Poverty is a complex issue, feeding a child isn’t

Before entering into a discussion about the culture of poverty, let us look into Poverty and some of the basic concepts relating to it. 

Poverty is a condition in which a person, community, or country lacks the financial resources or the essential needs for a minimum standard of living. Human needs cannot be met when the income levels from employment are very low. Such a condition is termed poverty. A poverty-stricken society might have to lead their lives without proper housing, clean water, healthy food, and medical attention. Every nation has its own set of criteria for determining the poverty line. 

Understanding Poverty:

Poverty is not an issue of charity, but an issue of justice

As we discussed above, poverty is to deal with the lack of wealth or income of individuals, households, society, or country. When individuals or households do not have the means to acquire the necessities for leading a flourishing life. People living in poverty are poor and struggle to obtain basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare. Poverty is both a microscopic and a macroscopic issue. On the microscopic levels such as in individuals or households, inadequacy to maintain income for basic needs lead to a wide range of physical and mental problems. At the macroscopic levels, a high poverty rate can cause the disintegration of economic growth and lead to various issues like crime, unemployment, urban decay, lack of education, and poor health conditions. Governments initiate various social welfare programs to help lift families from poverty. Countries have a welfare state that determines the safety of vulnerable groups of people. Some countries have better welfare states than others. Poverty is a global problem. Most cases of poverty are social failures of the system. War outbreaks, biased political rule, low openness towards appreciating diversity, pandemics, and disasters might be a reason for a society facing poverty. 

Culture of Poverty – Basic Theory

Poverty is the worst form of violence            

The theory of culture of poverty tells that poverty is the result of people’s cultural milieu. It states that poor people have different cultural values when compared with mainstream society. When the system fails in abolishing poverty, people living in poverty for generations start to live on their morals and they cannot abide by the norms of society. They are not given any of the privileges of society and hence, they reject the mainstream cultural values. The theory suggests that a kid learns different norms when the kid grows up in a poor family and this shapes the moral, and life choices of the kid and also future opportunities. 

New Thinking about Culture and Poverty

The opposite of poverty is not wealth, but enough

It is easier to point hands at the crimes that happen in society employing moral policing. But when we study poverty, crimes and culture, it is essential to study the economic imbalances in the society that leads to various poverty and lifestyle disturbances. In this world, the flow of money is not distributed. The capital is stored in the top layer of society. Money doesn’t flow well in society. A society that has a poor capital flow model might fail in its due course. It is not enough to reduce crime through punishment. It is vital to study criminal culture and poverty together. Privilege has left us from looking at the interconnectedness of the two parameters. We should consider the relationship between poverty and cultural change with empathy and equality. This will be the basis of development. A culture of poverty can be abolished only by the means of education. Only when people in the poverty are given the right to education and get themselves secured in employment, then will they come out of poverty and its culture. 

Culture, Poverty, and Effective Social Policy

Indifferentism is the worst kind of disease that can affect people.

The social structure of any system should consider the people in the poverty to get the privileges that other people get. The high society’s success lies in the capitalistic squandering of the people in the lower economic milieu and their labor. Until recent days they never got their voice in society and were exploited physically, psychologically, and sociologically. So, poverty depends on the culture and social structure and vice versa. The most important aspect while designing social policy developments is to look into the aspect of the social structure and the loss that had happened to the people belonging to the culture of poverty. Education is one of the best ways to deal with poverty, social hegemony, and much more.  In a country like India, the greatness of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and his crusade against the caste-based system made the people belonging to Schedules Castes and Tribes granted justice the means of educational reservation and electoral reservations. After that many other leaders fought for rights with the government and got an educational reservation as a plausible redemption for the systemic oppression that happened against them. 

The Indian government supports various NGOs to support them in abolishing poverty. Christian Mission Service is one such organization that supports children who need support by the means of providing them with education and living. CMS has various schemes and provides facilities for making up children into better adults. CMS aims to abolish illiteracy and poverty among children who need support.