Culture of Poverty
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7076580 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R T Schaefer (0000-0002-9812-3214, DePaul University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Pages | 1-2 |
| Publication date | 2016-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | OTHER |
| Venue | The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosc190.pub2 |
| OpenAlex | W4237643892 |
| ISBN | 9781405165518 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
Culture of poverty, first formulated by Oscar Lewis after studying Latino families, describes a way of life that involves no future‐planning, no enduring commitment to marriage, and absence of the work ethic. So strong is this lifestyle, according to this argument, that it is passed on from generation to generation much like other elements of culture. Critics view this as another way of blaming the victim. The affluent are not responsible for social inequality, nor are the policy‐makers; it is the poor who are to blame for their own problems. This stance allows government and society to attribute the failure of antipoverty and welfare programs on poor people, rather than on the programs themselves
Argument (complex analysis · Basic needs · Blame · Culture of poverty · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics · Inequality · Political economy · Political science · Poverty · Sociology · Welfare · Welfare reform · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Society, and Development · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |