Poverty

1
Poverty

• Social Psychology

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South African Statistics

• SA is classified as a middle income country, yet
  most South Africans are poor
• This is due to extreme inequalities, with a small
  group of very wealthy people and a much larger
  group of poor people
• Of the 44 million South Africans, about 8 million
  survive on less than a dollar (R7) a day
  (internationally recognized poverty line)
• 18 million live on less than US 2
• 37 households survive on less than R1 000 per
  month

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• Globally 1 in 5 people are poor
• In some African regions such as the Sub-Saharan
  Africa, every second person is poor
• In SA, poverty is unevenly distributed with Black
  people far more poor than White people
• Poverty is severe in rural areas
• Poverty rate for female-headed households is much
  higher (60) than for male-headed households
  (31)
• But poverty is not limited to the so-called
  developing countries
• Wealthy countries such as USA has a number of
  underclass people, with no regular employment
  and dependent on state grants

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Why should psychologists care about poverty?

• Firstly, being poor has an impact on a persons
  physical and mental health
• Secondly, being rich or poor (or in between)
  leads to people experiencing the whole world in
  very different ways and forming different
  structures to try and improve their lives
• Thirdly, poverty is more that just an unfortunate
  condition from which some people happen to suffer
  it is an important part of how the world is
  organized

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The negative effects of poverty

• Poverty has a direct effect on peoples physical
  well-being, as poor people
• may have insufficient food
• cannot afford a varied diet (every tenth child in
  SA in malnourished)
• often work long hours
• usually do not have access to adequate heating,
  water and sanitation
• they are more in danger to contracting a variety
  of poverty-related diseases, including TB and
  AIDS and,
• are often exposed to risk of injuries, e.g. burns
  from open fires or paraffin stoves

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• As poverty leads to physical ill health, it would
  seem to follow that being poor would also have
  negative impact on mental health
• Some researchers claims that low-income people
  are 2-5 times more likely to suffer from a
  diagnosable mental disorder than those of the
  highest income
• However, in making claims about the relationship
  between poverty and mental health, we should be
  careful not to portray poor people as being
  somehow psychologically less developed than rich
  people

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• Challenges children growing up in poverty might
  face
• Poor children are at risk of physical diseases
  and injury, and this may affect their
  intellectual performance
• Poor children are more likely to take on parental
  responsibilities at an early age, and may even
  have to act as the head of the house hold. They
  may therefore miss out on many opportunities -
  especially socializing with their peers and
  schooling
• Poor children are likely to witness or be victims
  of crime and violence
• Health services (including mental health
  services) are far less accessible to poor
  children because either they cannot afford it
  and/or they live in areas that have no resourced
  clinics and other mental health facilities

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THE EXPERIENCE OF POVERTY

• Poor peoples experience of poverty involves more
  than inadequate income or consumption
• Poverty is not simply about being deprived of
  necessities such as food, medicine and clothing,
  but it is also about living in a situation of
• Hopelessness
• Uncertainty about the future, and
• Alienation from mainstream society

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• Hopelessness
• Being caught up in a so-called poverty trap
  with little prospects of ever escaping
• To get ahead in life is not only about
  determination and hardwork, as others like to
  think
• No or very few good networks (be it friends or
  relatives)
• Less ability to present yourself through dress,
  accent and opinion as being sort of reliable and
  trustworthy to do the job
• E.g., a young person from a poor rural area might
  lack most of the above
• Persistence of this situation through
  generations, with only one occasional exceptional
  individual, they may be said to be caught in a
  poverty trap

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• However, it would be a mistake to depict all poor
  communities as trapped in a spiral of
  hopelessness, with only few individuals emerging
  unharmed due to their greater resilience
• Resilience is something that most poor
  communities have or can develop
• Poor communities, have extensive networks of
  mutual support which help families and
  individuals to deal with and overcome difficult
  circumstances.

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• Poverty is a state of uncertainty about the
  future
• poor people are particularly vulnerable in
  relation to economic shocks such as losing a
  job, illness, or becoming a victim of crime
• Middle-class people are buffered against such
  economic risks by insurances etc, but poor people
  do not have such safety nets
• They also often feel alienated from society
• May resort to be fundamentally critical of the
  government systems
• the have a need for survival, which may take the
  form of economic crimes such as theft, robbery
  and corruption

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THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

• Is there a solution?
• throw money at the problem
• Governments taxes
• However, simply being rich is not a guarantee of
  physical and mental well-being
• The process of wealth creation in South Africa
  and most other developing countries has been
  influenced by the Western world in 3 ways
• It can be seen as having led to psychological and
  social impoverishment

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• Firstly, most rich people do not feel
  particularly rich- they spend more money than
  they have and thus - debt trap
• The reason for this has been called consumer
  culture, which is the cultural fantasy that the
  solution to all lifes problems is to buy more
  and more material things
• Consumer culture is a kind of psychological
  impoverishment in that it takes away from people
  their sense of what is important, and replaces it
  with a devastating sense of never having enough

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• Secondly, it is phenomenon know as social capital
  
• Social capital is like physical capital - it is a
  form of stored wealth, - in social networks,
  spaces and institutions that make it possible for
  people to work together rather than being store
  in money or property
• Social capital can be seen in informal shared
  spaces such as the street or the corner café
  and in more formal spaces such as the church
  meeting or the school
• All over the world, spaces for sharing, debate,
  and collaborative work (streets, schools) have
  been privatized, causing people to withdraw from
  participation in the process which once made them
  feel part of society

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• Thirdly, the kind of wealth creation that goes
  with Western capitalism has led to another kind
  of impoverishment known as cultural imperialism
  a process whereby a stronger culture imposes its
  understanding and practices on weaker cultures.
• Cultural imperialism is not a modern phenomenon,
  but in the past it has never posed a serious
  threat to the rich diversity of the worlds
  cultures