Culture of Poverty
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7078911 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kristina B Wolff (0000-0002-9710-4759, corresponding author), Kristina Wolff |
| Year | 2007 |
| Publication date | 2007-02-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | OTHER |
| Venue | The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosc190 |
| OpenAlex | W3216197729 |
| ISBN | 9781405165518 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
The phrase culture of poverty was coined by Oscar Lewis (1965) to describe the combination of factors that perpetuate patterns of inequality and poverty in society. By focusing on the experiences of Puerto Ricans, Lewis illustrated how difficult it was for people to escape poverty due to the influence of cultural beliefs that support behaviors that contribute to people remaining in poverty. He described how the poor feel alienated in society. Because of their frustrations with their inability to transcend poverty, a culture develops which supports behaviors providing short‐term gratification and other conditions of poverty as “normal.” This is largely due to the conviction that it is impossible to improve their lives. These beliefs and behaviors are then instilled from one generation to the next, which eventually develops into a culture of poverty
Basic needs · Conviction · Culture of poverty · Development economics · Economics · Gratification · Political science · Poverty · Sociology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |