Social Stratification
Moynihan moves us past the cycle of poverty to the condition of social stratification—one of the Lines. With the cycle of poverty firmly established, the process of social stratification is fully engaged. Separate communities are now established, with the “haves” living in one community and the “have nots” living in a completely different community. The Line has been drawn. In describing the social stratification that accompanies and reinforces the cycle of poverty, Moynihan (1968a) turns to the much broader social analysis offered by Talcott Parsons (1954) and his exceptional precursor, Max Weber (Gerth and Mills, 1958), along with Miller and Roby (Miller and Roby, 1968), as members of Moynihan’s study group, Parsons describes the interplay between three major elements in most societies: class, status, power. As with the cycle of poverty, there is a recursive dynamic operating with class influencing status and with both class and status influencing power. Power, in turn, reinforces class and status. While class, status and power are held by individual members of a society, these three elements are reinforced and supported by the large private enterprises that dominate this society.
As engines of capitalism, the private enterprises become “the servants of power” to those individuals who reside at the top of the social stratum. (Baritz, 1960). These enterprises are further complemented by the servants of education and government who condone if not directly aide the acquisition of power by the upper class and the reinforcement of Lines. Furthermore, there is a psychological sense of social honor that accompanies class, status and power: one can take pride in and a sense of personal responsibility (internal locus of control) for being a leader of industry and community. It is indeed poignant that those at the highest levels of social stratification can readily perceive themselves as being in total control of their own work and life. Their Word for World is Empowerment.
Culture of Poverty
We now come to the final stage of the poverty cycle, as identified by Daniel Moynihan and his co-authors of On Understanding Poverty. With social stratification comes the creation and maintenance (over many generations) of a culture of poverty. In describing the nature and dynamics of this culture, Oscar Lewis (1968, pp. 187-200) contributed an anthropological perspective to this study of poverty. While the factors that Lewis identifies as leading to a cycle of poverty are similar to those offered by Moynihan and the other authors of this book on poverty, he moves much further in describing the psychological impact of poverty on those inhabiting this culture. Lewis focuses in particular on fatalism and low levels of aspiration as related to the powerful forces of capitalism and individualism that we have been highlighting:
