Social Income and The Precariat

A lack of community support can be far worse than simply being broke

I've often said this, but had a hard time trying to articulate it. Middle class people have a way of helping each other out which often leaves out the poor, even in their own social groups. I've noticed that between each other, they give gifts, trade items on the cheap, give each other places to crash, even have fundraisers for mates going through a particularly bad moment. Unfortunately, without intending it they leave out people who have been subconsciously identified as undeserving, which are almost exclusively the people in most need.

"The precariat can be identified by a distinctive structure of social income, which imparts a vulnerability going well beyond what would be conveyed by the money income received at any particular moment. For instance...many going towards the precariat, find that they lose traditional community benefits... They are more vulnerable than many with lower incomes who retain traditional forms of community support....A feature of the precariat is not the level of money wages or income earned at any particular moment but the lack of community support in times of need... "
~Guy Standing, 'The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class'