Question

How is ‘poverty’ related to ‘discrimination’? Explain the major psychological effects of poverty and deprivation.

Answer 1

Poverty is the economic deprivation, associated with low income, hunger, low caste and status.

Illiteracy, poor housing, over-crowding, lack of public amenities, mal-and under-nutrition, and increased susceptibility to diseases are main features.

Poverty is an actual shortage of resources so it is objectively defined term.

Deprivation is subjectively defined. It is more a question of perceiving or thinking that one has got less than what one should have got.

Poverty is not a necessary condition for experiencing deprivation but a poor person may experience deprivation.

Social disadvantage is a condition because of which some sections of society are not allowed the same privileges as the east society e.g. caste system.

Effects of Poverty and Deprivation :-

(1) Low aspirations and low achievements, low motivation, and high need for dependence is the major effect of poverty and deprivation. They believe that events in their lives are controlled by factor outside them, rather within them.

(2) With respect to social behaviour, the poor and deprived sections exhibit on attitude of resentment towards the rest of society.

(3) With regard to personality :-

• The poor and deprived low self-esteem, high anxiety, introversion, and live only in the immediate present rather than being future-oriented.
• The poor and deprived live with a sense of hopelessness, powerlessness, feelings of injustice and experience a loss of identity.

(4) Researches have proved that prolonged deprivation significantly impair the cognitive functioning of the individual.

(5) With regard to mental health, there is an unquestionable relationship between mental disorder and poverty or deprivation.

(6) The poor are more likely to suffer from specific mental illness compared to the rich, possibly due to constant worries about basic necessities, feeling of insecurity or inability to get medical faculties especially for mental illness.