Why Poverty Is Not a Personal Choice, But A Reflection of Society

Shervin Assari, University of Michigan Research Investigator of Psychiatry, Public Health, and Poverty Solutions
As someone who studies poverty solutions and social and health inequalities, I am convinced that the biggest
reason for poverty is how a society is structured. Without structural changes, it may be exceedingly difficult if
not impossible to eliminate disparities and poverty.
Social structure
Many Americans believe that poverty is the result of laziness, immorality, and irresponsibility. In fact, poverty
and other social miseries are in large part due to social structure, which is how society functions at a macro
level (most foundational). Some societal issues, such as racism, sexism, and segregation, constantly cause
disparities in education, employment, and income for marginalized groups. The majority group naturally has a
head start, relative to groups that deal with a wide range of societal barriers daily.
Poverty: Not just a state of mind
We have all heard that the poor need only make better choices – work hard, stay in school, get married, do not
have children before they can afford them. If they did all this, they would not be poor. This is an example of a
simplistic view toward the complex social phenomenon. It is minimizing the impact of a societal issue caused
by structure on individuals’ behavior.
Independent Cultures
Americans and Europeans have more independent cultures. They define people in terms of internal attributes
such as choices, abilities, values, preferences, and traits. This is vastly different from interdependent cultures,
such as eastern Asian countries where people are seen in terms of their environment, context, and relationships
with others.
A direct consequence of independent mindsets is that one may ignore all the historical and environmental
conditions, such as slavery, segregation, and discrimination against women, that contribute to certain outcomes.
When we ignore the historical context, it is easier to instead attribute an unfavorable outcome, such as poverty,
to the person.
Views shaped by politics
Many Americans view poverty as an individual phenomenon and say that it’s primarily their own fault that
people are poor. The alternative view is that poverty is a structural phenomenon. From this viewpoint, people
are in poverty because they find themselves in holes in the economic system that deliver them inadequate
income.
The fact is that people move in and out of poverty. Research has shown that 45 percent of poverty spells last no
more than a year, 70 percent last no more than three years, and only 12 percent stretch beyond a decade.
Why calling the poor ‘lazy’ is victim blaming
If one believes that poverty is related to historical and environmental events and not just to an individual, we
should be careful about blaming the poor for their fates.
Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially responsible
for the harm that happened to them. It is a common psychological and societal phenomenon--humans tend to
perceive victims at least partially responsible.
I believe all our lives could be improved if we considered the structural influences as root causes of social
problems such as poverty and inequality. Perhaps then, we could more easily agree on solutions.