The Myths that Once Glorified Rich People and Demonized Poor People Still Echo in Today’s Media
Imagine you are in a fairy tale set back in a European castle hundreds of years ago. Who are you? The princess who pricks her finger on the spindle? The royal knight or prince who swoops in to save everyone in town? Or are you the sly beggar who swindles the rich and lives an immoral life in the shadows of society?
If you’re like me, you longed to be the princess. She was beautiful and kind, nothing like those poor trolls who lived under the bridges.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why the rich were so highly idolized in the stories we read as children? Have you ever examined the portrayal of poor people in photography and literature? Do you know why, even today, so many of us obsess over the royal family? The answer to this is far from a fairytale. In fact, the truth is somewhat grim(m).
The elite class has historically used media as a way of justifying class divides. It is easier to lord your wealth over people if they believe you are more righteous and deserving. It is easier to oppress the masses if their poverty is portrayed as some moral failing. Those early portrayals weren’t just entertainment — they helped establish the belief that poverty was a personal flaw rather than a social failing. It’s a mindset that still shapes how society views homelessness today.
I recently spoke with renowned lecturer, professor, and historian Dr. Owen Clayton about how othering was not only used to excuse homelessness, but also to create it.
How ‘Othering’ Turned Poverty Into a Moral Failure
Othering is a powerful social tool that allows inequality to flourish. It doesn’t just label people—it dehumanizes them, paving the way for public indifference to suffering.
“Othering is a process by which an unfavorable identity is created to alienate people from their fellow humans,” Dr. Clayton explained. “The goal of othering is to create an us and them mentality whereby the ‘us’ consists of people who look and think like you. And then, by default, the ‘them’ is somebody who is strange, different, and perhaps also holds a different life view. This person could be from a different race, class, or country. It’s usually somebody you would think unfavorably of.”
He noted that this divide isn’t accidental—it’s often cultivated by those who benefit from it.
“Othering is a means by which people in power can create divisions within society. If you can divide and conquer, then you can generally keep people poor and under your control,” Dr. Clayton continued. “The UK didn’t always have a big homeless problem until poor people were depicted negatively and ‘othered’.”
That act of separation, defining who belongs and who doesn’t, became embedded not only in language and policy but in the very images we consumed.
How Literature and Photography Helped Support Harmful Stereotypes
The process of othering didn’t just take shape in words or policy. It was also reinforced through imagery. From early newspaper illustrations to modern photography, the portrayal of unhoused people has had a profound influence on public perception.
“When people who are homeless or have been homeless are talked about, whether that be in a historical or contemporary setting, they are almost always othered,” Dr. Clayton said. “This is usually done through a series of stereotypes.”
“In the 19th century, you had what was known as the tramp scare in the United States. And tramps were portrayed as being this kind of menace and threat to American society, and in particular a threat to the allegedly defenseless white women of that era,” Dr. Clayton continued. “Newspapers claimed tramps were going to be some sort of horrific beings, these things that would stand on the door and ask for food but actually be a real danger to those white women.”
He added that these depictions didn’t merely reflect social fears—they shaped them. “This is why so much of my work is focused on combating those stereotypes and looking at the amazing things that people who have experienced homelessness have done, whether that be in the realms of art, literature, journalism, sociology, philosophy, the list goes on,” he said.
While overtly negative portrayals once dominated newspapers and literature, they now often take subtler forms, wrapped in sympathy yet still reinforcing the same power imbalance.
When Inclusion Becomes Exploitation
Acknowledging the contributions of people with lived experience can transform how society views homelessness. But when inclusion is shallow or performative, it risks reinforcing the same stereotypes it claims to challenge.
Dr. Clayton warns that tokenistic depictions, including those that seem well-intentioned, can cause just as much harm as overtly negative ones.
“Sometimes when people are included, it can be quite tokenistic,” he said. “In the UK, there are sort of two strands, or traditions that arise as harmful representations in photography. The first is somewhat obvious. It’s that dehumanizing strand, that othering we talked about, where people are portrayed as being less than human somehow.”
Modern examples of this can be seen all over social media platforms, where self-proclaimed content creators photograph homeless people trying to survive without their permission and then use that footage to perpetuate negative narratives.
“But then there’s another strand which tries to be sympathetic by creating pity through images,” Dr. Clayton warned. “This can be just as damaging to their image. The kinds of images I’m thinking of here are those of people sleeping in doorways where the camera is up and the person being photographed or videoed is down.”
“In the frame, they look helpless, or maybe they’re being helped by some sort of charity worker or someone,” he said. “Although those kinds of images are often quite well-intentioned and might even be produced by large charities, I think they actually do an awful lot of harm because they still create a negative narrative, and they imply that the person experiencing homelessness is helpless. It suggests they do not have any skills or abilities, and can’t look after themselves. It implies, therefore, the need to be saved by some saviour figure who comes in, which is the charity worker or the person donating to the charity.”
“There’s an awful lot of work that needs to be done with regard to photographing and videoing homelessness,” he concluded. “It’s high time we create some guidelines and let people tell their own authentic stories, rather than just being tokenized to support a narrative we want to hold.”
Changing the narrative begins with accountability — not just in the media, but in policy as well. Protecting the dignity and privacy of unhoused people requires both cultural and legislative action.
Talk to Your Legislators about Drafting Laws to Protect Homeless People’s Privacy
The story of homelessness is still too often told about people rather than by them. That needs to change. Homeless people should have the same rights to privacy and dignity as everyone else does in our digital age.
Talk to your legislators about drafting laws that protect our unhoused neighbors and prioritize the human right to housing. Otherwise, we are merely perpetuating the same cycle as in the past. The only thing we’ve changed is the type of media.
