How People Explain Poverty: Revisiting Morçöl’s Framework Through Qualitative Inquiry

Author : Buse Eren

Abstract :The course on perceptions and behaviors related to poverty deals with the socio-psychological aspects of poverty, that is, with the attributions made regarding poverty. When we talk about the socio-psychological aspects of poverty, we mean the attributions we make about poverty and its causes. In his 1997 article titled “Lay Explanations for Poverty in Turkey and Their Determinants,” Morçöl examined external and internal causal references related to poverty in Turkey in an exploratory study. In doing so, he used Feagin's (1975) conceptualization of lay explanations for poverty and Kluegel and Smith's (1986) theoretical framework regarding the determinants of these explanations in his hypotheses. Within the scope of this study, interviews were conducted using a semistructured in-depth interview method, and the participants' perceptions of poverty were examined within the framework of Morçöl's external and internal causal references to poverty.

Keywords :Lay Explanations for Poverty, Poverty, Poverty Perceptions, Qualitative Research, Turkey.

Conference Name :International Conference on Poverty (ICOPO-25)

Conference Place Malaga, Spain

Conference Date 21st Oct 2025