Contextual Poverty

TO THE CASUAL OBSERVER, it probably seems that poverty is the simple lack of material goods, and that poverty is everywhere the same. In fact poverty varies with the context in which people live. Poverty varies across communities, towns, cities, across geographic regions, and among countries.

Contextual poverty describes the differing rates of poverty that exists across communities, between communities, and between regions of the world. The differing rates of poverty can be seen between rural and urban poverty. They can also be seen between individuals who are below the poverty line and families who are impoverished.

The differing demographic factors describe differing poverty rates. Children are often poor because they are dependent upon adults. Single mothers in most cultures are poor because their husbands are not providing [Page 205]support, whether through death, divorce, or inability. The aged can also be poor because they have earned income that was insufficient to provide the savings needed to support them in their less productive late years of life. Or it may be that their pension plans have been taken from them by some means (such as a com-pany's bankruptcy). They can also be poor because they did not have children to support them. All of these and many more factors contribute to variations in poverty between individuals and groups.

Social scientists have conducted studies to explain the varying rates of poverty across communities. Community studies are useful for understanding community characteristics as well as community-level policies and practices. Community studies also can be used to show how policies and practices affect poverty rates.

Community studies can aid contextual studies because they take into account the variables that have been demonstrated to affect how poverty varies as a function of community demographic and economic structure. This holds true whether the community studied is urban or rural.

In rural communities the area studied in the United States or in some other Anglo-Saxon country is usually the county. The county is a basic unit of rural government that has existed for a thousand years. The other unit that has been used for measuring poverty in rural areas has been the labor market for the area.

Community studies and contextual studies of poverty differ in several ways. Typically community studies use county-level data to estimate poverty. The typical contextual study in contrast uses individual-level data on the probability that a particular household is impoverished. It does this by examining location and other factors. Usually constructing a poverty profile is much easier with a contextual study than with a community study. Some organizations working to eliminate poverty have found that contextual studies give them the basis upon which to develop poverty reduction programs. Contextual studies can produce sound and reliable research that gives a focused look at poverty in relationship to the cultural, economic, and political patterns of a society.

Another advantage of contextual studies is that they are more readily used for predicting future poverty cases. Instead of just identifying where poverty is currently located, the contextual study enables researchers to examine current social circumstances and trends that can lead to poverty-producing behaviors. Some kinds of behavior are more likely to contribute to poverty in the future.

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