An analysis of Oscar Lewis' Culture of Poverty Thesis

Poverty, an ubiquitous phenomenon have been explained by scholars and policy makers in varied ways, resulting in a multitude of approaches to understanding the phenomenon. Although many of these approaches are contradictory, they can be broadly categorized into those stressing structural explanations and those emphasizing individual agency and personal dysfunctions. Within the latter is the “Culture of Poverty Thesis” by Oscar Lewis, which located the persistence of poverty in the value systems of the poor. The study thus sought to test the theory in the context of Ghana focusing on an urban slum, Nima. 136 households were sampled, collecting data using both qualitative (observation) and quantitative (questionnaire) methods to adequately examine and gain insight into the pertinent issues relative to the persistence of poverty. Key tenets of the culture of poverty thesis were significantly discredited, rather depicting Nima as a slum of hope offering opportunities to its inhabitants to leap out of their deprived circumstances. This was shown in the strong agency of the respondents in spite of the challenges they face in their daily negotiation of life.