49 pages • 1 hour read
Rutger BregmanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Bregman starts this chapter by describing the opening of a casino in North Carolina under the management of the Eastern Band Cherokee people. Many feared that a casino would breed bad habits or place the tribe at the mercy of criminals, but it raised both average incomes and overall quality of life for the community. A nearby expert noted an improvement in the mental health of young Cherokee people and significant decreases in antisocial behavior. In addition, adults showed greater abilities to manage their personal finances and parent their children. These results provide evidence for the conclusion that poverty leads to social ailments such as crime and drug abuse. Conventional wisdom has long held that poverty is the consequence of poor choices and moral failings, and thus the poor deserve their lot; this view concludes that trying to help people who lack the wherewithal to manage their own lives is pointless. A leading proponent of an alternative viewpoint is Princeton psychologist Eldar Shafir, who has shown how poverty exacts a high mental toll on those experiencing it. The constant need to satisfy immediate needs inhibits the faculties necessary for long-term planning. Wealthier people tend to make better decisions not because they are inherently smarter but because they are not subject to the same levels of anxiety, especially regarding finances.
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Business & Economics
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Contemporary Books on Social Justice
View Collection
Education
View Collection
Equality
View Collection
Globalization
View Collection
Memorial Day Reads
View Collection
Military Reads
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Politics & Government
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Science & Nature
View Collection
Sociology
View Collection