Some Developmental Correlates of Scarcity

Abstract

Investigating the 'culture of poverty' is currently in vogue. Given the recent focus on the poor within the United States, the values, family structure, and behavior of the poor are being examined and re-examined. If nothing else, this activity seems to be uncovering the fact that the poor in the United States are not unlike the poor of many other cultures. Most of the research has been, and is, centered on the adult; in particular, on the discrepancies between the adult poor and the 'Protestant ethic' middle class society as it is reflected, if not in the reality of the middle class itself, at least in the mind of the reseacher. This paper explores the development and maintenance of the value system associated with the poor by focusing on the concept of scarcity.2 Further, it attempts to explain the transmission of these values through child-training activities; that is, to dig beneath the vague concept of socialization. The base for the research reported here is in Peru. Learning theory models are examined, along with more anthropological and sociological perspectives. The essential elements for combining these diverse viewpoints involve the concepts of predictability and control of the environment.