The Causes of Poverty - Cultural vs. Structural Essay example -- Socio

Parsing out the influences of cultural and structural factors leading to differential behaviors among the poor and nonpoor is a difficult challenge for sociologists concerned with stratification and inequality. This is largely due to the fact that they appear to be so heavily intertwined. Structural and cultural factors reinforce each other in complex ways. Pervasive cultural elements such as ideologies and values are used to frame and interpret existing socio-economic structures and their effects on individuals. Structural forces such as access to resources such as information, education and employment shape cultural views and attitudes as well. STRUCTURAL AND CULTURAL FORCES Structural factors include the organizational and institutional forces in society that determine relative social position such as the prestige level of associations, roles and jobs, economic and labor market forces, technology and laws (Wilson 2009). Structural factors also affect access to resources such as housing and education. Cultural factors include pervasive narratives and interpretations as well as common understandings and applied meanings, within groups of people (Wilson 2009). Culture can be shared amongst varying size groups ranging from families to nations. Cultural sharing is generally limited to those who share a common physical space (Wilson 1996:66). Social interaction on the individual level leads to the sharing of cultural values, understandings and interpretations (Wilson 2009). Both structural and cultural factors have profound and complex effects on society, the individual and each other. The Relationship Between Structure and Culture The relationship between structure and culture is essentially reciprocal. Cultural changes... ...rty and revenue; the detailed statistics of cities, towns, and counties; being a compendium of the seventh census; to which are added the results of every previous census, beginning with 1790. DC: U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. Misery Index. 2010. â€Å"The United States Unemployment Rate: Unemployment Rate figures obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor.† Web. 15 March 2013. http://www.miseryindex.us/urbymonth.asp?StartYear=1970-01&EndYear=2011-01&submit1=Create+Report Wilson, William Julius. 1996. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York: Random House, Inc. _____. 2009. More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc. Young, Alfred A., Jr. 2004. The Minds of Marginalized Black Men: Making Sense of Mobility, Opportunity, and Future Life Chances. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.