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Unlock This CourseThe culture of poverty is a controversial theory that suggests poverty persists because poor people develop certain values, beliefs and behaviours that keep them trapped in poverty. This theory has influenced social policy and public attitudes towards poverty for decades, but it remains highly contested among sociologists.
Key Definitions:
The culture of poverty theory was first proposed by American anthropologist Oscar Lewis in the 1960s. Lewis studied poor families in Mexico and Puerto Rico and concluded that poverty wasn't just about lack of money, but also about a distinct set of values and behaviours that helped people cope with poverty but also kept them trapped in it.
Lewis argued that people living in prolonged poverty develop a distinct subculture with around 70 traits, including present-time orientation, feelings of helplessness and distrust of institutions. He believed these traits were adaptive responses to poverty that became self-perpetuating over time.
According to Lewis and other proponents, the culture of poverty includes several key characteristics that are passed down through generations:
Focus on immediate needs rather than long-term planning; difficulty delaying gratification.
Belief that one has little control over life outcomes; feelings of helplessness and resignation.
Higher rates of female-headed households, unstable relationships and early parenthood.
Suspicion of government, schools, police and other mainstream institutions.
Tendency to spend money quickly when available rather than saving for the future.
Lower emphasis on formal education and academic achievement.
The culture of poverty theory has faced significant criticism from many sociologists who argue that it blames the victims of poverty for their own situation while ignoring structural causes:
Many sociologists reject the culture of poverty theory for several important reasons:
Critics argue that the theory shifts blame from social structures to individuals, suggesting that poor people remain poor because of their values rather than because of inequality, discrimination, or lack of opportunity.
Many studies have failed to find evidence for a distinct "culture of poverty." Research shows that poor people generally share mainstream values about work, education and family but face structural barriers to achieving these goals.
The theory downplays the importance of structural factors like low wages, lack of jobs, poor schools, discrimination and inadequate healthcare that create and maintain poverty regardless of individual values.
The theory underestimates the resilience, resourcefulness and agency of people living in poverty, who often develop creative strategies to survive and improve their situations despite significant obstacles.
Most contemporary sociologists favour structural explanations of poverty over cultural ones:
This view sees poverty as resulting from social and economic structures rather than individual or cultural factors. Key structural causes include:
Some sociologists take a more nuanced view, recognizing that while structural factors are primary, cultural adaptations to poverty can sometimes make it harder to escape poverty even when opportunities arise. However, these adaptations are seen as responses to structural conditions rather than causes of poverty.
In the UK, the culture of poverty theory has influenced public discourse about "benefit dependency" and "broken families." During the 2010s, politicians often spoke about "troubled families" who supposedly passed down problematic values across generations.
However, research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that families in poverty typically hold mainstream values about work and education. Their study of low-income families in Glasgow and Middlesbrough found that parents had high aspirations for their children but faced significant structural barriers to achieving these goals, including low-paid, insecure work, inadequate childcare and cuts to support services.
How we understand poverty shapes how we try to address it:
Policies based on the culture of poverty theory often focus on changing individual behaviour through:
Policies based on structural understandings of poverty focus on changing systems through:
Glasgow has significantly worse health outcomes and higher mortality rates than comparable post-industrial cities with similar levels of deprivation. Initially, some researchers suggested this might be due to cultural factors like diet and lifestyle choices.
However, more recent research points to structural factors including:
This example shows how what might appear to be "cultural" factors often have structural roots.
When studying the culture of poverty theory for your iGCSE, it's important to understand both sides of the debate and be able to evaluate the theory critically:
The culture of poverty theory remains influential but controversial. Most contemporary sociologists emphasize structural factors over cultural explanations of poverty, while recognizing that people's responses to poverty can sometimes make it harder to escape disadvantage. For your iGCSE exam, it's important to understand both perspectives and be able to critically evaluate the evidence for each.
Remember that how we explain poverty has real consequences for how we address it. Explanations that focus on individual or cultural factors tend to lead to policies aimed at changing people's behaviour, while structural explanations lead to policies aimed at changing systems and institutions.