Explanations of and Solutions to Poverty
Sociologists offer competing explanations of why poverty exists and persists, which lead to very different proposed solutions.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Split explanations of poverty into two clear camps before answering: cultural explanations, attitudes and values reproduce poverty, and structural explanations, the economy or social system produces poverty.
- Learn Oscar Lewis's culture of poverty thesis precisely: values such as fatalism and living for the present develop in poor communities and are passed down, making escape harder, independent of whether opportunities exist.
- Learn the Marxist structural explanation: capitalism benefits from a pool of low-paid and unemployed labour, which keeps wages down, so poverty is a by-product of the system rather than individual or cultural failure.
- Learn the Weberian point about market situation: people with few marketable skills or qualifications have weak bargaining power in the labour market, which structurally limits their income regardless of attitude.
- Learn named solutions and which explanation each fits: New Right/Murray favour conditional, reduced welfare to encourage work; supporters of the welfare state, in the tradition of Beveridge, favour a safety net of benefits, a minimum wage and tax credits as structural fixes for structural problems.
- For an evaluation question on causes or solutions, pair one cultural argument with one structural argument, note evidence or a named criticism of each, and reach a supported conclusion about which better explains poverty or which solution follows from it.
Worked example
A newspaper article claims poverty exists mainly because poor families pass down attitudes such as not valuing education or planning for the future. Explain one structural sociological criticism of this explanation.
- Identify the claim in the article: it is a cultural explanation, similar to Lewis's culture of poverty thesis, blaming attitudes passed down within families.
- Recall the structural alternative: Marxists and Weberians argue poverty is produced by the labour market and the economic system, not by individual or family attitudes.
- Turn this into a direct criticism: if poverty were mainly caused by attitudes, poverty should fall whenever attitudes improve, but people with strong work ethics and educational ambitions can still remain poor if there are not enough secure, well-paid jobs available in their area, structural or regional unemployment.
- Support the criticism with a structural mechanism: Marxists argue capitalism structurally needs a pool of low-paid workers to keep wages down and profits high, so poverty would persist even if every poor family adopted different attitudes.
- Conclude the point: this suggests the newspaper article overstates the role of culture and understates how the structure of the economy limits opportunity regardless of individual attitudes.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What is the 'culture of poverty' thesis?Show answer
Answer: Oscar Lewis's argument that people who grow up in poor communities develop distinct values and behaviours, such as fatalism and living for the present, which are passed down and make escaping poverty harder.
Q2Give one criticism of the culture of poverty thesis.Show answer
Answer: It can be seen as blaming poor people for their own poverty, and it does not explain why poverty persists even for people with strong work ethics if there are simply not enough well-paid, secure jobs available.
Q3How would a Marxist explain the persistence of poverty?Show answer
Answer: As a structural by-product of capitalism, which benefits from a pool of low-paid and unemployed workers that keeps wages down and profits up, rather than as a result of individual attitudes.
Q4What did Beveridge's welfare state aim to provide?Show answer
Answer: A safety net of state-provided benefits, pensions and services to protect people against poverty, originally introduced after the Second World War.
Q5What solution to poverty would the New Right, e.g. Murray, favour?Show answer
Answer: Reduced or more conditional welfare, requiring recipients to seek work, on the grounds that overly generous, unconditional benefits can create a dependency culture.
Q6Name two policies associated with a structural approach to reducing poverty, other than general welfare benefits.Show answer
Answer: A statutory minimum wage and tax credits, in-work financial support, for low-income workers.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain two differences between cultural and structural explanations of poverty.
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Discuss the view that cutting welfare benefits is an effective way of reducing poverty in the UK. Use sociological evidence in your answer.
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See real GCSE Sociology past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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