Research: Attitudes about Poverty

Q: WHAT WERE YOU HOPING TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT POVERTY IN THIS RESEARCH?

A: We were looking for a way to deeply communicate with people, in a resonant way, and establish a meta-narrative to do so.

Q: WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT?

A: It’s important to change a larger cultural story. You have to find something that’s a bigger idea that everyone can glom on to and can create meaning with, and find a sense of agency and urgency around, to help to do something.

Q: THE MAIN METAPHOR THAT EMERGED IN YOUR RESEARCH WAS DROWNING. CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT THAT?

A: People feel when they think about being in poverty themselves, they feel like they can’t breathe. They feel like they’re being attacked. It’s an existential crisis. There’s tons of fear around it. It is a mortal threat. And it is one where people don’t really have a way out of it. Whether they've experienced it or not. Even if people are in a cushy situation, there is always this lingering fear of this natural force that feels uncontrollable.

Q: WAS THAT SURPRISING?

A: The idea that it was considered a natural force, a natural thing in existence, was really surprising, and not just among people that you would expect to feel that way, like bootstrappers for example, the more farther right segment. We had a feeling, from our previous research, we’ve seen this kind of thing, but even for progressives, who tend to be more on the left side of things, for them to acknowledge on an unconscious level that poverty is natural. And although a lot of people will put forth the idea that poverty is an unnatural state that we've systemically set up as a feature of our capitalistic system, that they even buy into the story on an unconscious level was really revealing. But helpful in understanding the why behind the what - that poverty exists, that it’s not been solved for yet. It’s still a thing and that a lot of people feel bereft and adrift when they think about it.

Q: AND PEOPLE ALSO COMPARED POVERTY TO FORCES OF WEATHER AND NATURE, RIGHT?

A: They did. They brought us images of razed landscapes, of churches that had been destroyed, of devastated environments one way or another, due to drought and drowning. The idea of it being natural came through really strongly.

I want to acknowledge that it’s problematic that it’s putting forth the idea that it’s natural, if we don’t want it to be a natural thing, if we don’t want it to exist, we have to say it’s unnatural.

Q: WHY DOES IT MATTER THAT WE UNDERSTAND THESE UNCONSCIOUS BELIEFS THAT PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT POVERTY?

A: People are driven by their unconscious mind and how they feel on an unconscious level, which may or may not be ideas they want to bring to the surface at a cocktail party or even admit to themselves. But those things, that we won’t admit to ourselves, drive us. Understanding where people are on that level helps us understand them on that level. And ultimately guide and influence their behavior. It’s really connecting with the anchor of their feelings.

Q: WHAT ARE SOME QUESTIONS YOU THINK JOURNALISTS MIGHT WANT TO ASK THEMSELVES TO MAKE THEIR REPORTING ON POVERTY MORE COMPLEX AND CHALLENGE FRAMING THAT PRESENTED POVERTY AS AN INDIVIDUAL FAILURE WITH INDIVIDUAL SOLUTIONS?

A: First, journalists can ask themselves:

• What kind of stories have I been told about poverty growing up?
• What kind of stories have influenced me?
• What would it mean for me to be in poverty and what would I feel about that?
• How do I feel about a kid being in poverty versus an adult?

Biases is a bad word. You don’t want to have biases, but everyone does. We all have our own frames and they have pros and cons, but be aware of what they are.

Second, really examine the verbs and metaphors that we’re using in our language.

There’s three or four different ways of writing anything. Examining the unconscious story that we’re communicating to people is really important. What kind of story am I telling here? Is it a story about an innocent orphan child reduced by a big force? Or is it about someone who could have made better choices and they screwed up and they should have made different decisions?

I think the other question is - what story just comes out of me and then what kind of story is helpful and gives my audience a sense of agency and a sense of urgency?

I have an agenda here. I want people to do something about poverty. Not just here’s a problem … but here's a problem, here’s some context, here’s a solution and here’s how you can help. One of the reasons why navigation is such a key thing is that we want a story that people can co-create around. Where they can see themselves in the story. I can be on the boat, I can do this, I can help row.

Q: THAT SOUNDS LIKE SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM. WE TELL JOURNALISTS THAT WE WANT PEOPLE TO WALK AWAY FROM A STORY THINKING THAT SOMETHING CAN BE DONE. THAT JOURNALISTS SHOULDN’T PRESCRIBE EXACTLY WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN BUT HELP PEOPLE SEE THAT SOMETHING ELSE IS POSSIBLE. DOES THAT RESONATE WITH YOU?

A: One hundred percent.

Q: IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU WANT TO ADD TO HELP JOURNALISTS UNDERSTAND THE FINDINGS OF YOUR RESEARCH SO FAR?

A: When we look at our culture, there are some stories that have really stuck. There’s the welfare queen story perpetuated intentionally in the 1980s. There’s the story of a homeless person on the street. There’s a story that it's the system and the story that it’s the individual.

There’s a lot of opportunity to fill in the gaps for people.

People have two big stories in their heads - here’s how you get out of poverty and poverty is messed up, I don't want any part of it. When you see successful integration of those two stories, which is where journalists come in, that’s when you see solutions being enacted.

We need to create meaningful mental models and powerful stories where people can connect the dots. Yes, poverty is bad and there are solutions and here’s how we put the two together so people can move forward out of it and we can all have a role in doing that. Journalists have an important job to tell those stories.