Perceptions on the Causes of Poverty in Finland

Mikko Niemelä

PhD, Recearch Fellow

Department of Social Policy

FIN-20014 University of Turku

e-mail: mikko.niemela@utu.fi

Abstract

The issue of what people consider reasons for living in poverty is often neglected in the poverty literature. However, studies of public perception on the causes of poverty can be justified on academic grounds and in policy-making process as well. This paper explores three types of poverty explanations: a) individualistic, which regards poverty as a reflection of the behaviour of the poor themselves, b) fatalistic, where the individual’s fate such as illness or bad luck explains poverty, and c) structural, which explains poverty by the result of external forces such as low wages or unemployment. Paper investigates whether these different types of explanations can be attributed to socio-demographic characteristics, poverty status and welfare state attitudes. Data is derived from a cross-sectional survey (N=2 391), compiled at the Department of Social Policy, University of Turku, in the early 2005. Results indicate that there exists a clear consensus on the causes of poverty among population. Most Finns are more likely to blame poverty on the weak performance of the labour market than on dysfunctional behaviour of individuals or injustice of society. Thus, structural explanations of poverty received the greatest support. However, the fatalistic explanation receives support as well while the majority of people regard that bad luck is a cause of poverty. Preliminary analyses regarding the variation of perceptions between different population groups indicate that differences are quite modest.