Back in the days of the Great Depression, people would riot on the streets when they saw a family being Evicted. Yet as Matthew Desmond points out in his novel “Evicted” evictions were a fraction as prevalent back then as they are now. In this day and age, people seem oddly desensitized to families being thrown out onto the street. Perhaps this is due to the type of people they see evicted, and the assumptions that they have towards them. Overall, society has grown to have a detestful view on those who come from poverty, as with poverty come higher rates of violence, drugs, and other crimes. Not to mention, the conservative platform in America has for years focused fiscal blame onto the lower class, particularly those dependant on welfare programs, by labeling them as “moochers” and claiming they abuse the system, riding on the backs of hard working Americans. This damaging sentiment paired with the stereotypes of and attitudes towards impoverished individuals has contributed to the desensitization of Americans towards their fellow struggling citizens, and further enabled the loop of poverty to continue. Poverty itself is a complex thing, and more often than not, those who fall below poverty lines end up in a vicious cycle that is hard to pull yourself out …show more content…
This idea is far from being accurate, something that Desmond brings to light in chapter 18, when he discusses Larraine, an individual on welfare, who receives $80 a month for food. The way the welfare program is set up, if she has more than $2000 in her bank account she loses her benefits which decentives her to save, as if she exceeds that amount she receives no help, but reaching that amount by no means actually gives her financial