Karen Bettez Halnon, Ph.D.

Contact Karen Halnon, author of this research and the book Poor Chic: Poverty Fads, Fashions, and Media in Popular Consumer Culture(forthcoming).

Web site developed by web master, Daryl Fenstad, Senior at Penn State Abington, Spring 2008
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E-mail your “Poor Chic” photos to Dr. Halnon and she may use them on this web site or in her upcoming book!

Updated last: June 25th, 2008

All images and photos displayed on this web site are in the public domain, are royalty free, or were donated by students
The Poor

Lower Class in the United States

 
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In the United States, to be poor means being positioned not at the top and not in the middle, but at the bottom of our class status system. Third class status not only includes having less money and fewer material possessions, but also having a set of life experiences that differ from those of the more economically privileged.

The poor not only have fewer material possessions, they also live with less beauty, privacy, personal safety, and personal space. They experience less ease, less agency, and less control over their everyday lives.
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Being poor involves being judged and treated like a failure, an outcast, or a loser. 

The following are stereotypes of the poor popularized in our culture: lacking manners, taste, and control; being irresponsible, dishonest, slovenly, uncouth, and lazy, being combative and violent, having multiple marriages, getting “knocked up”, neglecting children, and being bad parents. The poor are further depicted as those who lie to bill collectors, are delinquent on child support, gamble, drink whiskey, get drunk, fish, take crystal meth, get arrested, and eat at KFC and IHOP on a regular basis.
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