Theories of Poverty

The Culture of poverty Oscar Lewis developed this theory “the culture of poverty” He states that being in Poverty tends to create a way of living that becomes a culture of its own This culture is “learned, shared and socially transmitted as a behaviour of a social group” What does Oscar Lewis mean by this?

Social Segregation Oscar Lewis saw people living in this culture as a separate part of society He stated that the urban poor ”make little use of institutions such as banks, hospitals, museums and art galleries” In this way, Lewis argues that the poor segregate themselves from mainstream society Can you think of any reasons for this low participation?

Lewis argues that once established, the culture of poverty “tends to perpetuate itself from generation to generation because of its effects on children By the time slum children are aged 6 or 7 they have absorbed the values and attitudes of their culture And they are not psychologically geared to take full advantage of increased opportunities which may occur in their lifetime”

The cycle of poverty and deprivation In this way Lewis would state that the culture of Poverty perpetuates through the generations A CYCLE of Poverty is produced from which each generation finds difficult to escape Besides the learned cultural norms what other barriers are there to prevent poor children from improving their future lifestyle?

Activity Look at the flow chart on page 317 in your text book Draw your own diagram of the cycle of deprivation

Social Exclusion Social exclusion is a much broader concept than poverty It refers to being “shut out” or excluded from mainstream society Like Oscar Lewis’ theory of social segregation, social exclusion describes divisions in society Unlike Lewis, this theory claims that social exclusion PREVENTS people from participating in society

Situational Constraints This theory states that the poor are trapped into poverty because of their situation It rejects that it is the culture of poverty that constrains them Once poverty is removed then the poor will have no difficulty in seizing opportunities in society It states that the poor share the values of society as a whole they do not have separate cultural values that are at odds with society

New Right views New Right theorists such as Charles Murray would disagree He takes the work of Lewis further by stating that Britain now has an “underclass” This group has different attitudes and values to the rest of society He states that the underclass are the “undeserving poor” and that they have no wish to support themselves

Welfare Dependency According to Murray, the undeserving poor remain in poverty because the welfare state encourages them to depend on state provision State provision is too generous according to Murray and creates “welfare dependency” This in turn does not provide any incentive for the “feckless poor” to provide for themselves

The concepts of the “underclass” and “undeserving poor” are highly controversial Most sociologists would question whether these groups exist at all These terms could be seen as labels that “blame the victims” for their own misfortunes They could be seen as stigmatising people and distancing them from society

Unemployment Unemployment can be seen as a central issue in understanding the causes of poverty An economic recession means an decrease in employment rates and an increase in poverty Unemployment is imposed upon people rather than it being a lifestyle choice Benefits can be seen as too low. By increasing benefits poverty may be reduced

Summary Question Essay question (12 marks) To what extent does the culture of Poverty explain why people live in poverty in Britain today?