7.4a Behavioral and Cultural Explanations

Behavioral explanations for poverty explain poverty as the result of individual decisions. Common behavioral explanations include low education, unemployment, single motherhood, and being the head of the household from an early age (Brady, 2023). However, despite a reduction in all four of these factors over the last two to three generations, the poverty rate has stayed stable. Therefore, behavioral explanations are insufficient for explaining poverty (Brady, 2023). Compared to other rich democracies, the United States has a high poverty rate and higher penalties for choices thought to cause poverty.

Moreover, poverty rates are higher for the populations that made the kinds of choices thought to protect them from poverty (see Figure 7.13). Brady (2023) finds that poverty rates are lower for single-mother households (18.5%) than for coupled, working-aged households (29.4%), lower for jobless households (19%) than for employed households (57.2%), and lower for families whose head of household does not have at least a high school degree (24.8%) than for those with at least a high school degree (58.2%). Among impoverished households, a greater share made the “right” choice yet remain poor, demonstrating that behavioral explanations for poverty are inaccurate.

Related to behavioral explanations of poverty are cultural explanations, which argue that culture causes poverty. For instance, lower levels of educational attainment among people in poverty are explained because of a so-called culture of poverty that does not value education. However, childhood poverty is one of the strongest predictors that someone will face circumstances associated with adult poverty, which include lower educational attainment, joblessness, and single motherhood (Parolin et al., 2022b). Moreover, lower-income children attend lower-resourced schools, increasing the likelihood that they will be less prepared for college, resulting in lower levels of educational attainment (see Seale, 2020). In the case of single motherhood, the United States stands out among peer countries in having higher poverty rates among single mothers compared to married mothers. Single motherhood does not cause or perpetuate poverty. Instead, the lack of a social safety net causes and perpetuates poverty (see Brady, 2023).

Photo 7.10

Behavioral and Cultural Explanations of Poverty Are Limited in Explaining Causes of Poverty

Behavioral and cultural explanations are appealing because they focus on individual behaviors and values: poverty would disappear if people in poverty changed their behaviors and values. Culture and behavior, however, are adaptations to poverty rather than its causes (Seale, 2020). Furthermore, research on structural and political explanations of poverty provide stronger explanations for poverty.