Significance of the Study
In recent decades, public opinion has shifted and has become less supportive of the plight of the poor. The view that poverty is due to individual flaws has become more prevalent. While some recognize societal causes for poverty, many others attribute poverty to lack of motivation, hard work, moral flaws, and other characteristics internal to the individual. Additionally, the literature review will show that the general public’s perception of the poor differs from the demographic profile of those in poverty. Understanding current attitudes and perceptions and how they may influence support for programs and policies that affect the poor is an important first step in addressing the issue.
When researchers, advocates, and the media individualize the issue of poverty (Bolstrum, 2002c), the public looks for individual causes and solutions rather than systemic ones. Those in the middle class have distanced themselves from the poor, and because of dominant images of the poor as lazy, unmotivated, and not willing to live up to the American ideal of hard work, there is little attachment to the issue (Lott, 2002). Because of these public perceptions, any stated support for policies affecting those in poverty is tenuous. To change the way that many Americans feel about the poor and to garner support for programs and policies aimed at eliminating poverty, it is necessary to first understand what these beliefs are. From there, advocates and policymakers can address these attitudes in an attempt to reshape public opinion and depict the issue of poverty as a societal problem, rather than an individual one.
Wisconsin residents will be studied because of the state’s unique position of having a comparatively low poverty rate, yet one of the largest gaps between the proportion of Whites and the proportion of Blacks in poverty (Dresser & Rogers, 2004)