Culture of poverty

The culture of poverty concept is a social theory explaining the cycle of poverty. Based
on the concept that the poor have a unique value system, the culture of poverty theory
suggests the poor remain in poverty because of their adaptations to the burdens of poverty
Pakistan, a land with unlimited natural resources, nice geographical location in Asia and
especially in south Asia with sea routes, mountains, deserts and plane area but living with
poverty has become culture of this land. Being in state of poverty either Govt is
Democratic or Ruled by Military, poor has no intentions, no visions but only one mission
to earn one time meal for himself and for his family. It is long history of Pakistan since
independence and reshaping of country, every ruler measured poor and its poverty in
ratios, percentages, in GDP, GNP or in foreign reserves. Never ever in history Poverty
was measured in miseries of poor, disrespect of society towards large population of
country that is in the state of poverty. Rich hate poor instead of hating poverty, Medical
scientists Feel discomfort with patients instead of diseases, Police hate criminals instead
of crime (Police definition of crime and criminals vary due to their status, if they are rich
it is no more crime what ever they do, if they are poor every thing is crime).

Different aspects of culture

Poverty not only affect the social system, castes systems,
religious affiliation but it also affect the human relationship with its society. Poverty has
its own culture, traditions and even religious interpretations.

Education
The correlations between poverty, social class and poor educational experience and
attainment have been clearly established. Poverty affects the likelihood of progressing
through school to attain formal educational qualifications.For Pakistan's children, poverty
means so much more than just lacking material things. It children living in poverty more
likely to find themselves working on the street than thriving in the classroom. Education
rate among poor people is extremely low. . Nearly half are illiterate—a number which is
even higher among women .education is low to financial crisis, unemployment. Illiteracy
of parents also not tends to give education to their children. Parents don’t like to send
their children to schools .instead parents prefer to send their children to workplaces to
earn money. If bychance Children from poorer background go to school they are more
likely to play truant and to be excluded from school.

Apathy: Apathy is when people do not care, or when they feel so powerless that they do
not try to change things, to right a wrong, to fix a mistake, or to improve conditions.
Apathy is a common culture aspect of poverty. People living in poverty justified apathy
by religious precepts, "Accept what exists because God has decided your fate." That
fatalism may be misused as an excuse. They believe God decides their fate, so they don’t
work.

Dependency: It is an attitude, a belief, that one is so poor, so helpless, that one can not
help one's self, that a group cannot help itself, and that it must depend on assistance from
outside. The attitude and shared belief is most common in poor people. The biggest self
justifying factor in achieving the condition where the self or group must depend on
outside help.

Living conditions
Poor housing conditions have been shown to cause excessive stress for children and
adults leading to long term depression and anxiety. Cramped housing can lead to poor
hygiene and limited cooking facilities can lead to a poor diet.Poor people mostly live in
slums or isolated villages Their houses resembled a ghost town with no electricity, no
gas, no sanitation system, no bathrooms; people sat in leaky tents shivering in drizzle.

A family system/Marraiges .Early marriage is a common practice among poor people.

Children can’t choose whether they marry at the age of 13 or choose not to prostitute
themselves to survive. Forced marriage is becoming more acceptable in poverty culture
for debt release or because of dire poverty, especially in the North West Frontier
Province (NWFP). In Chitral, or bride price has become more of a business transaction
where fathers sell their beautiful, under aged daughters to older men from different
provinces, particularly
Occupations Most poor people in Pakistan are wage laborers or are self-employed
occupation of people living in poverty beg and scavenge around rubbish dumps or
industrial waste sites or take on boring jobs as cart pushers or dish washer, . They work
12-15 hours a day to earn.
Childhood
Children living in poverty don’t have the youth age. At the age of
7or 8they are force to work. Due to poor conditions women and
children are pushed towards labor market to supplement family
income. Working of children is seen as a normal function of labor market and is justified
on the grounds of poverty.
Health
Children born into poverty are more likely to have a lower birth weight, high infant
mortality and poorer health than better off children. The diets of people on low incomes
are often nutritionally poor, relying on ‘cheap calories’ from processed low-cost food.
Poor community has a high disease rate .people in deep poverty, have more than a third
of children under five underweight. 30-35 women die everyday from pregnancy related
complications. They are exposed to scabies, malaria, dysentery, anemia and muscular
problems, as well as to chronic diseases like Tuberculosis, jaundice and liver/kidney
disorders. Due to poor sanitation system, Lack of access to medical facilities, services has
made poverty chronic for these people. unhygienic conditions, misery, discomfort and
death are high among poor people.

Questions
Are poor people are far more likely than rich people to break the laws?
it is a common thought in Pakistan that poor people commit more crime but its is a open
truth that more crime committed by literate and rich people then illiterate and poor. It is
also culture of our society that uneducated class pay more respect to educated class, and
in a response they get hateful and unneeded sentences from most literate people of
society. Rich hate poor instead of hating poverty, Medical scientists Feel discomfort with
patients instead of diseases, Police hate criminals instead of crime. Police definition of
crime and criminals vary due to their status, if they are rich it is no more crime what ever
they do, if they are poor every thing is crime. In some cases it might be true that poor
people commit crime. let take an example of a student who sell charus in his university
with little bear and offer five time prayer, if we asked him that you offer five time a day
then why you commit crime which is against the teaching of Islam. He must say that;
Namaz is religious obligation and selling charus is his business, both are separate things.
He spent the money on his studies and run his family affairs because he is head of
household. So in some cases this statement may be true but not always.
Poor people don’t want to work?
This statement is true of some but not most poor people. Here again comes the concept of
apathy and dependency. Poor people who don’t want to work justified apathy by religious
precepts, and accept what exists because God has decided their fate.” make the God
happy, remain poor, dont work and they will finally go to heaven.

Are there any factors that can reduce the harm of poverty?