Culture of Poverty and Its Repercussions in the Municipality of Padilla, Tamaulipas, Mexico

María del Rosario Hernández Fonseca, Rosa María Rodríguez Limón, Hugo Isaías Molina Montalvo, Jesús

Ponce García

(Autonomous University of Tamaulipas, Mexico)

Abstract: Poverty is not the problem, but the symptoms it generates, such as economic depravation, which is measured with the perceived wage and the services that the household has, as well as social deficiencies in education and health, among others (Luna, 2015). The causes are associated with its origin since historical events, while the effects help to maintain problems, such as market scarcity, corruption and fewer work opportunities (Bartle, 2009). The people who live in this state of poverty show personality traits like apathy and learned hopelessness. This research gives an explanation of the poverty conditions that the Padilla residentes present, based on what is stipulated in the culture of poverty theory. This is a quantitative study, 619 surveys were applied in 25 communities of the municipality of Padilla. The conclusions show that extreme poverty in which the people of Padilla live, is cultural, and it doesn’t allow them to identify de natural strengths of the municipality to boost the regional economy.

Key words: poverty, culture, education, culture of poverty, residents of Padilla