The persistence of poverty | AQA A-Level Sociology

For Specification 7192

AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes

Estimated study time: 80 minutes

exam questions by topic 👇

The persistence of poverty A-Level Sociology revision focuses on why poverty continues to exist in contemporary society. AQA requires students to understand both evidence relating to poverty and sociological explanations of its persistence.  Sociologists disagree over whether continuing poverty is mainly caused by structural inequalities, individual behaviour and culture, the operation of the welfare system, or features that some perspectives see as functional or inevitable. Understanding these debates builds directly on different meanings of poverty [The nature and existence of poverty] and prepares you to examine who experiences poverty [The distribution of poverty].

Learning Objectives 🎯

By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:

• Explain structural explanations for the persistence of poverty.

• Explain cultural and individual explanations for continuing poverty.

• Compare functionalist, Marxist and New Right approaches to poverty.

• Analyse relationships between poverty, welfare, employment and social inequality.

• Evaluate competing explanations using relevant sociological evidence and concepts.

Revision Notes 📚

What does the persistence of poverty mean?

The persistence of poverty refers to the continued existence of poverty despite economic development, welfare provision and attempts to reduce disadvantage.

This is different from simply asking whether poverty exists.

In the meaning and existence of poverty [The nature and existence of poverty], the focus is on defining poverty. Here, the question changes:

Why does poverty continue?

AQA explicitly requires students to study sociological explanations of the "nature, existence and persistence of poverty in contemporary society".  Past assessments have therefore asked students to evaluate whether poverty results from structural factors, whether it is functional and inevitable, and how the state has responded to its persistence.  

The central sociological debate

One of the main debates concerns the relative importance of structure and individual action.

AQA examination material contrasts these explanations directly:

Structural explanations	Individual and cultural explanations
Poverty results from how society is organised	Poverty is linked to attitudes or behaviour
Emphasis on inequality and constraints	Emphasis on choices, values and behaviour
May focus on capitalism, class, patriarchy or discrimination	May focus on culture, socialisation or dependency
Individuals may have restricted opportunities	Individuals are given greater responsibility for their situation
Associated with perspectives including Marxism and some feminist approaches	Associated particularly with New Right explanations

The 2022 mark scheme explicitly identifies concepts including structural constraints, capitalism, patriarchy, marginalisation, the poverty trap, culture of poverty, dependency culture, the underclass and the cycle of deprivation as relevant to explaining poverty.

A strong sociological answer does not simply list these concepts. It explains how each one could cause poverty to continue.

Structural explanations of persistent poverty

A structural explanation locates the causes of poverty in the organisation of society.

The argument is that people do not all face the same opportunities or constraints. Poverty can therefore continue because inequalities are built into wider economic and social arrangements.

AQA's 2022 examination item explained structural factors as circumstances in which "the organisation of society creates inequality". It used Marxist arguments about the interests of wealthy groups as an example.

Important structural factors recognised in AQA mark schemes include:

• capitalism

• class inequality

• exploitation

• structural constraints

• discrimination

• racism

• patriarchy

• marginalisation

• the reserve army of labour

• social exclusion

• globalisation.

How structural disadvantage can reproduce poverty

The basic structural argument can be represented as a process:

Unequal social structures → unequal opportunities and resources → greater risk of low income or worklessness → restricted life chances → continuing poverty

This explanation therefore treats persistent poverty as more than the outcome of isolated individual decisions.

Marxist explanations

Marxist explanations emphasise capitalism and social class.

AQA examination material has presented the Marxist argument that capitalism produces working-class poverty and that governments may protect the interests of wealthier groups.  

From this perspective, continuing poverty is connected to inequalities between classes.

Relevant concepts identified by AQA include:

• capitalism

• exploitation

• the reserve army of labour

• structural constraints

• marginalisation

• inequality in the class structure.

The important point is that Marxist explanations do not primarily locate poverty in a lack of effort by poor individuals. They locate the causes within unequal social and economic structures.

Reserve army of labour

AQA mark schemes identify the reserve army of labour as relevant to poverty explanations.

The concept draws attention to people who are unemployed or insecurely attached to employment and who may therefore occupy a disadvantaged position within the labour market.

This creates an important link with the effects of being without paid employment [Worklessness].

Evaluation of Marxist explanations

One strength of a structural approach is that it explains why poverty may persist even when individuals attempt to improve their position.

It can also be connected to patterns in economic resources [Wealth and income inequality], because poverty exists within a wider system of unequal distribution.

However, New Right explanations challenge this approach by arguing that attitudes and behavioural differences can also matter. AQA's 2023 question explicitly contrasted Marxist structural explanations with New Right explanations based on attitudes and behaviour.

A good evaluation therefore asks:

How far can structural conditions explain poverty without considering differences in individual behaviour?

Discrimination and persistent poverty

Structural explanations can also focus on inequalities connected to gender, ethnicity and other social divisions.

AQA mark schemes identify:

• patriarchy

• discrimination

• racism

• marginalisation

• the feminisation of poverty

as relevant concepts.

For example, AQA has assessed ways women's experiences of work may contribute to poverty. Relevant factors identified in the mark scheme included lower-paid employment, job insecurity, family commitments, gaps in employment and women's marginalisation from the labour market.

The structural argument is that some groups may therefore face continuing barriers that increase their vulnerability to poverty.

The detailed distribution of these risks is developed in inequalities in who experiences poverty [The distribution of poverty].

Globalisation and changes in employment

Globalisation can also be used within structural explanations.

AQA material recognises several possible effects on working-class life chances, including:

• loss of traditional employment

• more precarious employment

• low wages

• part-time and short-term employment

• reduced job security

• the movement of employment between countries

• changes in trade-union power.

If changes in employment create insecurity or worklessness for some groups, this may help explain why poverty continues despite wider economic development.

This connection is explored further in changes to employment in a global society [Globalisation and work].

Cultural explanations of persistent poverty

Structural explanations are challenged by approaches that give greater importance to culture, attitudes and behaviour.

AQA mark schemes recognise several related concepts:

• culture of poverty

• socialisation

• fatalism

• cycle of deprivation

• dependency culture

• underclass.

These concepts should not all be treated as synonyms. They describe different possible processes.

Culture of poverty

A culture of poverty explanation focuses on values and ways of behaving that may develop among people experiencing long-term poverty.

The argument is that poverty may become persistent partly because patterns of attitudes and behaviour can be reproduced.

Socialisation is therefore important. If beliefs or expectations associated with disadvantage are passed between people or generations, cultural explanations suggest this may make escaping poverty more difficult.

The key causal claim is:

Poverty → development or transmission of particular attitudes and behaviour → difficulty escaping poverty → continuing poverty

⚠️ This is a sociological explanation to be evaluated, not a fact that should be assumed about people experiencing poverty.

Fatalism

AQA identifies fatalism as a concept that may be relevant to explanations of poverty.

Fatalism refers to a belief that people have little ability to alter their circumstances.

Within a cultural explanation, fatalistic attitudes could reduce attempts to change one's economic position, helping poverty to reproduce itself.

However, structural sociologists can reverse the direction of the explanation.

Rather than arguing:

fatalism causes poverty

they may argue:

persistent disadvantage produces fatalism

This distinction is excellent material for evaluation because it asks whether culture is a cause of poverty or a consequence of poverty.

The cycle of deprivation

AQA mark schemes recognise both the poverty cycle and cycle of deprivation.

These concepts describe ways disadvantage may reproduce itself over time.

A simplified cycle might be:

1. An individual or household experiences poverty.

2. Poverty restricts opportunities and resources.

3. Restricted opportunities contribute to further disadvantage.

4. Disadvantage makes escaping poverty more difficult.

5. Poverty therefore continues.

The cycle may involve both material and cultural factors, which means it should not automatically be classified as entirely structural or entirely individual.

This is useful evaluation. Different sociologists may agree that poverty can reproduce itself while disagreeing about why that reproduction occurs.

The New Right and individual responsibility

AQA assessment material directly associates New Right explanations with attitudes and behavioural differences.

This contrasts with structural explanations.

New Right approaches may focus on concepts such as:

• the underclass

• dependency culture

• behavioural differences

• individual responsibility

• welfare dependency.

The central argument is that persistent poverty cannot be explained entirely by social structure. People's behaviour and their relationship with welfare may also contribute.

Dependency culture

A dependency culture explanation suggests that reliance on welfare provision can become established rather than individuals becoming economically self-sufficient.

AQA's 2021 Paper 2 item explicitly presented the New Right argument that people may become dependent on welfare if support is too generous.

This produces a proposed cycle:

Welfare support → reduced pressure towards self-sufficiency → continued dependency → persistence of poverty

However, this explanation is contested.

Structural approaches may argue that dependence on welfare could itself be the result of:

• lack of suitable employment

• low income

• discrimination

• structural constraints

• insecure labour-market opportunities.

The disagreement is therefore partly about the direction of causation.

Does welfare dependency cause continuing poverty, or does continuing poverty create the need for welfare?

The underclass

The underclass is another concept recognised by AQA in explanations of poverty and unemployment.

Within New Right approaches, the concept can be linked to groups seen as economically marginal and dependent on welfare.

Again, the concept is contested.

A structural interpretation may argue that labour-market change, unemployment and inequality produce marginalisation, rather than treating the behaviour of an underclass as the original cause.

For examination purposes, therefore, avoid writing:

"The underclass causes poverty."

Instead explain the perspective:

New Right explanations may argue that behavioural patterns and welfare dependency among an underclass help poverty persist.

That phrasing shows sociological understanding and avoids presenting a contested claim as established fact.

The poverty trap

The poverty trap is identified in several AQA mark schemes as relevant to explanations of continuing poverty.

It refers to a situation in which improving one's earnings may produce only a limited improvement in disposable resources because of factors such as taxation and changes in welfare entitlement.

The sociological significance is that individuals may find it difficult to make a substantial economic move out of poverty.

The poverty trap therefore differs from dependency culture:

Poverty trap	Dependency culture
Focuses on economic circumstances and incentives	Focuses more strongly on attitudes and behaviour
Can be understood as a structural feature of tax and welfare arrangements	Associated particularly with New Right arguments
Suggests there may be limited material gain from increasing income	Suggests reliance on welfare may become established
Does not require the assumption that poor people have particular values	Places greater emphasis on behaviour and responsibility

This distinction is especially useful in an exam because students sometimes collapse every welfare explanation into "dependency".

Functionalist explanations

Functionalist arguments offer another interpretation of persistent poverty.

AQA's 2024 Paper 2 item presented two central claims:

• poverty may have functions for society

• poverty may be inevitable.

One example given in the item is that fear of poverty may encourage people to work hard in pursuit of upward social mobility.

The item also presents the view that differences in skills and work ethic may help make poverty inevitable.

AQA's mark scheme identifies concepts including:

• meritocracy

• role allocation

• the poverty cycle

• social exclusion

• the poverty trap

• structural constraints.

Poverty as functional

To say that something is functional means that it contributes in some way to the operation of society.

The functionalist argument assessed by AQA suggests that poverty may provide incentives. The prospect of poverty can encourage people to work and seek social mobility.

Poverty as inevitable

The second argument is that differences between people and between social positions mean some economic inequality will remain.

Within the functionalist account presented by AQA, differences in skills and work ethic can therefore contribute to continuing poverty.

Evaluating functionalism

Conflict sociologists challenge the idea that poverty should be explained mainly through its functions.

AQA's item explicitly contrasts functionalism with the argument that poverty is a source of conflict and an outcome of inequality in the class structure.

A key evaluation point is that demonstrating that poverty has a particular consequence does not prove that poverty must exist.

Similarly:

"Poverty may motivate behaviour"

is not the same claim as:

"Poverty is necessary and unavoidable."

Good evaluation separates these claims and assesses each one.

Welfare and the persistence of poverty

The relationship between welfare and poverty is contested.

AQA requires students to understand responses and solutions to poverty provided by the state and other welfare providers.

The 2025 paper directly asked how the state has responded to the persistence of poverty.

Its mark scheme recognised both:

• an active state role, including welfare provision

• policies encouraging individual self-sufficiency, including reducing state welfare.

This creates an important sociological debate.

Welfare may reduce persistent poverty

State welfare can provide resources and assistance to people experiencing disadvantage.

AQA assessment material recognises welfare policies connected with areas including housing and employment.

From this perspective:

Poverty → state support → improved resources or opportunities → reduced poverty

This is explored fully in government approaches to poverty [State responses to poverty].

Welfare may reproduce dependency

The New Right argument reaches a different conclusion.

If support discourages self-sufficiency, welfare could contribute to dependency rather than removing the original causes of poverty.

The debate therefore concerns whether welfare:

• reduces poverty

• manages poverty without eliminating its causes

• or, according to some New Right arguments, contributes to its persistence.

The role of provision outside the state is examined in non-state welfare provision [Private, voluntary and informal welfare].

Worklessness and poverty

Employment and worklessness provide another important link.

The AQA specification requires students to understand the significance of work and worklessness for people's lives and life chances.

Lack of paid employment can contribute to reduced income and restricted life chances. However, sociologists disagree about why people experience worklessness.

Possible explanations may therefore overlap with explanations of poverty:

• labour-market restructuring

• discrimination

• globalisation

• individual behaviour

• welfare dependency.

This means poverty and worklessness can potentially reinforce each other.

Study this relationship in more depth in the significance and consequences of being without work [Worklessness].

Comparing explanations of persistent poverty

The main differences can be summarised as follows:

Perspective or approach	Main explanation of persistent poverty	Key concepts recognised by AQA	Main challenge
Marxist / structural	Inequality is produced by capitalism and the class structure	Capitalism, exploitation, structural constraints, reserve army of labour	May understate individual behaviour
Other structural explanations	Social inequalities and barriers restrict opportunities	Patriarchy, discrimination, racism, marginalisation	Not all individuals facing similar structures have identical outcomes
Cultural explanations	Values and behaviour may reproduce disadvantage	Culture of poverty, socialisation, fatalism, cycle of deprivation	Culture may itself be produced by poverty
New Right	Behaviour and welfare dependency help poverty persist	Dependency culture, underclass, individual responsibility	May understate structural constraints
Functionalist	Poverty can perform functions and may be inevitable	Meritocracy, role allocation, incentives	A function of poverty does not necessarily prove that poverty is necessary
Welfare-based explanations	Welfare can reduce poverty, but its design may also influence incentives and dependency	Welfare state, poverty trap, taxation	Effects may depend on the particular policy and structural conditions

Material versus cultural explanations

A very useful way to organise an essay is around the distinction between material and cultural factors.

Material factors

These concern people's economic circumstances and opportunities, including:

• employment

• income

• class position

• discrimination

• welfare resources

• structural constraints.

Cultural factors

These concern:

• values

• attitudes

• socialisation

• fatalism

• dependency

• behaviour.

AQA's 2023 mark scheme explicitly says that high-level evaluation may discuss the relative importance of material versus cultural factors when explaining poverty.

This is an excellent structure for a 20-mark answer.

Can one explanation account for persistent poverty?

Probably the most important evaluative issue is whether poverty has a single cause.

A purely structural explanation can highlight:

• inequality

• power

• employment opportunities

• discrimination

• economic structures.

A purely cultural explanation can highlight:

• attitudes

• behaviour

• socialisation

• responses to welfare.

However, some concepts show how the two may interact.

For example:

Structural disadvantage → long-term poverty → reduced expectations or fatalism → fewer opportunities to escape poverty

Here, culture does not simply cause poverty independently. Cultural responses may emerge from structural disadvantage and then contribute to its continuation.

Likewise:

Worklessness → low income → welfare dependence → difficulty escaping poverty

could be interpreted differently depending on the sociological perspective.

A New Right sociologist may focus on dependency. A structural sociologist may focus on why suitable employment opportunities were absent in the first place.

This is precisely the kind of comparison that turns description into sociological evaluation.

Using sociological evidence

Evaluation should involve more than stating that one theory disagrees with another.

Relevant evidence can include:

• patterns in which groups experience poverty

• evidence about employment and worklessness

• evidence concerning welfare provision

• evidence about persistent inequalities

• contemporary examples linked explicitly to sociological arguments.

AQA's 2024 examiner report noted successful use of contemporary material such as food banks and homelessness, but warned that some responses relied heavily on the item without showing detailed conceptual knowledge or theoretical debate.

How to evaluate explanations effectively

When evaluating why poverty persists, use three questions:

1. What does the explanation identify as the cause?

For example:

• capitalism?

• discrimination?

• individual behaviour?

• welfare dependency?

• labour-market conditions?

2. What evidence or pattern would support it?

For example, persistent poverty associated with structural disadvantage may support structural explanations.

3. Could the direction of causation be reversed?

This is particularly useful with cultural explanations.

For example:

Does fatalism produce poverty, or might prolonged poverty produce fatalism?

Does welfare dependency produce poverty, or does poverty create dependence on welfare?

This produces much stronger analysis than simply writing "Marxists disagree".

Key Words 🔑

Key word	Student-friendly definition	How it may be used in an exam
Structural factors	Features of the organisation of society that affect people's opportunities and resources	Use when explaining poverty through inequality rather than individual behaviour
Culture of poverty	An explanation suggesting attitudes and behaviour associated with long-term poverty may help reproduce disadvantage	Compare with structural explanations
Cycle of deprivation	A process through which disadvantage contributes to further disadvantage over time	Use to explain how poverty may reproduce itself
Dependency culture	The New Right idea that reliance on welfare can become established and discourage self-sufficiency	Use when evaluating welfare and poverty
Underclass	A concept used particularly in New Right explanations for economically marginal groups	Link to debates over behaviour, welfare and structural marginalisation
Poverty trap	A situation in which increasing earnings may produce only limited improvements in disposable resources because of tax and welfare changes	Distinguish from dependency culture
Structural constraints	Social or economic conditions that restrict people's opportunities	Apply in Marxist and other structural explanations
Reserve army of labour	A concept referring to people unemployed or insecurely attached to employment within capitalist labour markets	Use in structural explanations of persistent poverty
Fatalism	A belief that individuals have limited ability to change their circumstances	Evaluate as either a possible cause or consequence of poverty
Social exclusion	Disadvantage that restricts participation in social life	Use to explain wider consequences and persistence of poverty

Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡

Examiner hint: When evaluating causes of poverty, compare explanations directly. In 2022, successful evaluation criticised structural explanations and compared them with approaches emphasising cultural factors.

Examiner hint: Do not turn a poverty essay into a general account of sociological theories. AQA repeatedly warns that responses lose marks when they drift away from the precise question.

Examiner hint: Contemporary evidence can strengthen an argument, but it must be sociologically developed. In 2024, food banks and homelessness were used effectively by some students, while weaker answers lacked detailed concepts or theoretical debate.

Examiner hint: Be careful when using concepts such as meritocracy and social mobility. The 2024 report noted that potentially relevant material did not gain its full value when students failed to link it explicitly back to poverty.

Examiner hint: In 10-mark analyse questions, use both item hooks. In the 2025 question on state responses to persistent poverty, students generally identified both hooks, but the second, individual-responsibility hook was often less well developed.

Examiner hint: For a 20-mark essay, select a manageable range of explanations and develop them. AQA advises that depth is more effective than listing every perspective you can remember.

Examiner hint: Effective evaluation weighs strengths and limitations and reaches a reasoned judgement. Simply writing that "Marxists disagree" or attaching a memorised criticism does not provide developed evaluation.

Common Mistakes ⚠️

Mistake: Explaining the existence of poverty instead of its persistence

Why this is incorrect: The question is not simply asking whether poverty exists. Persistence means explaining why it continues.

How to improve: Build each paragraph around a causal chain ending with: "This helps explain why poverty continues."

Mistake: Treating dependency culture and the poverty trap as the same thing

Why this is incorrect :Dependency culture emphasises attitudes and behaviour associated with reliance on welfare. The poverty trap concerns material incentives created through income, taxation and welfare entitlement.

How to improve: Classify each concept before using it. Ask whether it is primarily a cultural explanation or an economic mechanism.

Mistake: Presenting the culture of poverty as an established fact

Why this is incorrect: It is a contested sociological explanation.

How to improve: Use phrasing such as "cultural explanations argue..." and then evaluate whether the attitudes identified could instead result from structural disadvantage.

Mistake: Writing a generic paragraph about Marxism

Why this is incorrect: Knowing Marxism does not automatically answer a question about poverty.

How to improve: Explicitly connect capitalism, exploitation, inequality or the reserve army of labour to why poverty persists.

Mistake: Assuming welfare can only reduce poverty

Why this is incorrect: Sociologists disagree about welfare. AQA material includes both arguments that welfare provides support and New Right arguments that excessive support may encourage dependency.

How to improve: Treat welfare as a debate, not a one-sided explanation.

Mistake: Assuming structural and cultural explanations cannot interact

Why this is incorrect: Long-term structural disadvantage may influence attitudes and expectations, while behaviour may affect people's responses to structural opportunities.

How to improve: Evaluate whether cultural factors operate independently or are themselves shaped by structural conditions.

Mistake: Using examples as a substitute for explanation

Why this is incorrect: Mentioning homelessness or food banks does not by itself explain why poverty persists.

How to improve: Use the sequence:

concept → explanation → evidence/example → link to persistence → evaluation

Exam-Style Questions ✍️

Question 1

Outline and explain two structural reasons why poverty may persist in contemporary society. [10 marks]

Question 2

Outline and explain two ways in which cultural factors may contribute to the persistence of poverty. [10 marks]

Question 3

Read Item A below and answer the question that follows.

Item A

Some people experience insecure employment and have limited opportunities to improve their economic position. Other sociologists argue that long-term dependence on welfare may affect people's attitudes towards employment.

Poverty may therefore persist for different reasons.

Applying material from Item A, analyse two reasons why poverty may persist in contemporary society. [10 marks]

Question 4

Read Item B below and answer the question that follows.

Item B

Some sociologists argue that poverty continues because inequalities are built into the organisation of society. They argue that factors such as class inequality and discrimination restrict people's opportunities.

Others argue that individual attitudes and behaviour are more important.

Applying material from Item B and your knowledge, evaluate the view that structural factors are the main reason why poverty persists. [20 marks]

Question 5

Read Item C below and answer the question that follows.

Item C

The welfare state provides support for people experiencing disadvantage. However, some sociologists argue that generous welfare provision may create dependency and reduce incentives for individuals to become self-sufficient.

Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the view that welfare provision contributes to the persistence of poverty. [20 marks]

Question 6

Read Item D below and answer the question that follows.

Item D

Functionalists argue that poverty may have functions for society because the possibility of poverty can encourage people to work hard. Other sociologists argue that persistent poverty is better understood as a consequence of unequal social structures.

Applying material from Item D and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations for the persistence of poverty. [20 marks]

Mark scheme

Question 1: Outline and explain two structural reasons why poverty may persist. [10 marks]

A strong response should develop two distinct structural explanations.

Indicative content may include:

• capitalism and class inequality

• exploitation

• the reserve army of labour

• discrimination

• racism

• patriarchy

• marginalisation

• structural constraints

• insecure employment or worklessness

• globalisation.

For each reason:

1. identify the structural factor

2. explain how it disadvantages individuals or groups

3. show how this makes escaping poverty difficult

4. link clearly to the persistence of poverty.

Evaluation is not required.

Question 2: Outline and explain two ways in which cultural factors may contribute to persistent poverty. [10 marks]

Indicative content may include:

• culture of poverty

• socialisation

• fatalism

• dependency culture

• underclass explanations

• cycle of deprivation.

A high-level answer should develop two points rather than list several.

For example, a student could explain how socialisation might transmit particular attitudes and then show why this could reproduce poverty over time.

Question 3: Applying material from Item A, analyse two reasons why poverty may persist. [10 marks]

Students should develop both hooks.

Hook 1: "insecure employment and limited opportunities"

Possible development:

• structural constraints

• labour-market insecurity

• worklessness

• low income

• marginalisation

• globalisation.

The analysis should explain how restricted economic opportunities can make poverty difficult to escape.

Hook 2: "long-term dependence on welfare"

Possible development:

• dependency culture

• New Right explanations

• incentives towards self-sufficiency

• poverty trap where relevant.

The answer should analyse the explanation rather than simply state that welfare exists.

Two clearly separated, developed applications are required for the strongest response.

Question 4: Evaluate the view that structural factors are the main reason why poverty persists. [20 marks]

Indicative content may include:

• structural constraints

• Marxist explanations

• capitalism

• exploitation

• reserve army of labour

• class inequality

• discrimination

• racism

• patriarchy

• marginalisation

• worklessness

• globalisation

• culture of poverty

• dependency culture

• New Right explanations

• fatalism

• cycle of deprivation

• welfare state.

A strong answer should use cultural or individual explanations as evaluation of structural explanations, rather than writing unrelated theory paragraphs.

Useful evaluative questions include:

• Do attitudes cause poverty or result from it?

• Why are particular groups exposed to greater structural risks?

• Can individual differences explain persistent patterns of inequality?

• Can structural explanations account for differences between individuals facing similar circumstances?

A justified conclusion should judge the relative importance of structural and cultural factors.

Question 5: Evaluate the view that welfare provision contributes to the persistence of poverty. [20 marks]

Indicative content may include:

Arguments supporting the view:

• dependency culture

• New Right explanations

• underclass

• incentives and individual responsibility

• poverty trap.

Arguments challenging the view:

• welfare provides resources to those experiencing poverty

• welfare may improve lives and life chances

• structural inequalities may create the need for welfare

• capitalism, unemployment or discrimination may be more fundamental causes

• reducing welfare does not necessarily remove structural causes of poverty.

Strong evaluation should consider causation.

A sophisticated argument might ask whether welfare causes dependency or whether persistent poverty and restricted opportunities cause people to depend on welfare.

Question 6: Evaluate sociological explanations for the persistence of poverty. [20 marks]

Indicative content may include:

• functionalist views of poverty as functional or inevitable

• incentives and social mobility

• structural and Marxist explanations

• capitalism and exploitation

• class inequality

• reserve army of labour

• discrimination and patriarchy

• cultural explanations

• culture of poverty

• cycle of deprivation

• fatalism

• New Right approaches

• dependency culture

• the underclass

• welfare-state explanations

• poverty trap

• globalisation and labour-market change.

Higher-level responses will compare explanations throughout rather than describing them one after another.

A strong conclusion could judge whether poverty is best explained by one dominant factor or by interaction between structural conditions, welfare arrangements and individual or cultural responses.