An Assignment Submitted by
A Questionnaire
Is it true or false?:
Education is not included in the minimum requirements of basic living needs, and therefore, is not one of the factors determining absolute poverty.
The culture of poverty theory states that living in constant poverty form particular subculture filled with poverty-driven system of values.
Feminization of poverty refers to the movement of feminists who aim to increase the awareness of poverty.
Children tend to suffer from poverty more frequently than adults, which refers to the concept of juvenilization of poverty.
Relative poverty serves as the measurement method for calculating the quantity of poor in the rural areas.
Local authorities are granted with the power to provide services on behalf of government, which refers to devolution of services.
Answers:
It is false. Education together with food, water, shelter, health, information, sanitation, information, and services are the factors that constitute the minimum requirements for every person to live in normal conditions.
It is true. According to the theory of culture of poverty, individuals cannot improve their socio-economic situation because they do not know how, as their environment is overwhelmed with the poverty-driven values.
It is false. Feminization of poverty refers to the idea that women constitute the bigger part of poor because of the gender inequalities in the society.
It is true. There is practical evidence supporting the claim that children suffer from poverty more often than adults, as younger generation is dependent on the adults and due to lack of skills and abilities to escape poverty.
It is false. Relative poverty is the measurement tool that is used for the calculation of income inequality in the industrialized countries.
It is true. The government provides financial aid to the relevant local agencies in order to provide health and social services, which is known as devolution of services.
Evaluation of the Documentary
The theory of poverty was proposed by the anthropologist Oscar Lewis in 1959 (Burke Leacock, 1971). Lewis claimed that people living in the constant state of poverty tend to develop a subculture that contains values referred to poverty. This subculture is marginalized and overwhelmed with the feelings of powerlessness and dependency on others. Moreover, the theory emphasized that persons living in such conditions do not have the sense of history and, thus, they have no abilities or knowledge of how to improve their situation (Burke Leacock, 1971). According to Lewis, poor people do not have the capability to unite and resolve a problem, as they tend to take care about their own issues. Consequently, it was claimed that development of culture of poverty triggered the isolation of certain group of people who managed to pass the same cultural values through the generations increasing the quantity of poor (Marcus, 2005). At the same time, the theory received massive criticism, especially what concerns the state of culture of poverty. Initially, Lewis suggested that the culture is permanent and inflexible, thus, any interference, like social welfare will not change the situation (Marcus, 2005). Also, the culture of poverty shifted the blame from the social and governmental agencies to the poor themselves.
The evaluation of the documentary “Hidden America Children of the Mountains” led to the conclusion that the theory of poverty can be applied to the situation in which the main character live (Klein, 2009). First of all, almost the entire community of the Appalachian Mountains lives in conditions of pervasive poverty, where drug abuse, incest, thievery, and abuse are normal. Despite the fact that there is a school in the region, the majority of the community members are illiterate. Also, the community is particularly isolated comparing to their counterparts from the bigger cities. Moreover, the members do not tend to socialize with people outside their group. These patterns refer to the culture of poverty, which claims that the poor tend to be isolated and living within a certain subculture. All characters, mostly children, who were interviewed for the film, feel despair, helplessness, and regret that are characteristic for the culture of poverty. One of the main characters, who tried to escape the vicious circle, had to come back home due to his inability to stay in college. Culture of poverty claims that people do not have sense of history, or in other words positive examples of people who managed to escape the culture of poverty.
At the same time, the theory fails to support certain issues. For instance, it claims that the culture of poverty cannot be fixed by the help from the outside. As the story shows, not only the subculture contributes to the poverty of the Appalachian community. Lack of job, absence of investment to the infrastructure, limited number of educational establishments, ineffective social support, and inconsistent child services accelerates the poverty in enormous proportions. As it was revealed, one of the heroines of the story, who managed to finish the educational courses has found a job and rented a house, which was done with the help of community services. Also, the culture of poverty claimed that drug abuse and participation in illegal gang activities is normal and even desired behavior. However, in the current case, the pharmaceutical companies managed to foster the medical drug abuse by forcing the doctors to prescribe certain addictive products to increase their profits. The same situation is with the Mountain Dew, which is presented even in the school canteens. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the situation that happened with the Appalachian community is the result of both the external factors as well as the specific subculture that was formed in the result of this situation.
References
Burke Leacock, E. (1971). The Culture of Poverty: A Critique. New York: Touchstone.
Klein, P. (Writer, Director) (2009). A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains [Television series episode]. In D. Diaz, K. Grey, C. Weinraub (Producers), 20/20. Los Angeles, CA: ABC News.
Marcus, A. (2005). The Culture of Poverty Revisited: Bringing Back the Working Class. Anthropologica, 47(1), 14-26.
