Published: October 24, 2010
To the Editor:
Justin Renteria
Re “‘Culture of Poverty,’ Long an Academic Slur, Makes a Comeback” (front page, Oct. 18):
As a former welfare caseworker and administrative hearing officer, I think there are some things that economically disadvantaged people can do to reduce the risk of generational poverty. But one cannot have a conversation about the so-called cultural roots of poverty without addressing the tectonic shift in the economy over the last few decades.
Where once it was somewhat easier for striving low-income people (or, at least, their children) to ascend to the working and middle classes, in recent years stagnant wages, the decline of unionization of the private work force, insufficient subsidies for child care and skyrocketing college tuition have presented major challenges for those trying to escape from poverty.
Without governmental policies that address those issues, even those in poverty who engage in constructive behavior will have a difficult time lifting themselves out of it.
Amy Laiken
Chicago, Oct. 18, 2010
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To the Editor:
The concept of culture as a cause of poverty and the related academic debate are primarily politically driven. The resurgence of the culture argument reflects the rise of the right wing in the 1994 midterm election, welfare reform in 1996, and the subsequent get-tough work-and-responsibility-focused safety net programs, which continue today.
The use of culture as a cause of poverty provides an academic hook to explain away real major causes of poverty like race, class and disability. These are problematic to conservative political forces who want society to be blameless for poverty and the government to do less to help the poor.
For this reason conservative foundations give millions to institutions to promote arguments about the culture of poverty. For them, the strategy has paid off.
Jeffrey R. Senter
Staff Attorney
Project FAIR and Urban Justice Center
New York, Oct. 19, 2010
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To the Editor:
I was more than a little dismayed to learn that scholars are still debating the idea of a culture of poverty as the reason that some individuals and groups remain impoverished. It has long been established that the culture of poverty, or, more accurately, the subculture of poverty, develops as a response to the opportunities and/or privations in a community or society.
For example, as your article points out, poor women are less likely to marry not because they value marriage less than more well-off women but because of a diminished pool of marriageable men. African-American women are especially disadvantaged when it comes to marriage because African-American men die at a younger age, are imprisoned disproportionately compared with white men and are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed compared with white men.
To understand why so many poor kids appear to lack interest in education, I suggest viewing the excellent HBO series “The Wire.” The adolescent boys depicted in the show tend to “choose” the drug trade over doing well in school not because they have some culturally transmitted aversion to school but because they attend dysfunctional schools with no hope of ever affording college tuition. The drug trade is a logical choice under the circumstances.
If we are serious about changing the subculture of poverty, we must provide poor people with the tools and opportunities that give them a realistic chance to improve their lives economically and otherwise.
Anthony A. Cupaiuolo
Manchester, Vt., Oct. 18, 2010
The writer is professor emeritus of public administration at Pace University.
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To the Editor:
Your article forced me to think about how the culture of poverty might develop as it spreads from black urban ghettos, where the term was first applied, and begins to take root throughout the country as people of all races confront increasing national poverty, unemployment, inequality and the fading away of the middle class — conditions that seem likely to persist for a long time.
I wonder how academia will be defining the concept 40 years from now.
Nena Vreeland
St. Augustine, Fla., Oct. 18, 2010
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