Artemenko Svitlana Bogdanivna
PhD in Sociology, Associate Professor,
Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman
Ukraine, Kyiv.
Flyashnikova Alla Borusivna,
PhD in Sociology, Associate Professor,
Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman
Ukraine, Kyiv.
Abstract. The article depicts the basic socio-psychological characteristics of the subculture of the poor, their style and way of life, consequences for modern society. The authors outline main tools of solving the problem of poverty and the subculture of the poor on the whole.
Key words: polarization of society, poverty, subculture of the poor, way of life, overcoming poverty.
In the conditions of globalization the polarization of domestic society determines certain lifestyle and certain subculture of the poor, that becomes the factor of destabilization of social life. In particular, for Ukraine the subjective sense of poverty is especially dangerous social and psychological phenomenon that generates deprived social layers with their inherent subculture.
It followed that nowadays the most actual direction is the theoretical analysis of the specifics of the subculture of the poor and its social consequences in the realities of modern Ukraine through the prism of sociological science.
From the socio-economic point of view the category of the poor includes people whose income is lower than the subsistence minimum established by law. Thus as morally-psychological phenomenon poverty inherets the primacy of material needs over spiritual and social, violation of social connections. All of it determines the forming of special social world and special subculture of the poor as a culture of way and lifestyle that differs from generally accepted in society.
In the opinion of the famous national scientist V.Vasyutinsky, the poor layers of population are characterized by weak social connections, reducing social activity and unwillingness to take an active part in the life of society [4].
It should be underlined that subculture of the poor is a variety way of life of people, that forms the values of alienation from society and its interests. There is a right of the strong man in the subculture of the poor, and its characteristics are lack of initiative, laziness, low level of needs and cultural demands, delinquent forms of behavior, asocial lifestyle.
From this point of view it is interesting the approach of І.Sudorchyk, which distinguishes two models of subculture of the poor, namely: axiological model, which is characterized by:
the presence of the separate system of values,
disorganization,
pathology,
low level of participating in widespread social institutes;
situational model, which is the result of the force situational behavior of the poor. This group of the poor is a structural subassociation that is analysed through the prism of:
adaptation,
and responsibility for it lies not only on the poor, but also on society [3].
Thus inability or unwillingness to make decision, shifting the responsibility to others, feeling of fatality of what is taking place, understanding of itself as a passive object of economic relations, low self-esteem, and social activity, low level of goals and ambitions generate a certain style and a certain attitude to life.
Wherein the scientists, which conducted monitoring researches of the evaluation of poverty in Ukraine, underline that there is the mass alienation from a labour process among population, which was influenced by extreme factors.
As a result there is the loss of motivation to effective labour, and the population, which lives for a long time in extreme conditions, is characterized by loss of social optimism, inability of adaptation to new conditions of life and forms of farming [1], [5].
Besides the subculture of poor layers of population is characterized by forming inside the specific valued-normative system as parasitic and paternalistic moods. Among the representatives of poor layers of population only 54,3% of them want to achieve prosperity though own labour, and only 37,8% were self-confident and were unsured of their strength, relied on themselves and not on the social assistance from the state [2].
As we can observe in the conditions of poverty it is forming the special way of living and system of values, appearing such negative characteristics as reserveness and conscious isolationism of the poor.
Poor layers of population have low or quite absent possibilities for social mobility. Everyday social life of the poor differs from all other layers of society, in particular, by character of feed, quality of accommodation, availability of acquisition and quality of clothing and shoe, level of medical service. And exactly impossibility of satisfaction need for food and basic necessities are important factors that assists forming the special way of life and subculture of the poor and its negative consequences for modern society.
In the modern conditions of globalization the state is unable to fully solve the socio-economic problems of the most unprotected layers of population. Hence the decision of problems of poverty and its consequences for society is a personal task of vulnerable layers of population by forming such important socio-psychological traits, as personal responsibility, initiativeness, intelligence and social activity themselves on the whole.
Literature:
1. Лібанова Е.М. Бідність населення України: методология, методика та практика аналізу: монографія / Е. М. Лібанова. – К.: КНЕУ, 2008. – 330 с.
2. Міщенко М. Середній клас: самовизначення в соціальній структурі суспільства / М. Міщенко // Національна безпека і оборона. – 2008. – №7. – С.5-13.
3. Сидорчук І. Б. Субкультура бідності в суспільстві, що трансформується / І. Б. Сидорчук // Вчені записки Таврійського національного університету ім. В. І. Вернадського. — Серія: Географія. — 2011. — Т. 24 (63), № 1. — С. 230–238.
4. Товстиженко А. Культура бідності чи соціальна ізольованість? – Електронний ресурс. – Режим доступу до ресурсу: https://dt.ua/SOCIETY/kultura_bidnosti_chi_sotsialna_ izolovanist.html.
5. Черенько Л. Бідність в Україні: нові тенденції та особливості прояву / Л. Черенько // Праця і зарплата. – 2007. – № 28. – С. 4–15.
