{"id":7191,"date":"2020-03-18T17:08:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T11:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=7191"},"modified":"2025-07-05T16:51:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T11:21:46","slug":"what-is-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/what-is-poverty\/","title":{"rendered":"What is POVERTY?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_Poverty\"><\/span><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">What is Poverty?<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Relevant_For_Sociology_Optional_Paper_I\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #333333; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>(Relevant For Sociology Optional Paper I)<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div style=\"width: 810px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-7191-1\" width=\"810\" height=\"456\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UPSC-CSE-2024-Result-_-Triumph-IAS-with-Vikash-Ranjan-Sir.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UPSC-CSE-2024-Result-_-Triumph-IAS-with-Vikash-Ranjan-Sir.mp4\">https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UPSC-CSE-2024-Result-_-Triumph-IAS-with-Vikash-Ranjan-Sir.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_68 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >What's Inside this Blog!<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/what-is-poverty\/#What_is_Poverty\" title=\"What is Poverty?\">What is Poverty?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/what-is-poverty\/#Relevant_For_Sociology_Optional_Paper_I\" title=\"(Relevant For Sociology Optional Paper I)\">(Relevant For Sociology Optional Paper I)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/what-is-poverty\/#What_is_Poverty-2\" title=\"What is Poverty?\">What is Poverty?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/what-is-poverty\/#How_many_types_of_poverty\" title=\"How many types of poverty?\">How many types of poverty?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/what-is-poverty\/#What_is_cultural_perspective_on_Poverty\" title=\"What is cultural perspective on Poverty?\">What is cultural perspective on Poverty?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/what-is-poverty\/#Why_Situational_Constraints_Theory_%E2%80%93_an_alternative_to_a_culture_of_poverty\" title=\"Why Situational Constraints Theory \u2013 an alternative to a culture of poverty? \u00a0\">Why Situational Constraints Theory \u2013 an alternative to a culture of poverty? \u00a0<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-25864 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Untitled-design-5.png\" alt=\"What is Poverty by Vikash Ranjan sir at Triumph IAS, UPSC Sociology\u00a0Optional\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Untitled-design-5.png 1080w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Untitled-design-5-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Untitled-design-5-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Untitled-design-5-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Untitled-design-5-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\">\n<h2><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vdY-PfuWUm8\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_Poverty-2\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #333333; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>What is Poverty?<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; color: #333333;\">Poverty is a social problem and it is one of the manifestations of inequality. The study of poverty is central to any examination of social equality, including an analysis of who is poor and the reasons for their poverty.\u00a0 Poverty refers to \u201cA low standard of living that lasts long enough to undermine the health, morale, and self respect of an individual or group of individuals. A state in which resources, usually material but sometimes cultural, are lacking. Poverty is insufficient supply of those things which are requisite for an individual to maintain himself and those dependent upon him in health and vigour\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Poverty is a social problem which is often expressed in terms of lack of material resources which one requires for a minimum standard of life. But, what are these minimum standards? There is no agreement upon this and hence, the definition of poverty has no consensus.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">According to Ruth Lister, in her Poverty, 2004- \u2018Definition of poverty has important implications for political, policy and academic discourse\u2019. In India also, recent definitions of poverty from the government have risen heckles as critics argued that these definitions are exclusionary and don\u2019t provide a measure of actual poverty.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Another contention of the critics is that across the countries, poverty is invariably defined in terms of material well-being only. Hence, poverty is defined as a form of multiple deprivations. So, poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon and caused by a variety of factors and hence, its manifestation also differs from context to context.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Poverty is an inter-related wave of economic, social, psychological, cultural and political factors, which influence the occurrence and persistence of poverty. Real poverty may not be apparent and apparent poverty may not be real.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_many_types_of_poverty\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #333333; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>How many types of poverty?<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>Absolute Poverty and Relative Poverty: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>The term poverty is relative to the general standard of living in the society, the distribution of wealth, the status system, and social expectations. It is common to distinguish between absolute and relative definitions of poverty. <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>Absolute Poverty:<\/strong> Poverty defined in absolute terms refers to a state in which the individual lacks the resources necessary for subsistence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>Relative Poverty:<\/strong> Relative definitions of poverty, frequently favoured by sociologists, refers to the individuals or groups with lack of resources when compared with that of other members of the society &#8211; in other words, their relative standard of living.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Absolute poverty is often known as <strong>\u201csubsistence poverty\u201d<\/strong> for it is based on assessment of minimum subsistence requirements such as food, clothing, shelter, health care, etc. Subsistence definitions of poverty [or definitions of absolute poverty] are of considerable value in examining, Third World poverty.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_cultural_perspective_on_Poverty\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #333333; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>What is cultural perspective on Poverty?<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>The cultural perspective- The term Culture of Poverty was popularised in 1950s, by Oscar Lewis, in his study of Mexican cities. According to it, poverty is not a result of individual shortcomings, but an outcome of a larger social atmosphere in which children are socialised.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">According to the <strong>cultural perspective<\/strong> on poverty, the lower class is seen as manifesting patterns of behaviour and values which are characteristically different from those of the dominant society and culture and it is similar across the countries, marked by features like, fatalism, instant gratification, feeling of dependency and helplessness. This culture, or sub-culture, as Lewis calls it, helps in perpetuating poverty.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">The poor are also part of stratification scheme in the society, in which they occupy the bottom of the pyramid. Different approaches define this stratification differently.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>For example,<\/strong> <strong>functionalists<\/strong> like Herbert Gans, in his More Equality, 1973, argue that poverty persists because it is rewarding for a majority of section who want various kinds of services. Its existence ensures that all kinds of menial works also get done. It helps in running of various institutions like police, hospitals and asylums. Poor also provide a baseline of failure to the rest of society which works hard to avoid falling to that level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">However, non-functional view holds that some sections like older people, minority groups and females are more likely to witness poverty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>Marxists<\/strong> argue that poverty in society can only be understood in terms of the effects of a capitalist economy. According to them, the question Why Poverty?is same as asking Why Wealth? Poverty exists because it benefits the ruling class.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">\u2018<strong>Poverty of women<\/strong> is often hidden behind the study of poverty as a household phenomenon\u2019, according to Ruspini in his article Longitudinal Research in Social Sciences,2000. It is well known that employment rates of women are lower than men and they often land into low paid jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_Situational_Constraints_Theory_%E2%80%93_an_alternative_to_a_culture_of_poverty\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #333333; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>Why Situational Constraints Theory \u2013 an alternative to a culture of poverty? \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Rather than seeing the behaviour of the poor as a response to established and internalized cultural patterns, many researchers view it as a reaction to \u2018situational constraints\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">In other words the poor are constrained by the facts of their situation, by low income, unemployment and the like, to act the way they do, rather than being directed by a culture of poverty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">The situational constraints argument suggests that the poor would readily change their behaviour in response to new set of circumstances once the constraints of poverty were removed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>The situational constraints thesis also attacks<\/strong> the view that the poor are largely insulated from mainstream norms and values. It argues that the poor share the values of society as a whole, the only difference being that they are unable to translate many of those values into reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Again, the situational constraints argument suggests that once the constraints of poverty are removed, the poor will have no difficulty adopting mainstream behaviour patterns and seizing available opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><strong>C K Prahalad<\/strong> offers an interesting perspective on poverty in his Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits,2004<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">According to him &#8211; \u2018poverty is not to be always looked at from a benevolent perspective\u2019. Business firms can redesign their products and services to suit the masses and can add value to their lives as well as earn profit. New insights into challenges of fighting poverty have been provided by the recent inter-disciplinary research. For example, the World Bank, in a report published in 2013, held that climate change is likely to hinder future attempts to<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3><span class=\"amp-wp-ead8d03\" data-amp-original-style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\"><span class=\"amp-wp-303d451\" data-amp-original-style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">To Read more topics like What is Poverty<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"amp-wp-303d451\" data-amp-original-style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;\">in Public Posts, visit:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?amp=1\">www.triumphias.com\/blogs<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"8wJMxz1iL6\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/transforming-higher-education-in-india\/\">Transforming Higher Education in India | Sociology Optional Coaching | Vikash Ranjan Classes | Triumph IAS | UPSC Sociology Optional<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Transforming Higher Education in India | Sociology Optional Coaching | Vikash Ranjan Classes | Triumph IAS | UPSC Sociology Optional&#8221; &#8212; TriumphIAS\" src=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/transforming-higher-education-in-india\/embed\/#?secret=G39WLZeEW9#?secret=8wJMxz1iL6\" data-secret=\"8wJMxz1iL6\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"wirBCb4chP\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/displacement-in-the-name-of-development\/\">Displacement in the name of Development | Sociology Optional Coaching | Vikash Ranjan Classes | Triumph IAS | UPSC Sociology Optional<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Displacement in the name of Development | Sociology Optional Coaching | Vikash Ranjan Classes | Triumph IAS | UPSC Sociology Optional&#8221; &#8212; TriumphIAS\" src=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/displacement-in-the-name-of-development\/embed\/#?secret=jAeTsI9CI8#?secret=wirBCb4chP\" data-secret=\"wirBCb4chP\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Poverty? (Relevant For Sociology Optional Paper I) What is Poverty? Poverty is a social problem and it is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11068],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sociology-daily-dose"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7191"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31372,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191\/revisions\/31372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}