ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the reluctance of many social scientists to explore a link between culture and poverty. It begins with an examination of Lewis’s ‘culture of poverty’ and the reactions to it. It is also noted how this area has been associated with notions of cultural superiority and the need for others to assimilate. Western cultures were assumed to be superior and were closed to the views of others. This gave the subject a negative stigma. However, our knowledge of cultures has deepened significantly over the past 50 years. Economists, observing the rise of Japan, became open to a link between culture and the wealth that a society possesses. Hence, a divide existed between economists and other social scientists, a divide that has impeded advance in the fight against poverty. This chapter notes that there are many paths to poverty, and if social scientists want to solve this issue, no stone should be left un-turned in pursuit of a solution.
