Understanding Privilege and Poverty

The past few weeks have continued to challenge my long-standing perception of myself and the world around me. Week Four began with a look into the community dynamics in local economies, with a powerful video on Cuba’s community during their “Special Period.” The intensive week followed with a look into community economic development and an exercise in understanding of social privileges. This past week, we were introduced to Social Entrepreneurship and the future of the social enterprise. Undoubtedly, the past few weeks have continued to deepen my understanding of social justice and how it relates to business.

During Week Four, I found reading entitled Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets, to be exceptionally interesting. Kretzmann and McKnight made an honest evaluation of troubled neighborhoods and how to effectively develop them into functional communities. The authors discussed two main ways of handling these devastated neighborhoods: through traditional, needs-driven social welfare, or a more effective path of capacity-focused development. I found this particularly interesting because it deals with a core argument from many conservatives: Social programs (like welfare, for instance) are short-term solutions that ultimately won’t motivate the recipient to get out of poverty, and will continue the reliance on the working taxpayer for funding. This reading validated that sentiment, defining a “victim” mentality that constantly tries to find ways of exploiting the system rather than being a productive member of the community. Poverty is a real issue and although social programs at some level are necessary, I don’t believe they are a sustainable solution. Kretzmann and McKnight suggest that communities map their institutional, association, and individual assets to facilitate full contributors to the community-building process. Whether it is a team or community, I believe everyone wants to be part of something, and creating opportunities for individuals to work together can help reduce the “client dependency” mentality members of this community have lived by. This reading reminded me of the Biblical proverb:

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.” - Author unknown

Our intensive week reminded me why there are certain topics that benefit from the large community we are a part of at IslandWood. In our small group classes, we did an exercise to recognize who in our community has grown up with privilege, and reversely who has struggled more to get ahead. In a group of MBA students, it is fair to say that we all had a certain amount of privilege just to get where we are. This is a very delicate subject, but it was reassuring to be discussing it in an open forum with peers that I trust. (For that reason, I am grateful to be a part of this insightful and diverse community.)

Acknowledging that I have had innate privilege has been fairly easy, but there are times that I forget just how easy I have it. I was discussing the country’s rising unemployment rate with my girlfriend, Christie, and pointing the majority of the blame at the unemployed workers. My argument was that there are plenty of job openings out there (I am constantly perusing the job ads) and people must consider career changes, such as moving into a different trade or making less money in order to get employed. While I still believe there is some truth to that, I realized that my conclusions were based on a faulty premise. Christie pointed out that many people lost their jobs in a specific manufacturing trade, and the jobs that they are most qualified for don’t exist anymore. Secondly, many people who are unemployed do not have the same opportunities as a young white male who is just starting a career. After seeing her point, I was a little embarrassed that I would make those assertions without fully realizing certain forces at play, especially since I was studying these issues. I have never been fired or turned down for a job. Gaining employment with ease has been a social privilege that I hadn’t fully realized until now.

This past week we took a look at social entrepreneurship. Prior to this week, I was unclear on precisely what constituted as a social enterprise. After reading The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship, I learned that it is basically an entrepreneur who creates a business with some explicit and central social mission. The biggest challenge for the social enterprise to succeed is the contradicting focus of social gains in a market that rewards financial success. Social entrepreneurs are a rare breed that must learn how to balance these factors. One such individual is Robert Eggers, who was a CAIR at the second intensive. Robert started a restaurant that trained and employed the homeless in the culinary arts, and helped them transition into the workforce. While he has successfully graduated 700 cooks, I am curious how many of them were able to maintain that employment well after his intervention.

Robert spoke to that effect, stating that some employers felt that hiring homeless individuals was too risky, and it was unlikely they would be as capable and motivated as someone who hadn’t ever lived on the streets. As unfortunate as this sounds, labor capital is highly variable and employee attrition can drastically affect a company’s workflow. If the employer doesn’t have a strong social mission at his company, what is the incentive for hiring an individual who may not be the most qualified or dependable? For this reason, I believe that there should be a tax credit to hire these employees. As long as the blue-collar manufacturing jobs continue to get outsourced and the low-income individuals struggle for employment, it is necessary that the government take some action in an effort to reduce the drastic inevitable consequences. A small business tax credit for hiring new employees has passed through the legislature recently, but this just provides an incentive to hire anybody, not necessarily those that need it most. Theoretically, a government subsidy to hire the less fortunate will eradicate the neediness of the “clients” and will transform them into “producers,” as I discussed earlier.

I think the most challenging thing about Social Justice is its acknowledgment. As Americans, we value our individualism and the wealth of opportunities at our feet. We use words like motivation, hard work, and persistence to describe the characteristics it takes to succeed in life. The truth, however, is that the level of adversity one faces on the road to success is relative to their own experiences and their veiled privilege. Even though I feel I am well-versed on the fundamentals of social justice, I still make judgments largely based on my own experience. It isn’t something that can be learned, but practiced. My goal is to become more vigilant of the social injustices I am surrounded by, and bring them into the light—just as Christie did for me.