3 Sociological Explanations of Poverty Free Online FlashCards

What can poverty mean beyond a shortage of income?

Poverty can involve limited access not only to income, but also to secure housing, health care, education, and other resources.

What do sociologists examine when explaining poverty?

Sociologists examine how social organization, shared meanings, and everyday interactions shape people’s opportunities and experiences.

Where do structural perspectives locate the causes of poverty?

They locate poverty’s causes and persistence in how society is organized, rather than mainly in individual shortcomings.

How do institutions and conflict approaches explain unequal life chances?

Labor markets, schools, housing systems, and public policy shape access to resources. Conflict approaches also examine how unequal power and wealth preserve advantage for some groups.

What do cultural explanations of poverty examine?

They examine how shared values, expectations, knowledge, and practices relate to poverty.

What did Oscar Lewis’s “culture of poverty” idea propose?

Oscar Lewis proposed that persistent deprivation could foster adaptations and outlooks passed on across generations.

Why distinguish cultural adaptations from causes of poverty?

A strategy may be an adaptation to hardship rather than its cause. For example, urgent needs can make immediate income more sensible than uncertain future training benefits.

What is a key risk of “culture of poverty” arguments?

It can stereotype poor people as sharing one set of values, mistake adaptations for causes, or overlook structural barriers.

What does symbolic interactionism focus on when studying poverty?

Symbolic interactionism examines how people create and interpret meanings through everyday interaction, including how poverty is experienced and represented.

How can a service provider’s label affect someone seeking assistance?

A provider’s label can affect how a person seeking assistance is treated and what help they receive.

What may cause stigma in everyday encounters with poverty?

Visible signs associated with poverty, such as clothing, housing, or reliance on public services, can attract stigma.

What is a limitation of interactionist explanations?

Its close focus on everyday encounters may leave the wider economic and institutional causes of poverty underexplored.