St.

Joseph’s College of Law

Residency Road, Bangalore

ASSIGNMENT

Subject
SOCIOLOGY
Topic:
CULTURE OF POVERTY

Submitted
by: POOVIZHI KALYANI M
First Year BA LLB – A Section
College Roll Number:21155
Submitted to: ANURADHA BERNADETTE MA’AM
Date of submission:03.02.2022
 CONTENTS

S.NO PARTICULARS PAGE

NUMBER

1 MEANING OF CULTURE OF POVERTY 1

2 INFLUENCE OF SOCIOLOGY IN CULTURE 2

OF POVERTY

3 CULTURE AND SOCIALIZATION

3

4 PROBLEMS FACED AND CRITICISM 4-8

5 OPINION AND CONCLUSION 9

6 BIBLIOGRAPHY 10
 I. MEANING OF CULTURE OF POVERTY
Those experiencing poverty are believed to perpetuate their
impoverished condition by maintaining a cycle of poverty
supported by their values, which keeps poverty alive across
generations.
The possibility of a 'culture of poverty,' which was being
popularly used during the 1960s, has generally been displaced
by reference to an 'underclass' of needy individuals
It is also a vicious cycle that keeps on repeating which
restricts the financial growth of individuals.
The term “culture of poverty” was coined by Oscar Lewis.
The concept of poverty as a culture is defined by Oscar Lewis
as a set of norms and attitudes that have the effect of
enclosing individuals in what initially developed in response
to unfavorable external circumstances

This diagram helps us to understand the vicious cycle of the

culture of poverty or the poverty cycle - source: Leroy seat
(1)
 II. INFLUENCE OF SOCIOLOGY IN CULTURE OF
POVERTY:
The impact of sociology on poverty culture allows us to focus on the
 The impact of connections on people’s attitudes and behaviours
 The evolution and changes in society
Individual or societal changes and developments are influenced by
behavior.
Also, Oscar Lewis believes that poverty creates its own culture for
example people living in the slums of Dharavi or be it any slum or an
area have their traditions and follow a certain set of rules or norms
which was or is not laid by any authority it was followed and passed
on through generations.
As discussed, before it is being passed on from generation to
generation because of the effect on children and is being learned and
shared among the social group. The best example for this scenario is
marriage as it’s a common institution that is filled with traditions
when compared to western countries such as the United States of
America, India has a higher level of intensity. The traditions or rituals
followed in the western countries say the USA is quite simple and is
commonly followed with little or no change by the people of the
USA. Whereas in India a land filled with diversity there are different
rituals and ceremonies performed by people from different territories.

This picture depicts us the wedding dress of different cultures in India (2)
 III. CULTURE AND SOCIALIZATION

Languages, values, norms, practices, artifacts, and even

groups of people are all part of the culture, which
encompasses learned socially transmitted customs,
information, objects, and behavior.
Poverty tends to increase the bridge between the rich and the
poor back in the 1960s and can also be seen in the present
day. Due to such gaps in society, the term “subculture” arises
and was first termed in Lewis’s ethnography ‘Five Families:
Mexican case studies in the culture of poverty (1959)’.
The term subculture refers to the segments of the society that
share distinct patterns of customs, rules, and traditions that
differ from the larger society. For example, a language
developed by the tribal community that is developed with
special meanings and used only by them and not outsiders.
A subculture develops its own set of cultural, political, and
sexual norms and values; for example, there are several
subcultures in India that deal with these issues.
 Religion we have Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, etc.,
 Languages, we speak English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,
Malayalam, etc,
 Gender identification: male, female, non-binary, trans
man/woman, etc.
The formation of such subcultures was autonomous. It kind of
created the “we-feeling” among the members of such groups,
which ultimately led to the creation of subcultures in society.
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IV. PROBLEMS FACED AND CRITICISM
The ultimate problem faced in subcultures is inferiority and
superiority inside and outside the groups which lead to the
term "poverty subculture" which was eventually recognized as
"poverty culture." Or “culture of poverty”
Also, Lewis struggled to contribute “the needy” as authorized
subjects whose lives were altered by poverty. He said that the
burden of poverty was continuous and that was carried on by
the members of the society.
They were stuck in the vicious cycle in such a way that they
could not escape or break the chain of poverty and these are
experienced by the below poverty line also known as BPL
citizens where they had little or no chance to break their
chain. When they don’t have the opportunity to break through
from their vicious circle as children and young adults attitudes
and behavior affect their mental health which leads them to
take drastic steps which in turn affects their family or society
because of their inability to flee from the underclass or below
the poverty line. For example,
1) A farmer committing suicide because of low yield and is
not able to repay the loan taken from the bank. This act
directly affects his/her near and dear ones where the
family is mentally and financially affected because of
his/her death
2) A young adult is involved in crimes that create chaos and
fear in society. This is because of lack of job
opportunities or lack of education which tend people to
take up odd jobs in society.
(4)
 This image shows the subculture theories of crime
Subculture conflict arises in socially disordered places with
considerable population turnover and, as a result, a lack of
social cohesiveness. They keep a solid adult criminal
subculture from forming. Violence, gang battles, robberies,
and other sorts of street crime define the conflict subculture.
Such small-time crimes or events happening in the society
slowly transitions themselves to counter cultures.
When a subculture consciously opposes or rejects features of
the greater culture or community, it is known as the
counterculture. It's a culture whose beliefs and behavior
standards differ significantly from those of mainstream
society, and it's occasionally at odds with mainstream cultural
mores. It is mainly because of stereotyping people in society
based on their looks, color, caste, the place they come from,
and so on.
(5)
For example, back in the olden days’ people were
discriminated against by their background and were not given
the opportunities the upper class had, it was implied by
society that people from the lower class were merely
considered as humans and named them untouchables. They
were treated very badly that they were not supposed to share
spaces with the other members of the society and were the last
set to receive any kind of aid from the society or the
government. Such practices were abolished after several
changes in society. However, such trends are reappearing
under the guise of religion. Some get arrested for the mistakes
or crimes that they have not done, just because they are from a
particular background (be it a caste or a community) they
charge him with cases. By charging such false accusations it
could potentially destroy one’s life and career which many at
times where the person charged with such false accusations
end up taking their life. Or could potentially turn them into
criminals because of their mental state. It also affects the
youth of the lower community when compared to the others as
they are easily fallen into such traps which affect the
neighborhood. Such incidents are high in rural areas when
compared to urban areas.

This image cites the inequalities in urban and rural areas (6)

This could potentially create exposure to crimes in society and

can lead to violence and a disturbing society where people
don’t feel secure. Also, it could lead to riots where people
gather mass crowds in the public to voice out against such
activities.
Such acts represent a stumbling block to the country's
progress. It reduces the economy of the country as the country
tends to attract fewer investors and the competency level of
firms drastically falls.
It could affect several factors inside and around that particular
society. Socialization becomes a major question mark as
people don’t prefer visiting or investing in such localities
fearing for shoplifting which incurs huge losses for small and
big businessmen.
Also, businesses in such areas do not flourish for a longer
duration because of thefts, property damage, loss of
customers.
Because of such events in a society, the life of people living in
such communities becomes harder for them to lead a normal
life because of such events. They are easily targeted and
labeled in society because of people who are involved in such
crimes. Though everyone is not involved, the entire
community is being labeled because of such acts.
Despite the governments taking measures to eradicate the
culture of poverty during the year 1991 where the government
had also implemented some schemes to attract more investors
in the country poverty alleviation programs are the names
given to such activities aimed at eradicating poverty.
(7)
These programs were not efficient enough to eradicate
poverty because of inefficient administration by the
government. And the main reason for inefficiency is
corruption.
The significant decline in poverty was not as expected in
many areas.
The recent Covid – 19 pandemic has once again proved to us
how the lives of the poorest affected, they had no proper
income when there were some relaxations of lockdown it was
like starting their life all over again and their standard of life
was hit hard because of mass unemployment as most of them
are daily wage laborers who work for a meager income for
their primary survival. The majority of them were unable to
pay their rent and were homeless as a result. Most of the
laborers started shifting to their hometown since there was no
transportation facility, they all started to walk all their way to
their natives. Despite being so many schemes issued in favor
of such people still, they felt like they were left at sea.

Source: THE HINDU March 2020.

It is solely the responsibility of the governments to take

immediate effective actions to protect such people as the
government is their only and ultimate source of help. (8)

V. OPINION AND CONCLUSION

This project gave me a holistic view of the “culture of
poverty”.
My opinion as discussed earlier is that the government should
take the necessary steps to abolish the culture of poverty, as
this is the first step in every developing country's progress.
The government should endeavor to eliminate the poverty
culture as quickly as possible.
Also, no one should be falsely accused as it can ruin not just
their life but their family too.
We must learn to respect and treat people with dignity
irrespective of their color, race, caste, creed, etc.,
We as fellow citizens should change the stereotypical mindset
about people and their culture and respect their beliefs. All are
equal.
Another proposal is to increase the number of organizations
working to reduce poverty by organizing people in developed
countries and training them to take action related to this issue.
Encouraging those who do charitable work to improve their
lives by volunteering to provide means such as clean water,
nutritious food, and shelter for the poor, providing special
rewards, and respecting them in various ways would be a
great way to increase the number of volunteers.
As a result, I feel that my ideas and proposals will be
extremely beneficial in reducing poverty.

(9)
VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Culture of poverty - Wikipedia

What is Culture of Poverty? (sociologygroup.com)

Sociology the origin and culture and society – class lecture notes.
Culture of Poverty - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

The Culture of Poverty Reconsidered - Books & ideas (booksandideas.net)

Delhi High Court expresses worry over ‘alarming increase’ of false rape cases - The Hindu

Covid-19, Amplifying the Return of Mass Poverty in India | Institut Montaigne

Coronavirus | Pandemic may have doubled poverty in India, says Pew study - The Hindu

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