Marginalized Poverty

One of the key strengths of free-market capitalism is also its key weakness: unfettered self-interest in free and unrestrained competition allows the strongest and best to rise to the top, while leaving the weakest and least adaptable to struggle either with new ways to survive, or perish under the weight of social darwinism. Although this kind of extreme meritocracy sounds attractive and just at first sight to some, especially those in power, it is fundamentally flawed because it overlooks a vital part of the human experience - everyone at some point or another is weak and helpless. The children of the most conservative right wing proponents are invariably expected to live by strict standards of performance that create psychological anxiety precisely because they are not allowed to be children, to be weak and helpless. The same is true of the marginalized poor living in free-market capitalist society. Their economic status at the lower strata of society eliminates numerous opportunities for them to re-invent themselves, the same opportunities that are abundantly available to others living in luxury, creating a vicious cycle that divides one social group from the other, resulting in parallel worlds that often never meet, until revolutionary pressures explode in social changes that demolish the walls separating the two. The upheavel at the end of the Industrial Revolution led to socialist democracies that are neither unrestrained capitalism, nor totalitarian communism. The end of the Cold War and the Information Society will lead us into a new social form. Many have made predictions, but only history will tell for sure.

One key feature of the new social norm can be certain: vertical mobility. Since the agricultural revolution milleniums ago, human society has progressively transformed to promote vertical mobility, to allow any one to move from one stratum to another. The speed and range of mobility has progressively increased: from the Eygptian static model of profession inherited from one generation to another, to the Feudal model of profession remaining within each social caste, with the occasional star rising in status, but not in class, to the industrial model of status based only on wealth, to the information model where status is based only on knowledge. The speed and range of change in social status increased from the glacial multi-generational to the meteoric rise of instant celebrities.

The burden of the marginalized poor is the lack of opportunities that allow them the same access to vertical mobility. What are these obstacles? Is it money? Is it education? Is it hard work? Is it character? Is it talent? Is it luck? Perhaps it is a combination of all of the above? Whatever the reason or obstacle, the key to eradicate poverty is to address these individually and collectively, to allow those who are able to rise to their proper level.

What is a person's proper level in society? The ancient Eygptians thought it was the one he was borned. As late as Georgian England, a person's birth is a strong determinant of his future. It is only with the liberating forces of the industrial revolution that a man borned poor can be a president, or the richest man on earth. Although it is good to have dreams, and work hard to achieve, is it realistic to expect them, and feel disappointed or even angry when they do not materialize?

It is the negative emotional reaction to the result of unrealistic dreams that lead a person to crime, to despair, and both are among the strongest obstacles to opportunities for a better future. While it is important to promote the positive aspect of having dreams, it is equally important to promote realistic dreams, and tools to deal with disappointments.

The marginalized poor is similar to adolescents: full of dreams, ready and willing to climb the mountain of life, to rise to the top. By giving them a helping hand at the right time, society will benefit in the long run, much more than sitting on the sideline doing nothing.

By providing timely and carefully considered assistance to the marginalized poor to allow them to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, society gains a larger percentage of strong and productive workforce, instead of one perpetually struggling on the edge of survival.