The Process of Causal Attribution for Poverty: Preliminary Results of a Survey in Italy

This study examines causal attributions for poverty and wealth to better understand people's perspectives. According to the literature, three primary attributions are identified, based on whether poverty (or wealth) is ascribed to individual, structural, or mixed factors. The data analyzed are from a 2008 study conducted on 2,000 participants in Italy. A Principal Component Analysis identified three components related to external, internal, and fatalistic attributions of poverty and wealth phenomena. Subsequent analyses revealed significant relationships between attributions and factors such as economic status (actual or perceived), sex, education level, political orientation, and media usage.