and the chief participants are black.

My mom is getting me jordans and I am poor I don't want to get made fun of for having nice shoes will I get made fun of

You are not rich

Only on the internet can you pretend to be

By American standards, I've been relatively poor before. My definition of poor, at least by my own standards, was the couple of years after my divorce when I lost practically everything i owned, was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic, and worked at menial meaningless jobs.

Worked 2 or more jobs (usually 60 or more hours a week) spent outrageous sums on my medical expenses, and by the first of the month was very often forced to sell shit to pay my rent. I can't even guess how many times the only thing standing between me and having nothing at all to eat was a few packages of ramen noodles.

I did nothing but work. I had no time for anything else. I had to pick up every extra hour I could. I had no time or money for going out or having friends. I made too much money to qualify for Medicaid or any other kind of public assistance and not enough money to buy insulin, have a roof over my head, keep the lights on, and eat. I'd go to the grocery store after work (usually around 12am) tired and forlorn, and wait in line behind ghetto ass women with 4 kids hopping around and a buggy loaded with steaks, shrimp, pork chops, ice cream, potato chips, king crab legs, and whatever else caught their fancy; and watch incredulously as they whipped out an ebt card to pay for it all. Of course going to the grocery store at midnight with your kids is no problem when you don't have to go to work the next morning because the public is paying your bills for you.

I was literally working just to stay alive and out of the hospital. I can't go even a day without insulin. Being hospitalized with ketoacidosis even once would have put me under such debt I never would never have gotten out from under it.

I worked on an ambulance and picked up people on medicaid all day who called 911 because they didn't feel good, their stomach hurt, or they were pill seekers. For me taking an ambulance, even if I actually needed one, to the hospital or driving myself to the ER was unthinkable because of the cost. For these people it's just what they do. They have no concept of the cost because it costs absolutely nothing (at least to them).

I worked my ass off, and the more I worked the more of my money the state and federal government kept to give to these asshole so they could sleep till noon and sit the on the porch the rest of the day. It makes me sick.

My circumstances have improved remarkably because I clawed and scratched my out of that hole. I worked my ass off to have something better. For a good 3 or 4 years, my life was a hell of loneliness deprivation and constant toil. I might have had a single day off work in a two week period.

When I see these people walking around in $250 shoes and a medicaid and ebt card in their pocket or their 5 kids I have nothing but contempt for them. I regard the same way I would a cockroach on the side walk. I have no pity for them and no compassion. More than that, I have an abiding and deep hatred for the socialist bureaucrats and politicians who took food out my mouth and clothes off of my back to give to parasites who contribute nothing.

Honestly, I think its a waste of money when people think that they should buy 400 dollar basketball shoes when they don't even play basketball and think they're cool. Dude, you wasted 400 dollars on basketball shoes that you will never wear as actual equipment and hate if people accidentally step on your 5 month old shoes. ITS SHOES, GET OVER IT. I have my shoes custom made, for my own style and it is most practical and useful for me, and it costs me 75 dollars. Stop wasting your money if you live in slums and can barely afford rent, but you still got your "jordan's" it sincerely makes you pathetic.

Good article. I’ve been poor or low income my whole life. I’ve always said the two most important things in life are love and comfortable shoes. Yes, I spend $60 for my comfy Oofos flip flops (my summer shoes) and $70 for Oofos clogs and $170 for my SAS sneakers (my winter shoes) and $70 a month to use a therapeutic pool (I have fibromyalgia/CFS) and I buy organic food. Shoot me. Some of my poor friends skimp on their shoes so they can go to a concert now and again. Twice, I cashed in my food stamps when I was living in a homeless shelter to buy comfortable shoes and to go to a Cesaria Evora concert before she died. Bottom line, poor people, in general, are the best at managing money so there is nothing those with money can teach them. Those who criticize the poor are the ones who have A LOT to learn about being decent human beings. Poverty is created out of greed and the’desire to man the military.

I grew up in migrant labor generational poverty with five brothers. I dropped out of school at 15 to marry because I had received messages from the womb that education was not for people like us. People who said ain't every other word, who could not read or write or afford toilet paper did not fit. I spent about 28 years pretty much homeless. At 26 I got my GED and 10 years later my doctorate in Educational Leadership. I have written five books and speak across the nation to assist people in moving out and staying out of poverty. The question of why do they have painted nails, or why do they have a big screen tv, is one of the biggest I get. America is a consumer society. If a kid walks into school with the right pair of shoes, she or he is much more likely to be noticed. If you come to my dumpy trailer and I have a big screen tv from the rent to own place, for a minute, I am somebody. It is about belonging. Maslow put belonging right up with our need to eat. To be noticed is to belong. When you are in poverty, no one looks up when you walk in a room. No one knows your name. You are just a label. It is not just people in poverty who buy into the idea that you have to have the right shoes, car etc., Middle class people hold most of America's debt. They have to have the right couch, jewelry, car or trip. Suspend judgement. That money I spent on my nails or shoes would not get me out of poverty. I am making choices between rent and food. Dr. Donna M. Beegle President Communication Across Barriers, Inc.

Pmsl; self denial is what rich people practice. It's just poor morons trying impress other poor morons who need to spend money on that list of junk.

I think it’s truly about fitting in and a lack of hope because when you know you have no choices (choices taken away from you), you still get to choose what you spend your small amount of money on. Nobody wants to be poor and nobody wants to wear the cheapest of things when it does define you and makes you set apart from what society deems as fashion forward.

Also when you have nothing to save for because you don’t believe you have a future of being better off, you can afford to spend money on what you want.

Being poor is tiresome so it helps break the hopelessness when you can fit in with a pair of shoes. It’s as simple as that

You should shut up. Priorities having been so poor we had to live in our car, this rationalizing stupid spending is ridiculous