Determinants of perceived causes of poverty among South Africa’s post-apartheid generation

Abstract

Poverty alleviation remains a preoccupation of governments and other non-government organizations. Understanding how individuals perceive the causes of poverty is vital in developing strategies for poverty alleviation. This study used a self-administered survey to investigate how different demographic variables influence the perception of the causes of poverty of the post-apartheid generation in a South African University. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis were used to assess the effect of various demographic variables on the three factors of perception of the causes of poverty, namely individualistic, structural and fatalistic factors. Tested variables were the age, gender, race, field of study, and home area of participants. The results of this paper revealed that perceptions of the causes of poverty of South Africa’s post-apartheid generation are mostly affected by gender, race, and home area. The findings also suggest that the post-apartheid generation tends to blame society for the causes of the poverty.