probablyasocialecologist:

“The culture of communalism, which had once enabled many poor people to cope with material hardship in a dignified manner, was eroded by mainstream insistence that affluence determined value and that sharing resources only made the problem worse. Among the poor, sharing could no longer be a core value when folks began to embrace notions of liberal individualism along with the notion that one’s value was determined by the ownership of things. In a world where one’s ability to consume and the objects acquired determine one’s worth, there can be no respect for the poor. The citizenship of consumption has no place for those who lack the power to acquire. As the values of the culture changed, so did the fate of the poor.”

— bell hooks, Where We Stand: Class Matters