THEORECTICAL PERSPECTIVES OF POVERTY-INDIVIDUALISTIC THEORY

Basic Assumptions of Individualistic Theories

• Blamed the poor for their own poverty.

• Low income results from individuals being unable or unwilling to provide for themselves.

• Neither society nor social groups are responsible for poverty.

• Society should not be held accountable for supporting the poor.

Herbert Spencer and Dissolute Living

• Spencer’s theory, known as Social Darwinism, introduced the phrase “survival of the fittest.”

• He was highly critical of the poor and those who sympathized with them.

• He described the poor as:

  • "Good-for-nothings, vagrants, sots, criminals… men who share the gains of prostitutes."

• Helping individuals engaged in "dissolute living" was unnatural, as it prevented them from facing the consequences of their actions.

Key Aspects of Spencer’s Theory

• Poverty results from moral character.

• The state should minimally interfere in the lives of the poor.

• Governments should provide limited aid to prevent the widespread of laziness and moral decline.

• Providing too much aid would also reduces economic success.

• Poverty acts as a necessary motivator for work and social progress.

• Only the hardest-working individuals deserve success.

• The weak, incompetent, and lazy should remain in poverty, as it is their rightful place.

Evaluation of Spencer’s Theory

• Modern sociologists view poverty as a social characteristic, not an individual characteristic

• Poverty is often linked to the inadequacies in the system rather than the generosity of the system.

• Some argue that individualistic theories serve as an ideological smokescreen to hide injustices faced by the poor.

• William Ryan described this perspective as “blaming the victim.”