Although money has been a big part of our economy, money has negatively impacted our community by making people feel negative emotions, creating inequality between the rich and poor, and have low-income families struggle for money every day.
To begin, one negative impact of money is money has caused people to feel negative emotions. According to Bell Hooks, “Television shows and films bring the message home that no one can truly feel good about themselves if they are poor” (Hooks, 2015). This shows how people feel that they should be insecure about themselves and how much money they make or how much income their family gets. Also, this illustrates how society can contribute to people feeling a certain way due to technology and having social media portray the poor in a negative way which could lead to people feeling bad about themselves or giving in to negative feelings. “Socialized by film and television to identify with the attitudes and values of privileged classes in this society, many people who are poor, or a few paychecks away from poverty, internalize fear and contempt for those who are poor” (Hooks, 2015).
This demonstrates how social media and movies or shows portray an image of how someone who is poor or struggle with money badly. For example, people who are poor in movies are always portrayed as a bad person who resorts to stealing to gain money or something valuable. This proves how because of these poor people are stereotyped in believing that they should become a thief to get money. People who struggle with money do not always resort to stealing or doing bad things, they most likely end up struggling to look for jobs or overwork themselves to get money which could lead to stress. This illustrates how people who struggle with money end up feeling negative feelings. This shows how money has caused people to feel that being poor is a bad thing and causes people to feel insecure about their families income which leads to negative emotions that people end up feeling about being poor which shows how much society can change people’s point of view on money and poverty.
In addition, another reason that money has affected people negatively is that money has caused there to be an increasing gap between the poor and the rich. According to Laura Finley, “Although there are people in poverty in the United States and in other developed countries, those living in developing countries are at greater risk for what has been called “absolute poverty”’ (Finley, 2018). This demonstrates how people who are in developing and developed countries differ and developing countries struggle with money and economy the most. In developing countries, they are not as advanced compared to developed countries which show how developed countries have more technology which leads to a larger gap between the rich and poor. People who have low income end up lacking education due to not affording enough money for tuition which leads to people not getting the chance to get an education. (Schultz, 2016). This demonstrates a gap between the rich and poor because they result in less technology which leads to the poor not getting as many opportunities in getting a good education.
As well as, people who are poor not being able to get a proper education because they are unable to pay for tuition. This shows how there is inequality between people who are rich and poor because those who are rich get more opportunities and able to get proper education by paying for tuition without depending on scholarships. This shows how people have been influenced by money and how the gap between the rich and poor has changed because people are not getting their education where the rich can afford private schools and get an education which illustrates how the rich get more advantages and opportunities than the poor. People who live in developing countries have to struggle with money and people in developed countries have more resources than those in developing countries which illustrates the difference between the rich and poor.
Finally, money has negatively impacted low-income families causing them to become a hard-working class. Sanna Thompson states, “The majority of these families are headed by young (late 20’s), single/divorced women who have two to three children under the age of five. These women often have low levels of education and minimal work histories” (Thompson, 2011). This shows how families who have one parent ends up struggling the most in an economy because they must care for their children and work daily to care for their children. This demonstrates how money has negatively impacted low-income families causing them to work hard everyday and possibly overwork themselves. In the article by Barbara Ehrenreich she states, “In a further nod to “culture of poverty” theory, the original welfare reform bill appropriated $250 million over five years for “chastity training” for poor single mothers” (Ehrenreich,2015).
This demonstrates how due to the issue for single parents having to overwork themselves in to live in an economy, there was a reform bill created for the single mothers who struggle with money every day and have to work hard every day to care for them. According to George Wilbert, “The mass movement from the South to northern industrial centers began in the 1920s as a result of the demand for industrial workers. The shortage of laborers in the northern industry was largely the result of quota restrictions imposed on immigrants from abroad.” (Wilber, 2015). This demonstrates how people who struggle with money and forced to migrate for an opportunity for a job negatively impact low-income families because people who have to migrate has to find a job and, in some cases, leads to families having to separate due to migration. As a result, this shows how poverty has impacted several families all around the world and has caused parents to constantly work to make the money to take care of their families which illustrates how much families work daily to make it over the poverty line and take care of their families.
In conclusion, our community has been severely impacted by money and poverty has changed throughout the years but still negatively impacts people by causing negative emotions, a gap difference between the poor and rich, and affecting low-income families having them work daily.