ABSTRACT
The subject of poverty played a very promiment role in the social-problems literature of the 1960s and first half of the 1970s. Two perspectives, the culturalist and the structuralist, emerged as the dominant ones both in terms of theory and social policy. This chapter traces the development of both perspectives through the writings of early American sociologists up until Oscar Lewis' coinage of the term "culture of poverty" in 1959. Opponents of this perspective argue that the source of the perpetuation of poverty is not internal, but rather in the external forces of the dominant society. Poverty persists, they argue, because of the persistent restrictions placed upon the poor by the forces of the larger social structure. The high correlation between poverty and crime in the United States is due to the unique aspect of American culture which gives poverty a special meaning and this induces criminal behavior.
