Discuss the concept of the culture of poverty, and contrast the views of Banfield and Gross

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Feedback: The culture of poverty is the view that the poor are qualitatively different in values and lifestyles from the rest of society and that those cultural differences explain their poverty; i.e. people, because of their social class position, differ in resources, power, and prestige and hence have different experiences, lifestyles, and ways of life. Edward Banfield argues that lower-class individuals have a propensity toward criminal behavior. He asserts that a person in the lower class does not have a strong sense of morality and thus is not constrained by legal rules, and has weak ego strength, a present-time orientation, a propensity for taking risks, and a willingness to inflict injury. Daniel Gross argues that we should forget about the underclass because it is the "overclass" that is hurting society. He writes: "In the underclass, unmarried fathers don't take responsibility for their children. In the overclass, twice-married, middle-aged Wall Street daddies don't own up to the consequences of their insane financial miscues." Unlike Banfield, Gross points to crimes by economic elites within major corporations.