SOCIOL 1A06 : Chapter 10.docx

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOCIOL 1A06
• Professor: Tina Fetner

Document Summary

Poverty can be defined as a condition of deprivation due to economic circumstances. This deprivation may be absolute or relative but is generally thought to be severe enough that the individual in this condition cannot live with dignity in his or her society. The culture of poverty argument was that poor people adopt certain practices that differ from those of middle-class, mainstream society in order to adapt and survive in difficult economic circumstances. These practices may includes illegal work, multigenerational living arrangements, multi-family households, serial relationships in place of marriage and the pooling of community resources as a form of informal social insurance (swapping) The argument is that people are in the lower class because they have the personality traits of people in the lower class. Many were relieved that the society wasn"t to blame but the people in the lower class were responsible for their own pathological poverty.