Abstract
Sociologists widely agree that poverty is the effect of structural factors; however, understanding the ways in which poverty is experienced and constructed with reference to culture remains a compelling area of scholarship. In a society where culture of poverty ideas retain popularity, attributing meanings and behavior to people in poverty is complicated and contentious. Many scholars adroitly navigate these waters, but we lack clear guidelines on how to examine the behavior and perceptions of people in poverty without misrepresenting and potentially stigmatizing research subjects. I argue that to avoid problems of overgeneralization and what I call “unacknowledged comparison,” we must engage with multiple points of observation and empirical comparisons. In addition, it makes sense to center sets of circumstances that affect behavior rather than generalizing the behavior or the culture that influences that behavior. Finally, I argue that the unit of analysis should be at the relational level rather than the individual level. The implications of failing to attend to these issues include continued misunderstanding of and unwarranted stigmatization of people in poverty.
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Notes
I use the term operationalization broadly to refer to three research processes, including conceptualization (the defining of concepts), measurement of concepts (particularly in deductive or quantitative studies), and the interpretation of observations (particularly in inductive or qualitative studies).
In All My Kin, Stack writes that African American residents of “The Flats” share values with the mainstream, even though they also have built an alternative cooperative lifestyle, referring to a “value-mosaic of the poor” (Stack 1974: 125). She argues that her research subjects have a “remarkably accurate assessment of the social order…they can realistically appraise the futility of hoarding a small cash reserve…What is seen by some interpreters as disinterest in delayed rewards is actually a rational evaluation of need” (Stack 1974: 128). Horowitz (1985) had similarly developed a dichotomous categorization of normative codes found among Chicano Chicago residents. These codes—one being an honor code and the other more akin to the Protestant work ethic—are not inflexible nor static, and tension between them can be found in the same individual.
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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the reviewers and Lawrence Nichols in his role as editor for excellent and painstaking feedback during the submission process. My appreciation also goes to reviewers of early drafts: Melissa Lavin, Katrina Bloch, and Kylie Parrotta. Michael Koch graciously assisted with drafts at multiple stages.
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Seale, E. Strategies for Conducting Post-Culture-of-Poverty Research on Poverty, Meaning, and Behavior. Am Soc 51, 402–424 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-020-09460-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-020-09460-2