The question seems simple enough. But how you answer it actually offers quite a bit of insight into a variety of things like your family upbringing, socialization, information literacy (ability & desire to access evidence-based information), educational attainment, victimization experience, and social dominance orientation. A second and closely related question – Who is poor? – tells us more of the same.
As a social scientist, who teaches college students, I find that student “beliefs” are often at odds with evidence and fact. This is because students tend to rely on information from close associates (friends and family). This traditional source of “received wisdom” can be hard to step back from, especially if it puts one at risk of social conflict with those same close associates. In other words, some find social conformity is the better option – its’ better to stay on good terms with friends rather than stand up for what may be right and true. Given this, here are some of the common beliefs about poor people:
- Poor People Are Lazy
- Poor People Don’t Want to Work Hard
- Poor People Can’t Manage Money
While I might agree that there are some people who are poor because of these things, there is quite a bit of research that contradicts this. But before I go into this research, I want to acknowledge how tempting it is to believe that while people are sometimes errant in their beliefs for reasons like lacking access to good sources of information, there is another more insidious explanation – people become deeply invested in their beliefs because they are emotionally satisfying. Briefly put, sharing beliefs with a group of like-minded others feels good. Expressed shared beliefs help people to cement social group affiliation by demonstrating solidarity with group ideals.
How people the resolve the mental contradiction between what they believe to be true when they are confronted with contradictory facts, statistics, research, etc. tells us a lot about that person. Psychologists have a term for this internal mental contradiction – they refer to it as “cognitive dissonance.”
Cognitive Dissonance: the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.
Research on Why People are Poor/Remain Poor
The research on this topic is wide ranging, but I will list a few studies as well as policies that aim to address the matter. In one instance, researchers at the London School of Economics undertook study to answer the question “Why Do People Stay Poor?” (2020 released paper). They found that it was the initial lack of wealth and not motivation or talent that keeps people in poverty. To test this, the researchers randomly allocated wealth (i.e. livestock) to female villagers in Bangladesh. After doing so, they waited to see how the wealth transfer would impact their future finances. Their paper concluded:
[We] find that, if the program pushes individuals above a threshold level of initial assets, then they escape poverty, but, if it does not, they slide back into poverty…Our findings imply that large one-off transfers that enable people to take on more productive occupations can help alleviate persistent poverty.
Put another way, many poor people stay poor not because of their talent/motivation, but because they are in low-paying jobs that they must work to survive. This is what researchers refer to as the “Poverty Trap.” Their lack of money and assets is so overwhelming that spend all of their time taking care of day-to-day survival problems; this prevents them from adopting a “future planning” mindset and investing effort in acquiring training/capital to work in higher paying jobs.
First generation college students are no doubt familiar with some of these strains. Yet there are still others who have never been in these circumstances who cannot possible relate to the idea that an individual might not be able to simply work themselves out of difficult circumstances.
Forms of Capital
Sociologists like Pierre Bourdieu use what is called the Forms of Capital Model to talk about this in more detail. Bourdieu’s contribution is that he effectively expands the notion of capital beyond its more narrow economic conception, where he emphasizes material exchanges to include “immaterial” and “non-economic” forms of capital. Bourdieu distinguished three forms of capital (economic, cultural, and symbolic). We might elaborate this a bit to think of the kinds of capital that individuals might lack as follows: financial capital (money), social capital (it’s not what you know but who you know), cultural capital (knowing the right things so you fit in; having access to cultural goods/materials; symbolic association, tastes, values and ethics), and human capital ( resources like education, emotional resilience, physical health, and self-esteem). Some of these things are conspicuously acquired whereas others are transmitted through indirect means that are less tangible. Having access to one form, all, or none can make a major difference in a given individual’s ability to be successful. In short, it’s not all about “hard work” to resolve the problem of being poor.
In another study, published in the journal Science (2013), researchers from the University of Warwick, Harvard, Princeton, and the University of British Columbia found that poor people struggling with finances were subject to cognitive strain equivalent to a 13-point loss of IQ, equivalent to a full night’s sleep lost. Theirs is one of multiple studies that suggests poverty can harm cognition and decision-making. Poor people who are stressed and living in a scarcity mind-set have a harder time processing information to inform decisions. Poor results, thus, are not caused by lack of intelligence or personal discipline. They are a consequence of being poor such that being born into poverty disposes many people to become caught up in a cycle of poverty that can span generations if significant help is not provided.
Policy Remedies
For those who design and implement antipoverty initiatives, it’s important to recognize 1) who is poor; and 2) why people are poor. Absent an understanding of the complexity that attends to the issue of poverty, we cannot begin to undertake effective steps to resolve the problem.
Discussion Questions
What has been your traditional understanding of why people are poor? What narratives have you relied on to explain the persistent poverty and relations of social inequality?
Close you eyes and conjure a picture of someone who is poor. What does that person look like? Are they male or female? Black, white, other? Young or old?
Where do poor people live in your town? Are they visible or invisible to you as you make you daily travels?
As a college student i personally believe that i would speak up for what i think is right and not care what my friends would have to say on my opinions, they are opinions for a reason. I personally believe people who are born poor are most likley going to stay poor because they have no one to help them with their future and put them on the right track. If they grew up will a family who worked a 9-5 minimum wage job, then they are probably more than likely going to as well. I believe this because it was all they knew growing up and was put into their mind set. When i close my eye to picture someone who is poor I do not see a race. The first person i see that comes to mind is someone who works their life away to provide for their family and doesn’t know how to get out of that system. They work everyday to provide for what matters and it is barley enough.
My traditional understanding of why people are poor was because some were victim of circumstance. Some people were born into an environment that they quite couldn’t get out of and they took low level jobs to make ends meet. Which is highlighted in the article about people being put into a poverty trap that further prevents them from having a future planning mindset. I have relied on societies narrative to explain the persistency of poverty. But also the people in my environment growing up influenced my traditional understandings of why people are poor. When I close my eyes and picture a poor person a specific race really does’t come to mind. Although race/culture might have some correlation to the poverty issue it doesn’t make me think of one specific race. Poor people can be diverse not only in race but gender and age as well. In my town poor people tend to not live in the big housing plans that populate my hometown. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone that doesn’t live in a housing plan is poor. Mostly when I drive more towards my sisters house in Homestead, poorer houses are easier to see.