Question

The "culture of poverty," as oscar lewis describes it, may be thought of as a rational response to financial difficulty. if the response is rational, identify the problems with it

Answer 1

The "culture of poverty," as Oscar Lewis describes it, may be thought of as a rational response to financial difficulty.

Answer 2

Culture of poverty is a theory formulated by the anthropologist Oscar Lewis in his studies of communities in Puerto Rico and Mexico. Lewis identified what he believed was an important factor in perpetuating poverty. Irrespective of what has given rise to patterns of inequality and poverty in society, Lewis argued, once they are established, the life of poverty tends to generate cultural ideas that promote behaviors and points of view that perpetuate it. The poor can lose the ambition to improve their lives, adopting the fatalistic belief that heavy work and ambition will in no way improve their existence. Thus, this culture is transmitted from one generation to another. In a sense, Lewis has suggested that as individuals adapt to the circumstances of poverty, they tend to develop a culture compatible with it and therefore support it. This fact would help explain not only patterns of poverty in societies but also the inability of Third World countries to develop economically as well.