Manifestations of poverty culture among social benefit recipients

Abstract

The article analyses the phenomenon of poverty and aims at assessing the culture of poverty among the households receiving social benefits in Lithuania. The concept of poverty is discussed as well as the main causes of poverty are analysed in the first part of the article. In this context, a special focus is placed on the theory of poverty culture. Macro and micro-level analysis of poverty situation in Lithuania is carried out in the second part of the article: on a macro level – poverty and social exclusion indicators in Lithuania are analysed in the context of EU Member States; on a micro level – the analysis of data obtained from the survey of recipients of social benefits in Lithuania is carried out.
The survey demonstrated some signs of poverty culture in the households receiving social benefits in Lithuania. Manifestations of the poverty culture in the mentioned social group were mainly evidenced by blaming external environment for poverty of their households, fatalism as well as frustration with government and employers.
This article is based on the findings of the research which was commissioned by the non-governmental organisation Caritas Lithuania and conducted by the authors of the article in 2014.