Research indicates that race influences people’s perceptions of poverty at various levels and in a multidimensional way. Some research shows that poverty perceptions differ at a cross-country level, while other research demonstrates that race has an impact at group level and intra-group level.
3.9.1 Cross-country differences in perceptions of the causes of poverty
It is important to understand that a country’s political and economic system and a host of other macro and micro governance factors impact on how various racial or ethnic groups perceive poverty. An analysis by Campbell et al. (2001: 424) provides support for this notion and indicates that people in developed countries often view poverty differently from those in developing countries.
Campbell and his colleagues studied causal attributions to poverty in the developing world from the perspective of “actors” living in a “developing country” (Malawi) and
‘‘observers’’ living in a ‘‘developed country’’ (Australia). The study generally established, consistent with the actor-observer bias theory, that Australians were more likely to attribute poverty to individualistic characteristics of the poor, rather than to structural factors of the poor. This finding was also consistent with past studies and revealed that those from the developing nation (actors) attribute developing world poverty to individualistic factors (blaming the poor). Conversely, Malawians generally perceived the causes of poverty in structural terms.
Another cross-country study by Nasser, Abouchedid and Khashan (2002: 103) examined perceptions of poverty among Portuguese, Lebanese and South African college students along individualistic, structural and fatalistic dimensions. The results of this study indicated that South African students were relatively more individualistic in their explanations of the causes of poverty than Portuguese and Lebanese students respectively. The study further found that South African students compared to Portuguese and Lebanese expressed more fatalistic explanations of the causes of poverty. These results should be viewed from a comparative perspective since one would expect that most South Africans would be more structural in their perceptions of the causes of poverty. It is therefore not surprising that the same study found that perceptions of poverty vary across the different race groups in South Africa (Nasser et al., 2002: 111).
The findings of this study are discussed in greater detail later in this chapter.
In my review of the literature on perceptions of the causes of poverty I found that a smaller proportion of studies examine cross-country differences in perceptions with the majority focusing on differences across groups within a given country. To find support for cross-country differences in perceptions of the causes of poverty, I discuss Marshall et al.’s (1999: 351) investigation about beliefs about inequality in thirteen established Western-democratic and newly post-communist industrial nations.
The study by Marshall et al. (1999: 351) indicated that capitalist countries in the West and Japan (considered together) were more likely to support question items such as
‘people get rewarded for their effort’, while countries that have recently emerged from socialism were less likely to agree with this question item. This result showed that the capitalist societies compared to previously socialist countries are more in support of individualistic explanations of the causes of inequality. I should like to suggest that the findings of this study are consistent with perceptions of the causes of poverty in first world countries such as the United States and Canada where the non-poor attributes perceptions of the causes of poverty more to individualistic dimensions.
3.9.2 Differences in perceptions of the causes of poverty across race or ethnic groups
I have established that there is a growing body of literature that focuses on studies which examine differences in perceptions of poverty across racial or ethnic groups (Bullock et al., 2005: 1134). However, most of these studies are conducted in the United States and Britain, while relatively few studies are located in Asia or other parts of the developing world. Almost all the studies from the United States and Britain indicate that Blacks in general perceive poverty in structural terms, while whites attached more importance to individualistic perceptions of the causes of poverty. Hunt (1996: 312), for instance, investigated whether race or ethnic differences in the United States impact on beliefs about the causes of poverty and showed that African Americans perceived poverty mostly in structural terms.
Note another study in the United States that investigated the relationships among beliefs about the poor and poverty, stereotypes of the poor, attributions to poverty, and sociopolitical ideologies (as assessed by the Protestant Ethnic, Belief in a Just World, and Right Wing Authoritarian Scales). About 209 students from a Midwestern college responded to a questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic variables (gender, age, ethnicity, and political affiliation), an assessment of core American values and ideologies, and an estimate of the number of poor people in various categories, and attitudes toward and attributions to poverty. Consistent with most literature, three factors (internal, external/ societal and fatalistic) were extracted with regard to the perceptions of the causes of poverty. Reviewing the socio-demographic variables it is was found that white participants were more likely to perceive the causes of poverty in terms of internal attributions, while non-white participants indicated external factors as responsible for poverty situation (Cozzarelli et al., 2001: 224).
A study based on an Israeli sample of 647 participants (482 social workers and 165 middle class professionals) found that the social workers as well as the professionals attributed poverty to structural causes (Weiss et al., 2007: 905). However, the same study showed that social workers compared to the middle class professionals were more in support of psychological than structural causes of poverty. This result indicated that social work as a subject contributed decisively to social work students’ support for psychological causes of poverty. This result is discussed in greater detail in the section on the impact of education on perceptions of the causes of poverty.
3.9.3 Intra-group differences in perceptions of the causes of poverty
There is a vast body of research that focuses on intra-group differences with regard to perceptions of the causes of poverty. Most of these studies reveal that racial differences are most often attributed to the characteristics of the individuals who belong to these groups. It is increasingly important that the interaction between race and other
socio-demographic variables such as gender, class, age, residential locale and employment be reviewed to understand intra-group differences with regard to perceptions of poverty.
See a study by Hunt (2004: 833), which examines ideological beliefs about wealth and poverty using a sample of white, African American, and Latino residents of Los Angeles County. The findings of this study suggested that individuals belonging to a group that is disproportionately poor normally identify with the generalized experiences of the group they belong to when compared to how other groups explain the causes of poverty. For example, while an African American person with high socio-economic status would be expected to attribute poverty to individualistic determinants, he or she might instead conform to a structural explanation of poverty if this is the predominant approach of his or her group identity. In addition, both Hunt’s 1999 and 2004 studies concluded that American whites are more likely to view poverty in terms of individualistic factors rather than structural factors.
Another leading researcher found that income was a stronger negative predictor of individualism for African Americans than whites or Latinos (Bullock et al., 2005: 1134).
In other words, African Americans with a high income often viewed poverty in individualistic terms, while those with a low income reasoned that structural perceptions are the main causes of poverty. It was therefore emphasized that an examination of the impact of contextual and demographic variables within and across these ethnic groups is necessary to fully understand how perceptions are formed and influenced.
Age group differences and perceptions of poverty
It is well documented that age impacts on people’s perceptions of poverty. Shek (2004:
277), for instance, investigated the beliefs about the causes of poverty in parents and adolescents from 199 poor Chinese families. These parents and their adolescent children participated in a longitudinal study, which responded to the Chinese Perceived Causes of Poverty Scale (CPCPS) in 2000 and 2001. The study found parent-adolescent differences and parental differences regarding explanations of the causes of poverty along personal
problems of the poor, exploitation and fatalistic explanations. It was further demonstrated that Chinese mothers held stronger fatalistic explanations of poverty than Chinese fathers.
The study also revealed that there was a general decline amongst both the adolescents and parents surveyed about explanations whether poor people themselves are to blame for living in poverty.
An earlier study by Shek (2002: 790) also showed that adolescent respondents who held strong views about external causation of poverty tended to have poorer existential well-being, lower levels of control over their own life, lower levels of life satisfaction, and higher levels of psychometric symptoms.
3.9.4 Poverty attitudes are shaped by negative racial and ethnic perceptions
Another body of research indicates that poverty attitudes are strongly shaped by negative perceptions of African Americans. Winter (2006: 402), for example, examined the relationship between welfare attitudes and race, and found that the structure of Americans’ race schemas influence their attitudes. According to their research on racial schemas they divide the world into in-group and out-group where each group is associated with very distinct attributes. Consequently, the findings of the study revealed that racial conservatives normally attribute inequality towards individual level characteristics such as merit and effort, whereas racial liberals attribute inequalities to discrimination and racism.
To establish further support for the impact of race on perceptions of poverty and welfare among the American public, Federico (2004: 375) conducted a study based on three separate surveys namely the 1992 National Election Study, 1990 General Social Survey and 1991 National Race and Politics Study. The findings of the study suggested that opposition to welfare may be linked to American whites’ perceptions of African Americans, despite the fact that the program is not race orientated. In this regard studies have shown that perceptions of African Americans as lazy, undependable, and overly demanding have a sizable influence on American whites’ welfare attitudes, the magnitude
of which often rivals that of generalized motives and predispositions like self-interest, egalitarianism, and individualism. In conclusion, it seems that welfare has become a racial issue.
Also note a study by Wright (1993: 5) that demonstrated that the victim-blaming concept discussed previously is just another way of portraying African American or anti-Hispanic feelings. For example, African Americans are normally considered to be lazy, dependent or poor, while whites are seen as hardworking, independent, and well-off or potentially prejudiced (Winter, 2006: 402). From a victim-blaming perspective, the poor is mostly considered negatively since they are themselves to blame for their poverty status. Linked to the victim-blaming framework is the concept of social devaluation.
Because the poor are sometimes viewed negatively they start to develop a lack of self-esteem (Underlid, 2005: 274). It is my opinion that this lack of self-self-esteem impacts on their overall quality of life and mental health.
3.9.5 Personal versus group perceptions of poverty
Research that has investigated personal versus group perceptions of poverty shows that minority group members perceive more discrimination directed at their group than at themselves. Ruggierro (1999: 521), for example, argued that members from minority groups often perceive less discrimination directed at them individually than at the group they belong to as a defense mechanism. In other words, the individual member often argues that discrimination experienced by the group is not directed at him or her personally but rather to the other group members. In so doing, I believe the individual group member hopes to minimize their personal experience with discrimination. In some instances the personal discrepancy between group and personal discrimination is seen as the need by the individual to have control over their lives.
Similarly, Feagin and Cobas (2008: 39) discussed the concept of assimilation, which refers to “immigrant and subordinate racial-ethnic group adaptation to the dominant culture and institutions of the host society”. The study conducted by Feagin and Cobas
(2008: 41), for instance, revealed that middle class Latinos are more likely than working-class Latinos to give up their cultural heritage and accept the white dominant culture. It was explained that middle-class Latinos are more exposed to contacts with whites through the workplace, neighbourhoods, political organizations and higher education.
In this section I considered the impact of race on perceptions of the causes of poverty.
The review of the literature in this regard suggested that race does play an influential role in shaping people’s perceptions of poverty. More specifically, it was found that race interacts with other socio-demographic variables such as class, education, gender, geographic location, age and employment status when perceptions of poverty are formed.
It was also demonstrated that the country people live in and the group they belong to play a crucial role in the way people perceive poverty.