Kurtz, Donald V.

Culture, poverty, politics: cultural sociologists, Oscar Lewis, Antonio Gramsci

is part of Critique of Anthropology , 34 , 3 , London : London Alternative Anthropology Group; Sage Publications , September 2014 , pp. 327 - 345

This paper explores the methodological relevance of the culture concept for the study of poverty by cultural sociologists, Oscar Lewis, and Antonio Gramsci. Cultural sociologists currently dominate poverty studies in America and focus on the relationship of culture and poverty. Oscar Lewis's idea of the culture of poverty influenced poverty studies by anthropologists in the 1960s. In the early twentieth century Antonio Gramsci argued that culture could serve as a revolutionary force to subvert the domination of the proletariat by the capitalist bourgeoisie. After exploring the political presumptions of each view point I evaluate their ideas against data from a field study of a community action council in America's 1960s war on poverty. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd

Language eng
Names [author] Kurtz, Donald V.
Subjects
Egemonia
Antropologia
Hegemony
Anthropology