**Abstract**

As one of the most important social problems in the world, poverty has been studied by various disciplines. Although poverty is a basic subject of economics, it has also become one of the prominent research fields of social sciences in recent years. Poverty also relates to many psychological processes and mechanisms just as in the other social problems in the world. It is assumed that the social-psychological approach to poverty may contribute to establishing different road maps in combating poverty. Therefore this study aims at contributing to poverty reduction efforts from the social-psychological point of view by providing an integrative review of the social psychological correlates of poverty based on the empirical findings. Also, by including arguments such as social identity, migration, ideology and social context in poverty studies to be conducted with a social psychological perspective, a contribution can be made to poverty reduction with multidimensional research methods.

**Keywords:** poverty, psychological processes, poverty reduction, integrative manner, qualitative research, quantitative research

### **1. Introduction**

Poverty has been increasing in parallel with globalization, which is characterized by rapid technological developments and different political and economic balances [1]. Although there are aspects of information and technology that facilitate human life, these advances do not bring the same prosperity for everyone. It is known that not everyone lives equally well or easily, and some masses lack even the basic needs. Therefore, poverty is a phenomenon that affects large social groups, and its individual and social consequences have been tried to be overcome.

There are numerous studies on poverty and combating poverty. These studies generally focused on the definition of poverty, economic analysis, and economic effects of poverty with globalization and social rights [2–9]. According to the general definition, poverty refers to the deprivation of economic, material, and cultural resources, and the deprivation of welfare [10, 11]. While another definition of poverty describes poverty as a permanent or temporary lack of quality, technical, physical strength, intellectual ability, freedom, and individual dignity [12], different types of poverty are also mentioned in the literature, such as female poverty, child poverty, urban–rural poverty, etc. [13]. Consequently, poverty has multiple dimensions, and diverse effects, and it might be addressed regarding its economic, political, individual, and social basis [14–17].

For psychological inquiry, it seems crucial to make a distinction between the two different conceptualizations of poverty in order understand psychological aspects of poverty: absolute poverty and relative poverty [18–20]. Absolute poverty is defined as the state in which individuals do not afford to buy their basic needs, and the inability of the household or individual to attain the minimum welfare level that can sustain their lives. In other words, absolute poverty refers to the deprivation of basic human needs, which usually includes food, water, hygiene, clothing, shelter, healthcare, and education [21]. This definition indicates the inadequacy of material/economic resources and accepts everyone who is below certain standards as poor wherever they are in the world [22]. The data showed that over 1 billion of the approximately 2.8 billion poor in the world live in absolute poverty (living with an income of less than \$ 1–1.5 per day according to World Bank) [23]. On the other hand, relative poverty refers to the state in which individuals are below a certain rate of the average welfare level of the society and have been spending below a certain limit according to the general level of the society [24]. Relative poverty is related to the unequal distribution of resources or power in a society in which some people lack the adequate resources to live in the standard they desire, while others do not [18]. Therefore, relative poverty is based on economic inequality in society, which exists largely and persistently all around the world. In addition to the material disadvantages and economic insecurity, relative poverty has some severe social-psychological consequences, such as reduced self-esteem, feelings of disrespect, and humiliation [25–27].

From the different definitions and forms of poverty mentioned above, one can ask that who are these individuals who are absolutely and relatively poor? A poor person is usually described as the one who cannot have sufficient economic resources to buy basic needs [28–30]. Poor people are also defined referring to Lewis's [31] concept of "culture of poverty". The "culture of poverty", which is learned in the family and tends to be passed down from generation to generation, includes normative patterns acquired by the poor as a group rather than from the economic side [10, 31]. In other words, poverty culture points to a common set of attitudes and behaviors that develop depending on the conditions [32]. But we cannot say that "every poor has the characteristics of poverty culture". It may change depending on the culture, historical, and economic context and from person to person. In other words, the person might be "poor" according to the official criteria, but may not perceive himself/herself as poor when he/she compares himself/herself to "another individuals or groups who are poorer. And also, a poor society may not have the characteristics of a culture of poverty mentioned above (see also [33, 34]). This situation shows that social sciences should discuss poverty as a multidimensional construct with its different aspects/results and processes. Although individual perceptions are not sufficient in understanding the dynamics of poverty, the interaction between individual perceptions and societal values and norms should be taken into account. Therefore, this review paper aims to present social psychological findings within a theoretical framework in an integrative manner. The distinctive feature of this study is that it considers poverty as a "process", rather than a psychological "situation". The association of the information resulting from the handling of the psychological processes in a multidimensional or integrative methodological manner with the steps to be taken towards poverty alleviation indicates the methodical framework of this study. The proposed framework also emphasizes the continuity of the interrelation of psychological and socio-political processes. It is shown below in **Figure 1**.

This study aims to rethink the shortcomings of approaches analyzing poverty, poverty processes, and integrative methodological framework. In other words, this study underlines that social psychology should approach poverty analyzes in an integrative manner. So, it strives to emphasize a social psychological understanding *Poverty and Social Psychology: The Importance of Integrative Manner DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95833*

**Figure 1.** *The analytical framework for the social psychological assessment of poverty.*

that can establish relations with different disciplines to eliminate the poverty problem. In this context, it is a literature review study that focuses on the shortcomings of the methodological and theoretical stance of social psychology in poverty studies, rather than a direct critical approach. It is also explained why existing social psychological approaches to the aforementioned deficiencies and poverty do not contribute to overcoming the poverty problem. The integrative approach proposed as an alternative to these explanations; and how and in what direction the steps to be taken towards poverty alleviation can be guided.

Two questions related to the purpose and methodological stance of this review has been determined: (1) which social psychological arguments make poverty more explainable? And (2) what role does the proposed integrative approach to poverty analysis play in ending poverty and how is this new analytical framework set up? To find answers to these questions, firstly, previous studies about poverty in social psychology literature will be explained. Afterward, a discussion will be held on how to establish an integrative approach that can guide poverty to make it clearer and eliminate it.
