Previous Year Question

The concept of the Culture of Poverty is associated with the American anthropologist Oscar Lewis.

Lewis developed this idea through anthropological studies of poor families and communities in Mexico and Puerto Rico. According to him, when poverty persists for long periods and across generations, certain distinctive values, attitudes and behavioural patterns may develop and take the form of a subculture.

In this concept, poverty is not merely a lack of income. Lewis associated it with several social and psychological characteristics, such as—

a sense of helplessness and dependence,
limited expectations about the future,
low participation in major social institutions, and
transmission of poverty-related behavioural patterns from one generation to another.

This does not mean that poor people deliberately choose poverty. Lewis's argument was that adaptation patterns developed under prolonged deprivation may contribute to the persistence of the poverty cycle.

His important works include Five Families (1959) and La Vida (1966). His idea of the culture of poverty became particularly influential through studies of poverty in Latin America.

The concept was also subsequently criticised. Critics argue that placing excessive emphasis on cultural behaviour may understate the importance of structural factors such as unemployment, inequality, discrimination, inadequate education and limited economic opportunities. It is therefore not regarded as a universal explanation of poverty.

Among the other options—

Gunnar Myrdal is associated with cumulative causation and development analysis.
Aashish Bose is known for Indian demography and the term “BIMARU.”
Amartya Sen is associated with the Capability Approach, entitlements and poverty analysis.