Does Subjective Class Predict the Causal Attribution for Poverty?

Abstract

This study investigated the attributions for poverty among secondary school and university students in relation to socio-economic. The questionnaire was adapted from Feagin's^[1] and Abouchedid & Nasser^[2], and included 15-item poverty questionnaire. It was administered to a sample (n = 242) of secondary school and university students from public and private schools and universities in Lebanon. Findings showed that Lebanese youth were more inclined to attribute poverty to structural factors. Socioeconomic variable of parents' education was the only significant predictors for the causal attribution for poverty. Research in this area should extend to relate stereotypes and various socio-economic attitudes as liberalism or conservatism and their relation to attribution for poverty.