e60. Poverty Shaming

Have you ever been perusing Facebook or Twitter and run across a meme that maybe seemed a little funny at first, but when you thought about it, you just thought “hey, isn’t that just making fun of people for being poor?” Maybe the meme wasn’t funny at all…. maybe it was just a forward from your racist old aunt about how “those people” are gaming the system and we need to put an end to it because everyone knows that “those people” are just lazy drug addict welfare queens gaming the system. And you know you just want to block that person but then it would make Thanksgiving dinner even more awkward than it already is. Yeah… those memes. Why do people make those? Why do they like them? On this weeks show, Hannah, Wayne and Mav are joined by a returning Les Kay to talk about the cultural effects of poverty shaming. Why do we do it, and how does it work? Give it a listen and let us know what you think. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* “Charming Whale Thought to be Russian Spy” by CNN* Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies by Jodi Dean* Capital by Karl Marx* The Uses of Literacy by Richard Hoggart* The Making of the English Working Class by E. P. Thompson * Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme* Find Les’s website at: http://www.leskay.com* Follow Hannah on Twitter: @hannahleerogers* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick* Follow Mav’s Personal Blog: http://chrismaverick.com* Follow Wayne’s Personal Blog: http://wayne-wise.com * Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Instagram: @voxpopcast* Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast* Make sure you subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!