Though I was not completely aware of it at the time, I believe that the true challenge that I faced during my service was the challenge of refusing to believe in the easily constructed "culture of poverty" theory or "COP" theory. It is a theory that posits that certain behaviors found in a given culture impoverish the people of that culture. The "COP" theory demotivates those who could work to alleviate poverty by convincing them that cultural change, instead of equitable treatment, is the key to "solving" poverty.
Here are few of my blog entries that show me becoming aware that I had bought-in to the "culture of poverty" theory and then show the result of my realization. The result of my realization was that I rededicated myself to serving my community. The fact that I rededicated myself to service after unearthing my belief in a "culture of poverty," supports the idea that the "COP" theory discourages serving the poor.
I would add, as I did in the first entry below, that my belief in the "COP" theory was supported in large part by the ideas expressed to me by Togolese. Ideas about jealousy, oppressive social atmospheres and work-ethic in African culture. People can believe that their own culture is a "culture of poverty," and many Africans do.
-http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/09/first-year-blues.html -http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/10/battle-and-understanding-dust-settling.html -http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/11/debate-and-consequences-of-its.html -http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-get-it-i-know-what-to-do-i-know-how_23.html -http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/12/contentment-and-joy.html
How could we think that a "culture of poverty" could exist? As good Marxists, we know that a culture is born of the means of production of a given area. Culture does not create the means of production, the means of production create culture. So if we want to go fishing for the causes of poverty, we should look to the "poor means of production" instead of a "culture of poverty."
But one can understand how some people who serve poor communities fall into belief in the "culture of poverty" theory. If you are a highly motivated worker that enters into a community in order to help that community, and you observe counter-productive behaviors, you will ask yourself "if these people aren't doing all they can for themselves, why should I do all I can for them?" This is why it is so difficult for some social justice/ development workers to keep up their optimism. But you cannot blame them. I too was just trying to get to the bottom of it all. We in fact want to fight poverty so we ask "why are these people suffering?" That was the question that I asked myself and the Togolese. Many answers to that question suggested that the main cause of the suffering was a cultural problem. To put out a fire you put the water at the base of the flames, so if the main cause of suffering is the culture, then let's try to change the culture. A very logical road leads to that pitfall. The fallacy is in the idea that poor communities do not deserve an equal playing field, and that is the illogically logical conclusion of some development/ social justice workers who see many counter-productive behaviors in the communities that they serve.
I am not claiming that counter-productive behaviors do not exist in underserved communities. I think counter-productive behaviors exist everywhere, but probably are more numerous in rich areas than in poor areas. That discussion is, however, beside the point. The point is that if social justice workers/ development workers believe in the "culture of poverty" theory, then they will be discouraged and perform less well in the communities for which they work. If policy makers are trapped by the theory, then they will be less likely to support poverty alleviating policies. If any of us are unable to see through the COP theory, then we will be less likely to overcome institutionalized discrimination as a society. It would be tragic if we lost momentum in the global fight against poverty because we had fallen victim to a fallacious theory.
