Files

Download

Download Full Text (688 KB)

Keywords

Poverty, Attitude, Government Spending

Abstract

The U.S. has the greatest economic inequality of any industrialized nation, and does the least to reduce this inequality (Dreier 2007). This inequality may reflect attitudes about the causes of poverty that may diminish willingness to support policy designed to alleviate its effects. Prior research has examined differences in attitudes toward the poor and those receiving welfare and about poverty beliefs, but not whether a relationship exist between these beliefs and opinions on Political Science. In order to investigate this explanation, we analyze data from the 1992 American National Election Survey (N=674) for a possible link between whether people attribute poverty to laziness or to structural causes and their attitudes about increasing government spending on programs that target the problems of poverty, namely food stamps, welfare, and child care. We found significant relationships between poverty beliefs and favorable attitudes toward increasing spending on each of these programs.

Description

The Annual Mary Lou Fulton Mentored Research Conference showcases some of the best student research from the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences. The mentored learning program encourages undergraduate students to participate in hands-on and practical research under the direction of a faculty member. Students create these posters as an aide in presenting the results of their research to the public, faculty, and their peers.

Publication Date

2011-03-28

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/2713

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Sociology

Poverty Attributions and Attitudes toward Government Spending

Included in

Sociology Commons

Share

COinS