Negative Stereotypes Behind Bad & Ugly Gossip: Poverty

My collection of stereotypes comes from books, magazines, newspapers, movies, television shows, radio programs, news shows, conversations, etc. Sources can be 10s to 100s to 1000s of years old.

Stereotypes and categories overlap at times. I create categories of stereotypes as I have stereotype examples to put into those categories.

The research into gossip goes back at least to the middle of the 20th century. Both men and women research gossip. Putting all of their research together, this is my definition:

Gossip is talk and writing about people
— both other people and ourselves —
in family, social, workplace, and public settings.

Much of the research shows that gossip is both positive and negative. I define gossip as good, bad, or ugly. Good gossip ignores or breaks stereotypes. Bad gossip uses stereotypes. Ugly gossip manufactures stereotypes.

Negative stereotypes exist about everyone, no matter their age, gender, race, religion, profession, etc. These stereotype blog posts will help you understand the negative stereotypes about you.

If you use negative stereotypes about people who are different from you, you are inviting everyone who hears you to use negative stereotypes about you.

Stereotype Updates

I add stereotypes as I come across them.

I will add the new stereotypes at the bottom of each listing, putting ~~~~~ between the older stereotypes and the new stereotypes.

More Stereotypes

Negative Stereotypes Behind Bad & Ugly Gossip: People In General

Negative Stereotypes Behind Bad & Ugly Gossip: Ethnic, National, & Racial Identities

Negative Stereotypes Behind Bad & Ugly Gossip: Workplaces

Negative Stereotypes Behind Bad & Ugly Gossip: Romance

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~~~~~~~~~~

People Living At Working Class, Low Income & Poverty Levels

thieving
lazy
dependent
passive
uneducated
undeserving
deviant for not being middle class
don’t work hard enough
don’t work at all
can’t improve themselves
feel bad about themselves
don’t make friends well
unable to defer gratification
no respect for education
no interest in education
dishonest
promiscuous
apathetic or ignorant about birth control
ethnic minority
lack thrift
loose morals
no personal drive
no willingness to take risks
no initiative
unwilling to work hard
fail to seize opportunities
deserve:

to live near garbage dumps and toxic waste, near noxious industries
poorer school systems
inferior medical care
more frequent arrests
harsher prison sentences
more severe social control

People Living In Slums

criminals
drug addicts
delinquents

People living in Brazilian favelas

desperate
crushed

Mothers Receiving Welfare

lazy
freeloader
wild
lack confidence
abuse the system
practice fraud
get something for nothing
sit at home
lack work ethics
keep having babies for free
unskilled laborers
live high on the hog
on drugs
fat
sits in front of television all day eating potato chips
adopted children so they can get welfare
deserve:

contraceptive testing
involuntary sterilization
coercive treatment during pregnancy
prosecution for drug use

Fathers Of Low Income Children

deadbeat dads

Low Income People Are Poor In

friendships
verbal skills
education
social manners
resources
health
happiness

Low Income Parents

lack educational values

~~~~~

can’t do well at educating their own children

Low Income Children

lack motivation
do not value education
would not benefit from:

the same education offered by schools in wealthier areas

Low Income Men

buffoon
threat

Low Income Women

slobs
plain
unattractive
neglect their children
sexually loose
accustomed to roughness
less prone to the terror of rape
can be raped only through gang rape

Points to Ponder

Did you notice that people living in poverty might not be able to improve themselves because other people think they deserve poorer school systems?

Did you notice the opposite stereotypes that people living in poverty can’t improve themselves but can take advantage of the health care system?

Did you notice that people living in poverty can supposedly take advantage of the health care system, but are in poor health?

Did you notice that people living in poverty might need to take advantage of the health care system because other people think they deserve inferior medical care?

How do people in poverty live high on the hog when other people think they deserve to live in poor neighborhoods near garbage dumps, toxic waste, and noxious industries?

Personal Note

I wrote letters to the editor about poverty issues for several years. I was low income because medical professionals misdiagnosed a childhood spinal injury for 33 years. Eventually, normal sitting and standing became extremely painful. How would you earn money if you couldn’t sit or stand normally?

Early in my letter writing years, a friend was in a baby sitting coop. My friend attended a meeting shortly after the newspaper had published one of my letters about poverty. One of the other women in the coop asked if anyone knew Paula Kramer. My friend said she did. The other woman asked:

“Is Paula fat and does she sit in front of TV set all day eating potato chips?”

My friend told me she set the woman straight.

My husband was part Native American and our daughter has his darker skin coloring. A neighbor asked me,

“Did you adopt your daughter so you could get welfare?”

Why would any adoption agency allow someone living at poverty level to adopt a child?

~~~~~

Critical Thinking Questions

1.  What’s happening?

2.  Why is it important?

3.  What don’t I see?

4.  How do I know?

5.  Who is saying it?

6.  What else? What if?

Stereotype Thinking Questions

1.  What is threatening my beliefs?

2.  How can I make it unimportant?

3.  What can I reject?

4.  What can I laugh at?

5.  How can I attack people who threaten my beliefs?

6.  How can I deflect?

The stereotype thinking questions are mine, based on my observations of stereotype thinkers.

~~~~~

Paula M. Kramer
© 2015 to the present
All rights reserved.

Posts on this blog alternate with posts at the link below. Posts for both blogs are published on Wednesdays as they are ready to be published. Time between posts could be weeks or months.

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Resource Websites

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Business Directory

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