Culture Of Poverty Essay

Despite the great wealth the United States possesses, it has for long struggled with poverty which is said to be inherited from one generation to another. The culture of poverty hinders those affected from economic betterment however much assistance they obtain from social programs put in place. The term Culture of poverty is believed to have been coined by Oscar Lewis, who suggested that children who grow up in poverty-stricken families are highly likely to adopt the norms and practices that encourage poverty. Thus, these children, he believed, would replicate the adapted values in their lives which would in turn generate a cycle of intergenerational poverty in the long run (Bell et al, 2013). Thus the culture of poverty is a topic which creates heated debates in both the public and political arenas.
The culture of poverty, according to recent research, entails collective norms and values that lead people to poverty or make them remain entangled in the poverty trap.The culture of poverty is attributed to the behavior of the poor and their attitudes (Bell et al, 2013). This culture is seen to affect majorly the black Americans, who according to research fail to succeed in school and later in life. This poverty trickles down to generations, resulting in the culture of dependency.
Research also shows that slum children at their young ages of six or seven absorb the basic behaviors of their cultures and cannot embrace the opportunities for changing the status in which they are. They translate the

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