Question

Consider the concept of subjective poverty. Does it make sense that poverty is in the eye of the beholder? When you see a homeless person, is your reaction different if he or she is seemingly content versus begging? Why?

Answer 1

Subjective poverty is considering oneself as poor. Most of the people around the world are happier than people who are rich. When we look at the status of the lifestyle, many people are stressed out and suffer from some kind of psychological disorder. If we measure poverty with the materialistic eye, we may say that a person who is homeless is poor but if we look at people with the psychological viewpoint and with their happiness measure, they may be happy inside and content with what they have. So, it’s true that poverty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Beggars might also happy and content with what they have whereas, people who work in big companies and earning a lot might be poor psychologically but materialistic view would say that they are rich.