ANDERSON — Americans’ attitudes toward the poor vary widely and have much to do with personal backgrounds, according to local sociologists and social-service providers.

“I think there is a lot of ambivalence when it comes to poverty, particularly because in the United States we come from a foundation of influences that makes it difficult for us to understand how someone could be living in poverty,” said Lolly Bargerstock-Oyler, professor of social work at Anderson University.

“We are influenced by the American attitude of ‘rugged individualism’ that says if you work hard you can make it, without recognizing that some people have many more barriers.”

Joy Plummer, executive director of Operation Love Ministries, says those barriers are very real for the area’s needy.

“I think many people are unaware of what impoverished people are experiencing,” she said. “They don’t know that many people are living in abandoned buildings or out in the woods. I have worked with an entire family that was living in their car. Kids should not be living in a car. 

“People are living in ways that shouldn’t be OK here. You shouldn’t have to pick through Dumpsters for food.”

Plummer said that some people actually prefer such a lifestyle, but she noted that these are rare exceptions to the rule — most people in poverty wish they weren’t.

And she insisted that people who look down on poor people need to change their attitudes.

“A lot has to change about the mindset in our community,” she said. “We have to begin to think about the issues that create the poverty. Everybody needs to start thinking about how they can make this community better from wherever they’re at. We need to generate hope.”

‘Balance of life lessons’

Dr. Bruce MacMurray, professor of sociology and criminal justice at Anderson University, argues that attitudes toward poverty are grounded in how people are socialized.

“Our attitude is a balance of life lessons we learn from parents and life experience,” he said. “These create a sense of fundamental values or a lens through which we view the social world. The frustration of that is that those views are not often justified in terms of social science or in terms of any objective viewpoint.”

MacMurray believes that American attitudes toward the poor are grounded in the national’s early frontier mentality, at the core of which is the “rugged individualism” concept — the idea that you sink or swim based on your own efforts.

Oyler also cites the “Protestant work ethic” that carried over from Great Britain into the United States — the Calvinist idea that if you were poor, it meant that you had character flaws, and if you prospered, it meant you were in God’s favor.

“Although many no longer believe that,” she said, “we still have a legacy of that.”

Many sociologists and social workers try to counter such attitudes.

“To suggest that the poor are poor because they are lazy or can’t save money or they are dumb is somewhat self-serving,” MacMurray said. “Those views allow those of us who don’t live in that environment to dismiss it as their problem rather than our problem — to say that they’re responsible for their own failure rather than to say that it stems from the problems of our society.

“Those experiences that fit our mindset, we point out. Those that don’t, we dismiss. That way we can be content with our sense of what the world is without having to change it, even if the reality doesn’t correspond to that.”

Difficult to apply for aid

To the charge that people on assistance “game the system,” Plummer responds: “I do hear comments about people taking advantage of the system. People who say that don’t understand. When people talk about assistance, they don’t know what people have to go through to get it or maintain it. They don’t know what it does to your psyche to stand in line for food, to count on others for food.”

In order to receive and maintain assistance, clients generally must provide documentation such as proof of income and birth certificates for themselves and their children. Many of those who are impoverished also lack the computer skills and reading ability to complete application processes for assistance.

“It’s a challenge if you’re homeless or if you’re in a very transient environment to maintain such personal records,” explained Plummer.

She also pointed to the difficulty of “trying to fill out application forms when you’re illiterate.”

Plummer said, however, that despite some exceptions, local people are not “blaming the victims” of poverty for their own plight.

“People in this community have been stepping up in a way they never have before,” she said. “So much of our population is in financial trouble, and though people don’t have as much to give, they are rallying around each other and giving their time to volunteer to help the community. I have been here since 2004, and what I’m seeing is a community that’s reaching out to each other more than ever.”

Youth groups, families and individuals have stepped up to help Operation Love by building shelves, serving food and spreading hope.

“One woman is volunteering to plant a garden so that we can grow our own vegetables to serve to our clients,” Plummer said.

To gain a true understanding of those in need, Plummer insists that volunteerism is essential.

“Being around those in need, seeing the reality of what it’s really like for those living on low incomes — there’s no other way to really understand poverty.”