A Dicourse on Povery
It is the common misconception that poverty is the fault of individuals, as we can see by the passing of various new laws and acts (for example the 1996 welfare reform act). But it is the imperfection of our social structure that is to blame. These flaws allow the perpetuation of poverty. This unending cycle is a stark contrast to the American ideal that everyone has the opportunity to succeed in our society. A debate that illustrates this argument is centered on a concept known as the "culture of poverty" (Lewis, 1965). The question then becomes what is the culture of poverty? The term culture of poverty is from the work of Oscar Lewis. Lewis as well as others argue that there are certain cultural characteristics among the poor in industrial capitalist societies. Furthermore, Lewis and others agree that poor people in such societies display characteristics and values that are not held by the non-poor in those same societies. "These characteristics are: the absence of childhood as a specially prolonged and protected stage in the life-cycle, early initiation into sex, free unions or consensual marriages, a relatively high incidents of abandonment of wives and children, a tend toward female or mother-c
Bibliography Lewis, Oscar. 1965. La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty. New York: Random House Lichter, Daniel, Felica B. LeClere, and Dian K. McLaughlin. 1991. Local Marriage Markets and the Marital Behavior of Black and White Women. American Journal of Sociology 96:843-867. U.S. Bureau of Census. 1995. Poverty Areas. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1991. Current Population Reports, Consumer Income. Series P-60, no. 174. U.S. Department of Labor. 1965. The Negro Family: The Case for National Action (The Moynihan Report). Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Willson, William Julius. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
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Approximate Word count = 1874
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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