| Abstract: | The "Moynihan controversy" concerning the existence of a subculture of poverty among the Negro poor has been marked by polar positions. There are those who feel that much of the "deviant behavior" of this group is actually normative and transmitted in the socialization process. Others maintain that such behavior is not normative and represents merely situational responses to extreme poverty and other forms of deprivation. The data in this paper, derived from interviews with a sample of the Negro population of Philadelphia, indicate that Negroes living in poverty hold attitudes that can be characterized as a "subculture of poverty." On the other hand, the data also suggest that such attitudes represent but one segment of the total range of attitudes and reference values held by this population, many of which are shared by the larger society. Furthermore, the evidence indicates that these attitudes serve to maintain the mental health of those living in a severely disadvantaged social situation. deviant behavior, Negro, poverty] |
