It's more of a matter of perception than anything else. People in low-income neighborhoods look around and they'll see Tom,Dick, and Harry driving around in their new BMWs or gabbing away about their next trip to cancun or something similar, and they feel slighted. They perceive other people putting in less effort and reaping more rewards out of life and feel it's unfair so they rationalize it by citing things like race, or gender, or skin color, or upbringing, or corruption or government and convince themselves that the blame lies inside an amorphous system they cannot beat. Hence, they stop trying. They no longer aspire to leave where they are. Instead they sit around griping and bemoaning their lot in life. It stops being about what they can do for themselves and improve their standards but rather the notion that, "If I have to work twice as hard just to get the same as the whites/asians/republicans/leprechauns, I'm not gonna do it. It's not fair. Why can't I get a fair shake?".
It happens in the workplace all the time. You find out your manager makes twice as much as you and what usually occurs? Your output and productivity drops, not to mention the beating morale and motivation take. You stop aspiring to do better. You get locked in and you gripe about how very stupid middle/upper management is and how, if you were in charge, you could totally do better...but rarely, do the corporate drones ever dust themselves off and try and be better. I hear it all the time, "If you could do a better job, then leave -- start your own company -- go work elsewhere -- fsck your manager". But rarely does anyone ever do so. The notion that you might have to invest large amounts of effort for something that isn't guaranteed can be terrifying.
Fact of the matter is, life is rarely, if ever, fair. The world doesn't give 2 bits about you. Everyone, regardless of race, color, or creed is responsible for their own standard of living and if you want a shot at making things better than where you are, you've gotta roll up your sleeves and put up or shut up.
It happens in the workplace all the time. You find out your manager makes twice as much as you and what usually occurs? Your output and productivity drops, not to mention the beating morale and motivation take. You stop aspiring to do better. You get locked in and you gripe about how very stupid middle/upper management is and how, if you were in charge, you could totally do better...but rarely, do the corporate drones ever dust themselves off and try and be better. I hear it all the time, "If you could do a better job, then leave -- start your own company -- go work elsewhere -- fsck your manager". But rarely does anyone ever do so. The notion that you might have to invest large amounts of effort for something that isn't guaranteed can be terrifying.
Fact of the matter is, life is rarely, if ever, fair. The world doesn't give 2 bits about you. Everyone, regardless of race, color, or creed is responsible for their own standard of living and if you want a shot at making things better than where you are, you've gotta roll up your sleeves and put up or shut up.