--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In situations of sparse resources along…" description: "\"In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebelli..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a25/cornel-west-708_avenues_in-situations-of-sparse-resources-along_2395011.jpg" --- # In situations of sparse resources along with degraded… ![“In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and anarchic expression. The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people.” quote by Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a25/cornel-west-708_avenues_in-situations-of-sparse-resources-along_2395011.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a25/cornel-west-708_avenues_in-situations-of-sparse-resources-along_2395011.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a25/cornel-west-708_avenues_in-situations-of-sparse-resources-along_2395011.jpg) > “In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and anarchic expression. The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people.” [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When resources are scarce, marginalized people may turn to rebellion as a last resort, expressing anger through chaos. **In simple terms:** Poverty can drive people to chaotic protest. Key Takeaway Address systemic inequality to prevent desperate rebellion. Themes poverty rebellion social justice Mood critical urgent Type political analytical When to use this quote - urban policy - social work - activism - community organizing Key Concepts political theory anarchism psychology Questions to Reflect On - What alternatives exist to channel frustration? - How does systemic neglect fuel unrest? A Different Perspective Violent rebellion can harm vulnerable communities and undermine goals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Avenues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avenues/) [Capacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capacity/) [Chaos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chaos/) [Desperate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperate/) [Desperate People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperate-people/) [Existential](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existential/) [Existential Rebellion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existential-rebellion-5978618/) [Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) [Last resort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/last-resort/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Poor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poor/) [Poor people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poor-people/) [Produce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/produce/) [Rebellion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rebellion/) [Rebellion Anarchic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rebellion-anarchic-5978619/) [Resorts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resorts/) [Resources](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resources/) [Revolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolution/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Sensibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensibility/) [Situation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/situation/) [Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social/) [Social Chaos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-chaos-2461775/) ## Related quotes > [The capacity to produce social chaos is the last resort of desperate people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-capacity-to-produce-social-chaos-is-the-last-resort-of-desperate/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [We must not only control the weapons that can kill us, we must bridge the great disparities of wealth and opportunity among the peoples…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-ali/we-must-not-only-control-the-weapons-that-can-kill-us-we-must-bridge/) [Muhammad Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-ali/) > [The children are always the chief victims of social chaos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-meyer-driscoll/the-children-are-always-the-chief-victims-of-social-chaos/) [Agnes Meyer Driscoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-meyer-driscoll/) > [The major producer of the social chaos, the indeterminacy of thought and values that rational knowledge is supposed to eliminate, is none other than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-major-producer-of-the-social-chaos-the-indeterminacy-of-thought/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [Law is order in liberty, and without order liberty is social chaos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-j-harris/law-is-order-in-liberty-and-without-order-liberty-is-social-chaos/) [Sydney J. Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-j-harris/) > [That is the gay agenda...it is the recreation of society on a different moral foundation and the problem with that is that moral foundation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-lively/that-is-the-gay-agenda-it-is-the-recreation-of-society-on-a-different/) [Scott Lively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-lively/) > [I'm not a pacifist at all; I think there is a notion of "just war" that can be persuasively argued. I think in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-m-not-a-pacifist-at-all-i-think-there-is-a-notion-of-just-war-that/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [“Bosch had never liked Las Vegas, though he came often on cases. It shared a kinship with Los Angeles; both were places desperate people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-connelly/bosch-had-never-liked-las-vegas-though-he-came-often-on-cases-it/) [Michael Connelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-connelly/) > [(About Love)The most important thing in life, and you can't tell whether people have it or not. Surely this is wrong? Surely people who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-hornby/about-love-the-most-important-thing-in-life-and-you-can-t-tell/) [Nick Hornby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-hornby/) > [There's this huge number of desperate people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-alexander/there-s-this-huge-number-of-desperate-people/) [Lloyd Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-alexander/) > [“Desperate people do desperate things, and people with nothing left to lose are the most dangerous of them all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bella-forrest/desperate-people-do-desperate-things-and-people-with-nothing-left-to/) [Bella Forrest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bella-forrest/) > [“Actions fueled by desperation. They were the worst kinds of decisions, because desperate people could see the error of their ways and simply not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-lloyd-jones/actions-fueled-by-desperation-they-were-the-worst-kinds-of-decisions/) [Emily Lloyd-Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-lloyd-jones/) > [People who say they don't care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don't care what people think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/people-who-say-they-don-t-care-what-people-think-are-usually/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [Imagine yourself acclaimed, a decorated national hero, an idol to millions of desperate people, then within six months, condemned to death by hanging.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joachim-peiper/imagine-yourself-acclaimed-a-decorated-national-hero-an-idol-to/) [Joachim Peiper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joachim-peiper/) > [I've never met anyone who wanted to be a terrorist. They are desperate people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-perkins/i-ve-never-met-anyone-who-wanted-to-be-a-terrorist-they-are-desperate/) [John Perkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-perkins/) ## More by Cornel West > [There has certainly been ugly, right-wing hatred targeting Barack Obama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/there-has-certainly-been-ugly-right-wing-hatred-targeting-barack-obama/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/what-is-accurately-portrayed-is-the-rich-humanity-not-just-of-martin/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-feel-as-if-i-have-been-blessed-to-undergo-a-transformation-from/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [“Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/like-king-we-need-to-put-on-our-cemetery-clothes-and-be-coffin-ready/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [ “You can't really move forward until you look back. \[From Remaking America panel discussion at George Washington University\]” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-t-really-move-forward-until-you-look-back-from-remaking/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [When we think of globalization we are thinking in part of structures and institutions that have been developed over time and that have allowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-we-think-of-globalization-we-are-thinking-in-part-of-structures/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The challenge artists face today is whether to be an underground, unheard genius, or to dilute their art for the marketplace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-challenge-artists-face-today-is-whether-to-be-an-underground/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The need of black conservatives to gain the respect of their white peers deeply shapes certain elements of their conservatism. In this regard, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-need-of-black-conservatives-to-gain-the-respect-of-their-white/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [For me, musicians are poets. Beethoven describes himself as a poet of tones, just like Coltrane's a poet of tempo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/for-me-musicians-are-poets-beethoven-describes-himself-as-a-poet-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I don't draw any distinctions between forms of bigotry or forms of ideology that lose sight of the humanity of people. I can't stand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-don-t-draw-any-distinctions-between-forms-of-bigotry-or-forms-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Barack Obama has domesticated the left in such a way that we feel as if we have no alternative but him...I refuse to accept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/barack-obama-has-domesticated-the-left-in-such-a-way-that-we-feel-as/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Larry Summers, I think, he had a long history of arrogance and relative ignorance about poor people's culture and working people's culture and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/larry-summers-i-think-he-had-a-long-history-of-arrogance-and-relative/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-greatest-gift-you-can-give-someone-is-the-gift-of-inspiration/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [You can see it in terms of the obsession on Wall Street with not just profits but greed, more profit, more profit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-see-it-in-terms-of-the-obsession-on-wall-street-with-not-just/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Anybody who takes Martin Luther King seriously has got to go beyond the standard understanding of who he was, has to connect those dots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/anybody-who-takes-martin-luther-king-seriously-has-got-to-go-beyond/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Explore all 400 Cornel West quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## More Avenues quotes > [Faith is the avenue to salvation. Not intellectual understanding. Not money. Not your works. Just simple faith. How much faith? The faith of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-graham/faith-is-the-avenue-to-salvation-not-intellectual-understanding-not/) [Billy Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-graham/) > [I don't look at money as success. I look at it as an avenue to freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scooter-braun/i-don-t-look-at-money-as-success-i-look-at-it-as-an-avenue-to-freedom/) [Scooter Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scooter-braun/) > [Extemporaneous speaking should be practised and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/extemporaneous-speaking-should-be-practised-and-cultivated-it-is-the/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [In times of totalitarian or autocratic rule, music (indeed culture in general) is often the only avenue of independent thought. It is the only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-barenboim/in-times-of-totalitarian-or-autocratic-rule-music-indeed-culture-in/) [Daniel Barenboim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-barenboim/) > [At length weariness succeeds to labor, and the mind lies at ease in the contemplation of her own attainments without any desire of new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/at-length-weariness-succeeds-to-labor-and-the-mind-lies-at-ease-in/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Some writers are writing one great, big book and just taking all these different avenues towards it. They might seem on the outside to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chang-rae-lee/some-writers-are-writing-one-great-big-book-and-just-taking-all-these/) [Chang-Rae Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chang-rae-lee/) > [Once upon a time I was riding on the top of a First Avenue bus, when I heard a mythical housewife say to another,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ogilvy/once-upon-a-time-i-was-riding-on-the-top-of-a-first-avenue-bus-when-i/) [David Ogilvy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ogilvy/) > [Nearly all literature, in one sense, is made up of guide-books. Old ones tell us the ways our fathers went, through the thoroughfares and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/nearly-all-literature-in-one-sense-is-made-up-of-guide-books-old-ones/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [It is best to lay our plans widely in youth, for then land is cheap, and it is but too easy to contract our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/it-is-best-to-lay-our-plans-widely-in-youth-for-then-land-is-cheap/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [I have had a hard time settling on one medium and feel like a dilettante at times, taking up one medium and then wanting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-johnson/i-have-had-a-hard-time-settling-on-one-medium-and-feel-like-a/) [Nancy Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-johnson/) > [The philosophy that I have worked under most of my life is that the serious study of natural history is an activity which has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-tory-peterson/the-philosophy-that-i-have-worked-under-most-of-my-life-is-that-the/) [Roger Tory Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-tory-peterson/) > [There are certainly numberless women of fashion who consider it perfectly natural to go miles down Fifth Avenue, or Madison Avenue, yet for whom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-romains/there-are-certainly-numberless-women-of-fashion-who-consider-it/) [Jules Romains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-romains/) > [Donald Trump is not stupid. He knows exactly what he's saying. And he's just saying out there - I mean, forget about Muslims. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bassem-youssef/donald-trump-is-not-stupid-he-knows-exactly-what-he-s-saying-and-he-s/) [Bassem Youssef](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bassem-youssef/) > [Just as important, we need a new dedication to opening avenues for employee participation and motivation through profit-sharing and innovative programs of job enrichment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-h-percy/just-as-important-we-need-a-new-dedication-to-opening-avenues-for/) [Charles H. Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-h-percy/) > [The older I get, the more and more I notice I'm like my father. It's funny, because when I was younger I tried to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/apolo-ohno/the-older-i-get-the-more-and-more-i-notice-i-m-like-my-father-it-s/) [Apolo Ohno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/apolo-ohno/) [Browse all 335 Avenues quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avenues/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In situations of sparse resources along with degraded self-images and depoliticized sensibilities, one avenue for poor people is in existential rebellion and anarchic expression. 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