Is a life of poverty in the ghetto a willful choice for some?

[Bubba_Switzler]

Social scientists for decades have sought to explain the dogged persistence of poverty. The received wisdom is the poor are passive victims who would like nothing better than to exchange their hoodies and droopy drawers for the Polos and plaid slacks of the middle-class. To illustrate this, sociologists have concocted numberless arcane and byzantine theories.

One such theory is called “depletable self-control.” Humans, you see, have only so much self-discipline, and then all hell breaks loose. Because everything is harder for poor people, they use up their allotment sooner. By 9 or 10 in the morning, depending on what time they crawl out of bed, the poor have gone through their entire reservoir. The same goes for their decision-making skills. The poor can make a few good decisions at breakfast, but by lunch all bets are off.

…

As I write, I am staring out my second-floor window overlooking my neighbor’s yard. It is Friday morning and there are four young men in their twenties, shirtless, covered in tattoos, hanging out in a grassless backyard, smoking and drinking beer and listening to loud, thumping, misogynistic music.

Evidently their allotment of self-control has been depleted for the day (though I’m not sure how, since all they’ve done is light cigarettes and open beers). Because of this they are obviously too worn out to look for a job.

I would pity them, but there’s no time. I have to go to work.

spectator.org/archives/2011/06/17/ghetto-love

What are your thoughts on the nature of poverty and the choices of those who live in it?