The Link between Poverty and Ambition

Theory.

Poverty is a social issue that is as old as human civilization itself. And as long as there
has been people living in poverty, there have also been many explanations as to why
many of them appear to be trapped in poverty, spending most of their lives struggling to
make ends meet and have children that either break the cycle or continue to live their
lives in poverty as well. Our society, ideologically speaking, is built on the notion that
"anyone can make it if they try hard enough"; from making a higher salary, finding the
better job or saving to buy a house, we believe that just about anything can be attained
through hard work. And based on this ideology, our society has, to some extent, assumed
that the poor must be 'lazy' or at the very least, 'unambitious' and it is these personal traits
that brought them to and kept them in their financial hardship. But what if we are being
one-sided on the issue? Perhaps living in a 'Culture of Poverty.' (Lewis, 1963) is the
direct cause of lowered ambition? When an individual is living in a long term state of
poverty, this has a direct effect on their level of ambition.

Se
x Ambitio
n
Poverty
S.E.S
Ag *
e

* Socio-Economic Status

Method.
Measurement:

For the purposes of this research, an individual will be considered suffering from
‘Poverty’ if the household income falls below the LICO threshold for two consecutive

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years or more. The LICO indicator used by Statistics Canada considers an individual as
in poverty when they must use more than 55% of their household income to meeting the
basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. If someone has to spend over half of what they
make on resources to simply survive, it is safe to say that there a significant degree of
financial struggle in their lives. The criteria of having to fall below the LICO threshold
for 2 years or more is to rule out those going thru a ‘hard time’ but are able to pull
themselves back up again; this research only concerns those that are chronically
impoverished.

Defining one's level of ambition requires considerable more criteria since the numerical
value of money cannot be used as a measuring stick. Low Ambition will require that the
household has met the above mentioned criteria for ‘poverty’ as well as:

• Rates themselves as having low ambition.

• Feels that their friends and family would rate them as having low ambition

These two ratings are important in that we learn about the respondent’s personal view in
how they see themselves in relation to their levels of ambition.

• Not actively seeking employment they are currently qualified for that would
provide more income.

Those that are in poverty are typically employed in low-wage jobs or underemployed all
together. The first rational step to having more money is to have a job that pays more
than what they currently make.

• Are they aware of social programs for education and/or job training that they
qualify for?

The programs could be though the local, provincial or federal governments or thru any
other private organizations. The purpose of this question is to qualify whether the next
logical question ("Have you applied and/or researched whether or not you could get
assistance from the programs you are aware of?") needs to be asked. If the respondent

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is indeed aware of programs that could assist them and has or has not pursued them, this
speaks to some extent as to the respondents level of ambition.

Many people in poverty lack employable job skills and/or lack post-secondary training of
any sort. Many have not even graduated high school. Whether it is a high school
diploma, technical school diploma, 1st year trade apprenticeship training or even a
university degree, study after study shows that those with more education tend to receive
higher employment wages as a result (Morissette and Drolet, 2000).

• Describe their financial situation as ‘hopeless’ and therefore, do not have any sort
of plan to improve their situation.

This is an excellent indicator whether or not a person has given up on improving their
future. The day-to-day stress of making ends meet (or suffering from not making ends
meet) has worn them down to a state of helplessness.

• Exhibit symptoms of chronic low self esteem.

A classic American study of 150 working class men and women (Sennett and Cobb,
1972) showed that there was a common thread of low self-esteem amongst them. This
esteem problem was the result of not only having to deal with the constant stress of
making ends but also that they solely blamed themselves for their failure in achieving
prosperity. This kind of internalized shame can become a self-fulfilling prophecy in the
long term and is therefore important to be aware of.

Research Design:

While there could be countless economic issues varying from region to region within
Canada that put someone in the position of choosing whether to pay rent or buy
groceries, psychological factors that exist amongst the working poor are probably more
uniform. For the purposes of this research, we can therefore study one local region and
apply the findings to many different regions within Canada. Respondents for this
research would be chosen at random from a list of Alberta Income Support recipients in
the Calgary, AB area that have been collecting income support payments of any amount,

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consecutively for the last two or more years. Only those aged 18 - 65 years would be
used for the sample as people in this age range are expected by our society to be taking
care of themselves. Those below 18 years of age could still be considered legal minors
(and probably do not qualify for income support anyways) and those older than 65 years
are typically considered 'retired' and are not expected, generally speaking in our society,
to sustain themselves through active employment. The respondents that are selected for
this research have to have been collecting income support for 2 years or more so as to
rule out those who may have employment that is seasonal in nature. These seasonally
employed individuals may be below the LICO threshold at some point throughout the
year and perhaps draw on income support during these times but it is presumed that they
will be able to bring their income above the LICO in the following year.

Collection of Data:

This sample would be questioned through telephone surveys (when they have a phone
line to be reached on) and if not possible, they would meet with an interviewer to conduct
the survey questions verbally. Telephone surveys are the best choice in this situation for
their cost effectiveness in obtaining clear, accurate responses to the questions in a fast
and efficient manner. For those who do not speak or understand English very well, a
follow-up would be scheduled so that the interviewer can have a translator on hand. It is
important to ensure that collection includes data from those more difficult to reach, such
as non-english speakers as well as those that may not have access to a telephone so as to
not indirectly exclude certain portions of the sample base and create what is an otherwise
avoidable bias.

Of this active sample, 33 of them (who agreed to be contacted for follow up data
collection in the survey) would be personally interviewed. These personal
interview questions, while formal, would also be open-ended to encourage the respondent
to 'tell their story' and subsequently provide more holistic data in terms of their own
personal circumstances, how they feel they got to where they are and if they really
believe that they will be able to effect positive change in their own lives. Themes for
the questions would measure if the respondent is indeed aware and/or believes that they

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are in poverty. This is important to establish as those who do not seem themselves in
poverty are unlikely to feel the need to improve their situation through any means
necessary. If the respondent does not see themselves in this way, their lack of action on
the matter could be wrongly interpreted as a measure of their ambition level. There are
also to be questions to assess whether the respondent suffers from depression or low self-
esteem issues of one sort or another. If one does suffer from these afflictions, they will
definitely have an effect on their ambition levels in general.

Ethics:
The benefit of this research is to gain more of an understanding on how being in poverty
can affect one emotionally / psychologically in terms of their ambition to improve their
situation. The benefits from this kind of research are plentiful and there is foresee ably
very little in the way of potential harm to the respondents by participating. The data
collected is aggregated and therefore, the respondent’s right to privacy is maintained as
their individual answers are not linked to them in the final analysis.

As part of establishing informed consent, the respondent would be briefed on the nature
of the research and the reason it is being collected. Effort to ensure that his explanation is
done so in 'plain english' will minimize the chances of a respondent misunderstanding
when they have consented to. As well, only those selected that are of sound mind and act
as their own power of attorney would be used for research.

For this to be considered ethical research, the respondents must be made aware of the fact
that they are part of a 3rd party research that IS NOT being conducted for the direct use
of the government. If respondents believe that the government (or any other institution
that plays a part in providing them with Income Support) are asking them questions
related to their subsidy, they may be inclined to censor or exaggerate their responses. By
making the 3rd party, non-governmental nature of this research clear before any
questions are asked, it is hoped this will help to offset the potential for Hawthorne effect.

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Analysis:

I believe that my hypothesis will be, for the most part, confirmed. The relationship
between poverty and ambition is admittedly a question of, "Which came first? The
chicken or the egg?" Arguments and subsequent research could conclude either poverty
affects ambition or it one's ambition affects whether or not one ends up in poverty. While
the latter is a reasonable and probably popular perspective in current society, I believe
that if we are to ever truly reduce poverty, we must be as strongly aware of how being
poor can make one feel trapped and helpless as a result.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Cited References:
Morissette, René, and Drolet, Marie. "To What Extent Are Canadians Exposed to Low-
Income?." Statistics Canada: Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series No.
146(2000): 14.

Lewis, Oscar. "The Culture of Poverty." Society 35(1998): 7-9.

Sennett, Richard, and Cobb, Jonathan. The Hidden Injuries of Class. New York: Vintage
Books, 1972.