Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:22:42.215Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Explanatory Model of Poverty from the Perspective of Social Psychology and Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2015

Alfonso Pérez-Muñoz ,
Fernando Chacón  and
Rosario Martínez Arias
Alfonso Pérez-Muñoz*
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
Fernando Chacón
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
Rosario Martínez Arias
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Alfonso Pérez Muñoz. Facultad de Psicología de la UCM. Campus de Somosaguas. 28223. Pozuelo de Alarcón (Spain). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Poverty is a social problem, entailing not only an economical perspective but above all a human and social issue. Poverty is promoted, justified and maintained by unique individuals and groups by means of our own attitudes, interests and behavior, as well as with our social structures and social relationships. From this interactive, psychosocial and sociostructural perspective, and also considering poverty as a denial of basic human rights (UNDP, 1998), we carried out a study with the primary objective to design and verify an Explanatory Model of Poverty. This research may helps to increase the validity of diagnostics and the effectiveness of interventions. Most of the hypotheses were accepted during the analysis and verification of the Model (p < .001), with data fitting the Model (CFI: 1 RMSEA: .025: LO90: 0 – HI90: .061. RMR: .008). These results, if replicated in new investigations, could have the following implications: (a) the need for a broad and comprehensive definition of poverty including its effects, processes and causes; (b) the need for everybody to accept the social responsibility in the prevention and solution to poverty; and (c) the need to conduct longitudinal interventions with scientific methodology and social participation.

Keywords

social exclusionpovertyhuman rights
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 18 , 2015 , E99
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrams, D., Hogg, M. A., & Marques, J. M. (2005). A social psychological framework for understanding social inclusion and exclusion. In Abrams, D., Hogg, M. A. & Marques, J. M. (Eds.), The social psychology of inclusion and exclusion, (pp. 1–23). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Acevedo, M. I. (1996). Factores de vulnerabilidad asociados a la condición de pobreza. Un enfoque ecosistémico cognitivo [Vulnerability factors associated to poverty. A cognitive ecosystem approach]. Aprendizaje y Comportamiento, 11, 53–72.Google Scholar
Ardila, R. (1979). Psicología social de la pobreza [Social psychology of poverty]. In Whittaker, J. (Ed.), La psicología social en el mundo de hoy [Social Psychology in today´s world] (pp. 401–420). Mexico DF, Mexico: Trillas.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 193–209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0303_3 Google Scholar
Batista, J. M., & Coenders, G. (2000). Modelos de ecuaciones estructurales [Structural equation models] . Madrid, Spain: La Muralla.Google Scholar
Bierbrauer, G. (2000). Social justice and political ideology in an immigrant country. In Baums, T., Hopt, K. J. & Horn, N. (Eds.), Corporations, capital market and Bussiness in the law (pp. 89–99). Londres, UK: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
Bohle, H. G., Downing, T. E., & Watts, M. J. (1994). Climate change and social sulnerability. Toward a sociology and geography of food insecurity. In Global Environmental Change, (Vol. 4, pp. 37–48). Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.Google Scholar
Bollen, K. A. (2014). Structural equations with latent variables. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Booth, C. (1892). Life and labor of the people of London. London, UK: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Brickman, P., Rabinowitz, V. C., Karuza, J, Coates, D., Cohn, E., & Kidder, L. (1982). Models of helping and coping. American Psychologist, 37, 368–384.Google Scholar
Chou, C. P., Bentler, P. M., & Satorra, A. (1991). Scaled test statistics and robust standard errors for non-normal data in covariance structure analysis: A Monte Carlo study. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 44, 347–357. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8317.1991.tb00966.x Google Scholar
Cliff, N. (1987). Analyzing multivariate data. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Curran, P. J., West, S. G., & Finch, J. F. (1996). The robustness of test statistics to nonnormality and specication error in conrmatory factor analysis. Psychological Methods, 1, 16–29.Google Scholar
De Lucas, J. (1996). La xenofobia y la condición de extranjero ante el Derecho [Xenophobia and the alien status before the law]. In Blazquez, E. J. (Ed.), 10 palabras claves sobre racismo y xenofobia [10 keywords on racism and xenophobia]. (pp. 167–197). Estella, Spain: EVD.Google Scholar
Duncan, O. D. (1975). Introduction to structural equation models. New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Estefanía, M. T., & Tarazona, D. (2003). Psicología y pobreza: ¿Hay algo psicológico en la pobreza o es la pobreza algo psicológico? [Psychology and poverty. Is there anything psychological in poverty or is poverty something psychological?]. Explorando Psicología, 12, 21–25.Google Scholar
Fabrigar, L. R., Wegener, D. T., MacCallum, R. C., & Strahan, E. J. (1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 4, 272–299. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.4.3.272 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Festinger, L. (1950). Informal social communication. Psychological Review, 57, 271–282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0056932 Google Scholar
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human relations, 7, 117–140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, J. (1978). Basic needs and its critics. In Institute of Development Studies Bulletin, 9, 4. Brighton, UK: University of Sussex.Google Scholar
Gorsuch, R. L. (1983). Factor analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York, NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
Holmes, G., & Newnes, C. (2004). Thinking about community psychology and poverty. Clinical Psychology, 38, 12–22.Google Scholar
Hu, L., Bentler, P. M., & Kano, Y. (1992). Can test statistics in covariance structure analysis be trusted? Psychological Bulletin, 112, 351–362.Google Scholar
Hunt, D. (1989). Economic theories of development: An analisis of competing paradigms. London, UK: Harvester Wheatseaf.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. W., & Smith, E. R. (1999). Conceptualizing social identity: A new framework and evidence of the impact of different dimensions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 120–135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167299025001010 Google Scholar
Jadue, G. (1996). Características familiares de los hogares pobres que contribuyen al bajo rendimiento o al fracaso escolar de los niños [Family characteristics of poor households that contribute to low performance or school failure of children]. Revista de Psicología de la PUCP, 14 (1), 35–45.Google Scholar
Janis, I. (1972). Victims of Groupthink. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Janis, I. (1982). Groupthink: Psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Lerner, M. J. (1980). The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York, NY: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Martín-Baró, I. (1983). Acción e ideología: Psicología social desde Centroamérica [Action and ideology: Social psychology in Central America] . San Salvador, El Salvador: UCA Editores.Google Scholar
Martín-Baró, I. (1989). Sistema, grupo y poder. Psicología Social desde Centroamérica [System, group and power : Social Psychology in Central America] . San Salvador, El Salvador: UCA Editores.Google Scholar
Montero, M. (2004). Introducción a la psicología comunitaria. Desarrollo, conceptos y procesos [Introduction to community psychology. Development, concepts and processes] . Buenos Aires, Argentina: Paidos.Google Scholar
Morales, J. F. (1997). Sesgos Atribucionales [Attributional biases]. In Morales, J. F. & cols, (Eds.), Psicología Social, (pp. 253–270). Madrid, Spain: MacGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Opotow, S. (1990). Moral exclusion and injustice: An introduction. Journal of Social Issues, 46(1), 1–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1990.tb00268.x Google Scholar
Pedhazur, E. J., & Schmelkin, L. P. (2001). Measurement, design and analysis: An integrated approach. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Pérez, A. (2013). Un modelo explicativo procesual de la pobreza desde la psicología social comunitaria y el enfoque de los DDHH [A processual explanatory model of poverty from a community social psychology and human rights perspective] (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://eprints.ucm.es/19915/ Google Scholar
Pérez de Armiño, K. (1999). Vulnerabilidad y desastres. Causas estructurales y procesos de la crisis de África [Vulnerability and disasters. Processes and structural causes of the crisis in Africa]. Cuadernos de Trabajo, 24.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, T. F., & Meertens, R. W. (1995). Subtle and blatant prejudice in Western Europe. European Journal of Social Psychology, 25(1), 57–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420250106 Google Scholar
Ryan, W. (1976). Blaming the victim. New York, NY: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Satorra, A. (1990). Robustness issues in structural equation modeling: A review of recent developments. Quality and Quantity, 24, 367–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00152011 Google Scholar
Satorra, A., & Bentler, P. M. (2010). Ensuring positiveness of the scaled difference chi-square test statistic. Psychometrika, 75, 243–248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11336-009-9135-y CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sen, A. (1985). Commodities and capabilities. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: North Holland.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1993). Capability and well-being. In Nussbaum, M. & Sen, A. (Eds.), The quality of life. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Sherif, M. (1936). The psychology of social norms. New York, NY: Harper.Google Scholar
Sherif, M., & Sherif, C. (1953). Groups in harmony and tensión. New York, NY: Harper B.Google Scholar
Shookner, M. (2002), An inclusion lens: Workbook for looking at social and economic exclusion and inclusion. Ottawa, Canada: Population and Public Health Branch.Google Scholar
Staub, E. (1999). The roots of evil: Social condition, culture, personality, and basic human needs. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 179–192. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0303_2 Google Scholar
Streeten, P. (1986). Lo primero es lo primero: Satisfacer las necesidades humanas básicas en los países en desarrollo [First things first: Meeting basic human needs in developing countries] . Madrid, Spain: Tecnos-Serie, Banco Mundial.Google Scholar
Stewart, F. (1985). Planning to meet basic needs. Londrés, UK: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Thompson, B. (2004). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Washington, DC. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
UNDP (1997). Informe sobre el Desarrollo Humano [Human Development Report] . New York, NY: Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo.Google Scholar
UNDP (1998). Informe sobre el Desarrollo Humano[Human Development Report] . New York, NY: Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo.Google Scholar
UNDP (2000). Informe sobre el Desarrollo Humano [Human Development Report] . New York, NY: Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo.Google Scholar
UNDP (2001). Informe sobre el Desarrollo Humano [Human Development Report] . New York, NY: Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo.Google Scholar
UNDP (2010). Informe sobre el Desarrollo Humano[Human Development Report] . New York, NY: Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo.Google Scholar
World Bank (1990). World Development Report. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar