The face of poverty in America from a historical perspective had always been African Americans. Ideally, due to the constraint in social and economic factors as well as lack of proper education, most blacks thrived under low living standards. However, as stated, the number of white children living in poverty rose between 1970 and 2000. One of the main reasons is that the white`s working-class life expectancy has significantly lowered, thus sending them to an earlier grave (Vance, 2016). From a diverse perspective, early deaths always affect the economic situations and lifestyles of the dependents, in this case, the children. Furthermore, from a time before, with the presence of white presidents, most white believed that they were in a better position to receive public assistance, a notion that turned out untrue. Because of these expectations, whites failed to strategize on having financial stability, which landed them to low living standards.
The idea of hard work has been accrued to the lifestyle of black people from history, as seen in the case of slavery and high rates of poverty. For a black person to gain financial stability, they had to work hard as it was the only remedy out (Vance, 2016). However, on the other hand, most white people grew up in considerable environments with less or even no struggles at all. Thus, the ideology of working hard was not firmly instilled in them. Because of this, they find working for fewer hours as a norm and not a lazy attribute. The perception that white men are hardworking is only justified because most of them are in a better financial position and enjoy economic stability. In reality, being financially stable calls for less work, which would not have been the case if they had low living standards.
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Reference
Vance, J. D. (2016). Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. First edition. New York, NY: Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.