Understanding people in poverty: a study of cultural consensus among social workers and general population members in Lithuania

ENThis study compared the perceptions of poor people and poverty held by general population members and social workers in Kaunas, Lithuania. The study used the cultural consensus method, an approach that combines qualitative and quantitative data. Three dimensions of cultural knowledge about poverty and poor people emerged: Degree of Poverty, Responsibility of the Poor Person, and Reasons for/Consequences of Poverty. Social workers and general population members shared cultural knowledge about these three dimensions, with social workers having a higher degree of knowledge about Reasons for/Consequences of Poverty. Both samples rated structural reasons as main reasons for poverty. In the general population sample, people from households with more adults and those to whom religion was less important had more cultural knowledge of Degree of Poverty. People from households with more adults and higher income households, and those to whom religion was less important, had more cultural knowledge about Responsibility of the Poor Person. In the social workers sample, state agency employees and those to whom religion was less important had more cultural knowledge in this dimension. None of the potential predictor variables was statistically significantly related to knowledge of Reasons for/Consequences of Poverty in either sample.