The Idea of ‘Cultural Poverty’ was given by

The correct answer is A) Oscar Lewis. He introduced the idea of the 'culture of poverty' through his anthropological studies of poor families in Mexico and Puerto Rico, notably in 'Five Families' (1959) and 'La Vida' (1966). His argument was that poor communities develop a self-perpetuating set of values, attitudes and habits that passes from one generation to the next and keeps people poor even when opportunities appear.

Why the others are wrong:

• B) Gunnar Myrdal wrote 'Asian Drama' (1968) and used the idea of the 'soft state' and circular causation of underdevelopment. He is a development economist, not the source of this concept.
• C) Aashish Bose is a demographer known for work on population and the BIMARU states. He did not propose cultural poverty.
• D) Amartya Sen developed the entitlement approach and the capability approach, and wrote 'Poverty and Famines' (1981). His framing treats poverty as capability deprivation, which is the opposite of a culture-based explanation.

Mains angle: Lewis's idea is central to the debate on whether poverty is structural or cultural, and it links to welfare design and the critique of 'blaming the poor'.

Trap: Many aspirants pick Myrdal or Sen because both are famous poverty and development thinkers. Remember the name attached to the 'culture of poverty' specifically is Oscar Lewis.