Attitudes to poverty in Slovakia: a Q-methodology study

Abstract

ABSTRACT The analysis of poverty is not the primary subject-matter of psychology but the way how it is perceived and what consequences it has is traditionally studied in psychology using constructs like attitudes to poverty and the attribution of causes of poverty. The aim of the present study was to examine the attitudes to poverty using a mixed methods perspective, employing Q-methodology and to find out to what extent the findings about the attitude to poverty correspond with the well-known theories on attitudes and attributions of poverty. 50 respondents, aged 19–40, participated in the study, 29 were university students with diverse study focus and 21 were employed of various professions. Respondents sorted 56 statements about poverty, which formed the Q-sort of a quasi-normal distribution in the response matrix. The PQMethod software was used to analyze individual Q-sorts. Factor analysis extracted four factors: Realists, Sympathizers, State facilitators, and Impartial radicals. The resulting differentiation of factors confirms the validity of the hitherto defined conceptualizations of attitudes to poverty and the attribution of causes of poverty; moreover, it allows for a better understanding of individual constructions reflecting the attitudes to poverty. Based on the performed analysis, it can be stated that attitudes to poverty are better viewed not as universal concepts present in the unsorted population but rather in the context of other characteristics of the persons themselves. The socioeconomic status has proven to be an important factor in differentiating attitudes towards poverty.