Does Subjective Class Predict the Causal Attribution for Poverty?

Abstract

This study investigated the attributions for poverty among secondary school and university students in relation to socio-economic. The questionnaire was adapted from Feagin's [1] and Abouchedid & Nasser [2] , and included 15-item poverty questionnaire. It was administered to a sample (n = 242) of secondary school and university students from public and private schools and universities in Lebanon. Findings showed that Lebanese youth were more inclined to attribute poverty to structural factors. Socioeconomic variable of parents' education was the only significant predictors for the causal attribution for poverty. Research in this area should extend to relate stereotypes and various socio-economic attitudes as liberalism or conservatism and their relation to attribution for poverty.

Influence of social class perceptions on attributions among mental health practitioners

“…Some research (Bullock, 1999; Cozzarelli et al, 2001; Shirazi & Biel, 2005) has indicated that men, European Americans, persons of higher social class, and more educated individuals are more likely to have internal attributions of social class in comparison to women, non-European Americans, and individuals who are from lower social classes or less educated. In contrast, other research (e.g., Nasser, 2007; Reutter et al, 2006) has demonstrated that these demographic characteristics are not important predictors of attributions.…”

“…Cross-cultural investigations have demonstrated that U.S. participants tend to attribute low-income status to individualistic or internal factors (e.g., Bullock, Williams, & Limbert, 2003; Cozzarelli et al, 2001; Kluegel & Smith, 1986) whereas non-U.S. participants tend to attribute it to external or structural factors (e.g., Nasser, 2007). Within the U.S., examining specific demographic characteristics has produced conflicting findings.…”

A latent profile analysis of attributions for poverty: Identifying response patterns underlying people’s willingness to help the poor

“…Bullock, Williams, and Limbert (2003) had students evaluate 45 separate causes of poverty and found that, despite the diversity of these explanations, they loaded onto three distinct factors reflecting (a) individualistic, (b) structural (i.e., society), and (c) fatalistic causes. Others have shown similar factor structures to people's attributions for poverty in various countries including (a) Ethiopia (Wollie, 2009), (b) Finland (Niemela, 2008), (c) Lebanon (Abouchedid & Nasser, 2002;Nasser, 2007), and Turkey (Morçöl, 1997). Thus, the ability to reduce various idiosyncratic attributions for poverty into three themes holds across cultures.…”

Validation of a Tool to Assess and Track Undergraduate Attitudes Toward Those Living in Poverty

“…Further, he believes that the nonpoor view the poor as receiving their ''just deserts'' and feel angry toward the poor for not being more successful. In contrast, those who live in non-Western societies seem more inclined to support structural explanations of poverty (Abouchedid & Nasser, 2001;Nasser, 2007).…”