There has been a long history of argument and debate over whether to blame minority cultures for the reason some are impoverished and have high crime rates – recently demonstrated by the UK Government’s wilfully blinkered ‘Race Report’. It is known as the “culture of poverty” debate which originated in blaming the culture of lower income black communities in America for their continuing poverty. That perspective overlooks the effects of historical, structural, and institutional racism and the processes of exclusion that these maintain.
Furthermore, culture is not fixed. It changes. Just compare the prevailing culture of the settled Irish in the 50s and 60s to today. The earlier culture was very much dominated by Catholicism and the Catholic clergy. Today the church is ‘just another’ institution. The economy and the pursuit of economic growth now dominates our culture. When we view minority cultures as fixed we are in danger of racializing them – i.e. affixing assumptions or general tendencies in a minority population to apparent racial biologies.
While a people’s history, tradition, customs, and heritage play a part in forming culture they are not the sole definer of culture. Culture is also shaped by other forces such as a country’s shifting class and property relations; technology and consumption patterns; changing economy and structure of employment; and government policy. ‘Traveller culture’ has been heavily shaped by these forces. A tradition of mending for example has been eradicated by the advent of plastic and a throwaway consumption culture. Traveller stability and community is likely to be affected by continued local resistance (particularly from local authorities) and historical low-funding for making Traveller sites and locations available. Only 9% of Travellers compared to 86% of non-Travellers who turned 18 between 1995 and 2004 sat the leaving cert. This low educational attainment is likely maintained not simply by Traveller culture but by experiences of prejudice in education (including by teachers) and by an alienating education system that has ignored Traveller history (recent efforts are attempting to include Traveller history in the curriculum). [This link lists other examples of ‘structural’ and ‘institutional racism’ towards the Traveller community].
No cultures are perfect. All cultures have some element of oppression and control. For example, arguably much of mainstream Irish society lives in an increasingly individualist and competitive culture where people putting themselves above others is often praised and valued and even rewarded. Where accumulating irrational amounts of money that can never be spent (and literally could instead save lives) is considered a sign of success.
Here are four links to part of the ‘Culture of Poverty’ debate in the US media:
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/poverty-racial-inequality/
[Has bullet points on structural and institutional racism:
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/09/04/academics-should-continue-mobilizing-against-racist-anti-black-and-patriarchal
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/us/18poverty.html
A critique of The New York Times article in the above link: https://bostonreview.net/archives/BR36.1/steinberg.php
Myths of Our Time 