Collaborative Activity

It Costs Money to Be Poor

Overview: Poverty is a reality for millions of U.S. Americans throughout the country.  The recent global economic crisis has only deepened this problem. Yet, many believe that poverty is an individual issue; that if one is poor, they are lazy, want handouts, or make bad choices. Many U.S. Americans are sympathetic to the poor in other nations, while not exhibiting that same attitude toward their fellow citizens. Poverty may or may not be a reality for you and your family, but some of your peers will find that this exercise hits close to home.

Activity: Go to the following website?https://playspent.org/

Click “accept challenge.”

Complete one month of living in poverty. Take notes about the decisions you make, the reasons you chose them, and how you feel about them. This is a simulation, designed for critical analysis, and not a “game” you try to “win”. After you finish playing through once record how much money you have left and if you have any outstanding bills or payments to make and those unpaid costs.

Once you finish, go back into the simulation, chose a different job and complete the scenario again. Continue to take notes about the decisions you make, the reasons you chose them, and your feelings about them. Record how much money you have left and if you have any outstanding bills or payments to make and those unpaid costs.

Reflection: Consider the following questions after you complete the simulations:

How did the day-to-day decisions make or break your livelihood? What helped or hurt you (financially and emotionally)?

What outstanding bills did you have or ignore? Why?

What was (or should be) the role of charity?

Were there more positives than negatives?

How does being poor add to everyday problems?

What does the simulation teach us about the necessity and/or strength of our support networks?

Reflect on the simulation with respect to the U.S. narrative on the working poor. Is it consistent or inconsistent with the narrative? Why? If you are here from another country, what is the national narrative on poverty there? What does the simulation teach you about poverty here in the U.S.?

1. Submission: Give a short overview of how your experience in the simulation, how you felt, or what shocked you, etc. Next, pick one myth about poverty and “myth bust” it as a sociologist. For example, how would a sociologist show that the stereotype of the “welfare queen” is a myth? Here, you must be armed with the course material and empirical evidence (and must include a graph or other relevant visual you find from an authoritative source).
2. Require Reading: https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-so… 
3. Ch. 9 “Social Stratification in the United States”

Ch. 11 “Race and Ethnicity