This week we looked at how the poor have been controlled over the decades. The 18th and 19th centuries have been a war against the poor, despite things being implemented in order to help them. When people began to fight for a minimum wage and the 8 hour work day, that is when labor started to become more just. It is surprising to think that it was not even that long ago, not even 100 years, when people were working for next to nothing in horrible conditions. The Social Security implementation did help some poor, by keeping the number of impoverished elderly down. Nowadays, it’s mainly the younger crowd who are without money.  What stood out to me was the distinction between the “worthy” and “unworthy” poor. This sense of control has been going on pre 700, back in England. Those who were able-bodied and did not have a noticeable problem were seen as “unworthy” poor, because if you could work there should be no excuse for you to not be. You did not deserve help. Those who were “worthy” of assistance were people like mothers, widows, and handicap. These people were seen as less and that they could not support themselves, so they were deserving of help. You can still see how these ideas from hundreds of years ago are still in the minds of people today. Many look down on the poor and say “I work, so you can to. I’m not giving the money I earned to someone who did not work for it”. Not everyone’s poverty situation is something that can be seen on the surface, and we all need help from time to time. Rather than controlling the poor, we should work on ways to help them learn how to control their lives again, which is what many of these shelters we are looking into are striving to do.