IS THERE A CORRELATION BETWEEN WAL-MART CUSTOMERS AND THEIR BIGOTRY?

Somehow, I had the impression that a great many of the shoppers there were provincial and uneducated.

For the times that I was going to Wal-Mart to shop many years ago I never liked the store. I encountered many times the bait and switch and the mispriced merchandise that resulted in you getting to the cashier and the price was always higher than advertised. They of course would say that it was an item that was “misplaced” by customers themselves…but I often found many of the same items within that group.

Then I heard about how terrible an employer they were. The salaries they paid were not enough to feed sparrows and even some of the people who worked there were in need to receive welfare because of their low incomes. The benefits employees get were also absent.

What got me all turned off was when I read how Wal-Mart would open a store just outside of Smalltown, U.S.A. by the Interstate and sell things at ridiculously low price with the purpose of driving the Ma and Pa stores out of business in the little towns.

And then what really made me indignant was when I found out how much money the Walton family gives to right-wing political pacs and hate groups.

And now this…I can’t really say that I am surprised.

Wal-Mart And Hate Groups

Though they promise they're not trying to pick on Wal-Mart, economists at Penn State have found a positive correlation between the super store's presence in an area and the prevalence of hate groups in that same area.

Via RawStory:

The study, published in Social Science Quarterly, found that the number of Wal-Mart stores was a better predictor of hate group participation than the unemployment rate, high crime rates and low education.
…
The researchers believe that the correlation between Wal-Mart and hate groups exists because of breakdown of the community. Small local businesses are more likely to be members of civic groups and involved in the community. They are also more likely to have closer relationships among their employees.

“While we like to think of American society as being largely classless, merchants and bankers are part of what we could call a leadership class in a community,” Goetz said.

In contrast, people are more likely to feel alienated by big-box retailers like Wal-Mart, the researchers explained. They noted that areas that had Wal-Mart stores were also likely to have other big-box retailers, like Target.

“We’re not trying to pick on Wal-Mart,” said Goetz. “In this study, Wal-Mart is really serving as a proxy for any type of large retailer.”

Bigger, it seems, is not always better.

Posted 9:19 AM EST by Andrew Belonsky in Discrimination, News, Wal-Mart | Permalink |

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