Culture of Poverty, Culture of Decline (the New Poor), and the Influence of Transformations in Labor on Ways of Life: Some Approaches in the Literature

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the problem of popular culture on the basis of three main axes: the “culture of poverty”, the culture of decline, or new poverty, and the influence of labor transformations on ways of life.

Regarding the meaning of so-called popular culture, within the framework provided by Grignon and Passeron, the views of different authors are reviewed. The paper concludes that, between relativism and its distortion, populism, and legitimism and its extreme, miserabilism, an intermediate position should be sought, one that takes into account the conflicts and tensions between them. It also concludes that popular culture has its own mechanisms, which differentiate it from high culture, while always remaining embedded in a relationship of domination.

The “culture of poverty” is approached through Lewis’s perspective, while also taking into account the criticisms it has received. Lewis highlights the positive aspect of poverty, insofar as it provides defense mechanisms that allow the poor to “keep going”. He emphasizes the transmissible character, from generation to generation, of what he calls the “culture of poverty”, and points out the existence of its own modalities and the consequences it has for those who find themselves in this situation.

In Argentina, during the final decades of the twentieth century, in addition to the worsening of living conditions for vast sectors of the population, there was a growing impoverishment of the middle classes, a process that also generated significant changes in the everyday practices of these groups. This issue is addressed as the “culture of decline” among the newly poor. A connection can be identified between impoverishment and the weakening of the “wage-earning condition”; in this sense, the paper examines the influence of labor transformations on ways of life and popular culture.