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urban Indian personality and the ‘culture of poverty’ 1
Author(s) -
GRAVES THEODORE D.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1974.1.1.02a00040
Subject(s) - personality , navajo , socioeconomic status , middle class , poverty , unemployment , social psychology , psychology , disadvantaged , sociology , political science , economic growth , demography , economics , population , linguistics , philosophy , law
“Culture of poverty” theorists contend that the marginal socioeconomic position occupied by many minority groups within our society is the result of a self‐perpetuating poverty “way of life,” which includes certain characteristic personality attributes such as a tendency to live for the moment rather than to plan ahead, fatalism, and a lack of ambition. This study brings empirical evidence to bear on this thesis as it applies to one minority group of urban poor: Navajo Indians living in Denver, Colorado. The data are drawn from interviews with 259 male Navajo migrants, supplemented by records from the Bureau of Indian Affairs which sponsors their relocation, police files, employer interviews, participant observation, and case studies. Psychometric procedures were constructed specifically for this study to measure three relevant features of Navajo personality which contrast with the dominant white middle class: time perspective, locus of control, and achievement motivation. The reliability and validity of these procedures are discussed in detail. Within this Indian group, no association was found between a middle‐class orientation on these measures and six indices of economic achievement in the city. Rather than contributing to economic success, these psychological traits appear to serve migrants as a basis for evaluating their economic failures. This is seen in the strong relationship between these personality attributes and arrest rates, primarily for drunkenness, among those with the poorest wages and most unemployment. In conclusion, the acquisition of middle‐class personality without access to middle‐class goals appears to create additional problems for lower‐class groups. Some applied implications are discussed.