Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
The downward shift in the bottom 20% isn't just structural, but cultural as well.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
The collapse in marriage being the main thing, but there are lots of other weird socio-economic phenomenons that have slowly been eroding the social networks of the bottom 20% ever since the 1970s.
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One of the reasons poverty is so difficult to discuss constructively is because you have the left saying it's all about structure, and the right who say it's all about individual responsibility. But it's about both.
Structures affect your likelihood of succeeding. If you have strong family support, excellent schools, and money, then you have a solid foundation for achievement. Of course, there are people who have all those things but end up broke basket-cases anyway. I'm sure we all know people from comfortable middle-class backgrounds who are major screw-ups barely able to keep body and soul together. And then there are people who immigrate to Canada with next to nothing, and within 20 years have pulled themselves into the middle class, and raised children who excel in school and go on to high-status professions.
So what are these cultural factors? Marriage is the big one. The collapse of marriage among the working class has been a catastrophe. Besides removing male role models from the home, it leaves families in much more precarious financial straits. And without the spur to bring home a decent salary to support a family, many men drop out of the game altogether.
Education is another. Part of that is structural - having access to good schools and the funding for post-secondary education. Part of it is cultural - books in the home, the discipline to do homework every night, expectations from family to do well, even having a regular bedtime so you get a good sleep every night.
A mobile population that has lost connections to extended family is another. It's one thing to be living on $24,000 a year when your mom and sister live in the same town and can help watch the kids while you do your shift at the hair salon. You can probably put some money away because you're not paying child care. It's another thing altogether when you live in an apartment in a big city and have no family and few friends.