Culture, Poverty, and Effective Social Policy

Abstract

220 contributions to this volume illustrate some of the ways that culture values, norms, and beliefs affects the actions of people living in poverty. From revealing the influence of educational ideals and expectations on whether poor children attend college to examining the role differing conceptions of good job play in social mobility, these studies illustrate the importance of cultural factors in how people navigate the challenges of poverty. This is an important insight for lawmakers since ignoring such cultural factors can result in ineffective social policy. For example, a study cited in the volume s introduction found that low rates of marriage among the poor might not be caused by a disregard for marriage so much as pessimism about the ability to sustain a marriage while living in poverty. This calls into question efforts by some politicians to reduce out-of-wedlock births among the poor by launching promarriage campaigns since such campaigns, as the editors put it, are simply trying to convince people of what they already believe. Lawmakers need to be aware of cultural