Question

Now refer to the label of “undeserving poor” from last week.

What are the key agents in manifesting this label? Consider their power in cultivating meaning.

Answer 1

The undeserving poor are considered to be those individuals who are able bodied and able to work, yet demand for welfare programs from the state due to their poverty. Such people are labelled as such in a capitalistic society where each individual who is capable of working must earn his own living. It is also based on the idea that the hard working taxpayer is not supposed to bear the burden of poor people, who are considered to be too lazy to work and support themselves, and instead rely on the government to provide for them. Now that this view is popular in the US, the requirements placed on people to be eligible for welfare programs have been made stricter, such that only the so called deserving poor (disabled and old) are supposed to receive them. This has been contested on the grounds that all must be given the right to basic needs.