Poverty

=== Prejudice and exploitation ===
{{see also|criminalization of poverty}}
[[File:Oxfam East Africa - SomalilandDrought022.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|The urban poor buy water from water vendors for, on average, about 5 to 16 times the metered price.<ref name=Kenny>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/12/05/trickle-down-economics/|title=Trickle-Down Economics|publisher=foreignpolicy.com|date=5 December 2011|access-date=18 December 2014|archive-date=2 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502084305/http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/12/05/trickle-down-economics/|url-status=live}}</ref>]]Cultural factors, such as discrimination of various kinds, can negatively affect productivity such as [[ageism|age discrimination]], [[stereotype|stereotyping]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usccb.org/cchd/epic/www/causesofpovertya.html |title=Ending Poverty in Community (EPIC) |publisher=Usccb.org |access-date=24 October 2010 |archive-date=9 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309014134/http://www.usccb.org/cchd/epic/www/causesofpovertya.html |url-status=live }}</ref> discrimination against people with physical disability,<ref name=disabpov>Filmer, D. (2008), "Disability, poverty, and schooling in developing countries: results from 14 household surveys", ''The World Bank Economic Review'', 22(1), pp. 141–163
* Yeo, R. (2005), [http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/PDF/Outputs/Disability/RedPov_agenda.pdf Disability, poverty and the new development agenda] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213072542/http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/PDF/Outputs/Disability/RedPov_agenda.pdf |date=13 February 2015 }}, Disability Knowledge and Research, UK Government, pp. 1–33</ref> [[sexism|gender discrimination]], [[racism|racial discrimination]], and [[caste|caste discrimination]]. [[Child poverty|Children]] are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as adults.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Child poverty|url=https://www.unicef.org/social-policy/child-poverty|access-date=2021-10-21|website=www.unicef.org|language=en}}</ref> Women are the group suffering from the highest rate of poverty after children, in what is referred to as the [[feminization of poverty]]. In addition, the fact that women are more likely to be caregivers, regardless of income level, to either the generations before or after them, exacerbates the burdens of their poverty.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://origin.library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1100634217286-881/ReGenderPovertyPrimerFront.pdf|title=Gender Lens on Poverty|access-date=3 December 2019|archive-date=15 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615045556/http://origin.library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1100634217286-881/ReGenderPovertyPrimerFront.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Those in poverty have increased chances of incurring a disability which leads to a cycle where [[disability and poverty]] are mutually reinforcing.

[[Max Weber]] and some schools of [[modernization theory]] suggest that cultural [[Value (personal and cultural)|values]] could affect economic success.<ref>Moore, Wilbert. 1974. ''Social Change.'' Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.</ref><ref>Parsons, Talcott. 1966. ''Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives.'' Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.</ref> However, researchers{{Who|date=November 2009}} have gathered evidence that suggest that values are not as deeply ingrained and that changing economic opportunities explain most of the movement into and out of poverty, as opposed to shifts in values.<ref name="kerbo2006a">Kerbo, Harold. 2006. ''Social Stratification and Inequality: Class Conflict in Historical, Comparative, and Global Perspective'', 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.</ref> A 2018 report on [[poverty in the United States]] by UN special rapporteur [[Philip Alston]] asserts that caricatured narratives about the rich and the poor (that "the rich are industrious, entrepreneurial, patriotic and the drivers of economic success" while "the poor are wasters, losers and scammers") are largely inaccurate, as "the poor are overwhelmingly those born into poverty, or those thrust there by circumstances largely beyond their control, such as physical or mental disabilities, divorce, family breakdown, illness, old age, unlivable wages or discrimination in the job market."<ref>{{cite news |date=4 June 2018 |title="Contempt for the poor in US drives cruel policies," says UN expert |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2018/06/contempt-poor-us-drives-cruel-policies-says-un-expert |publisher=OHCHR |access-date=10 August 2019 |archive-date=17 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917141810/https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23172&LangID=E |url-status=live }}</ref> Societal perception of people experiencing economic difficulty has historically appeared as a conceptual dichotomy: the "good" poor (people who are physically impaired, disabled, the "ill and incurable," the elderly, pregnant women, children) vs. the "bad" poor (able-bodied, "valid" adults, most often male).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brodiez-Dolino|first=Axelle|date=2021-06-07|title=Perceptions of People in Poverty Throughout History|url=https://www.atd-fourthworld.org/perceptions-poorest-people-throughout-history/|access-date=2021-06-08|website=ATD Fourth World|language=en-US|type=Online written interview.|archive-date=8 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608192811/https://www.atd-fourthworld.org/perceptions-poorest-people-throughout-history/|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to experts, many women become victims of trafficking, the most common form of which is [[survival sex|prostitution]], as a means of survival and economic desperation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2009-05-15-voa30-68815957.html?rss=human+rights+and+law |title=Experts encourage action against sex trafficking |publisher=.voanews.com |date=15 May 2009 |access-date=24 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501101647/http://www.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2009-05-15-voa30-68815957.html?rss=human+rights+and+law |archive-date=1 May 2011 }}</ref> Deterioration of living conditions can often compel children to abandon school to contribute to the family income, putting them at risk of being exploited.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/thailand/091027/economic-crisis-the-sex-trade-and-children |title=Child sex boom fueled by poverty |publisher=Globalpost.com |access-date=24 October 2010 |archive-date=1 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101101005703/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/thailand/091027/economic-crisis-the-sex-trade-and-children |url-status=live }}</ref> For example, in [[Zimbabwe]], a number of girls are turning to sex in return for food to survive because of the increasing poverty.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thomson |first=Mike |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8096874.stm |title=Zimbabwean girls trade sex for food |work=BBC News |date=12 June 2009 |access-date=24 October 2010 |archive-date=26 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726123910/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8096874.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> According to studies, as poverty decreases there will be fewer and fewer instances of violence.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Steven|title=Poverty and Violence|issue=1|date=1996|page=67|issn=0037-802X|journal=Social Theory and Practice|volume=22|doi=10.5840/soctheorpract199622119}}</ref>