By Melonie Fullick. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the job market, poverty, and the assumptions we make when we talk about people’s choices, partly because recently I’ve seen two excellent and provocative posts about this. The first is from Tressie McMillan Cottom on “The logic of stupid poor people”, a post that discusses how expensive status symbols (like a $2,500 handbag) act as powerful signifiers, and how in general there is a complex performance that must be mastered in order for class “mobility” to happen. The second post, “Why I Make Terrible Decisions, or, poverty thoughts” is by Linda Walther Tirado who writes about the (non-) choices faced by poor people, and how they are criticized for what they choose. Read more...