Many studies have shown that most of the working class poor are willing to work, and in fact, do work. Their wages are low, which results in the inability to attain their own source of income, so they continue to have to work for minimal wages. Without a higher income, they are unable to attain capital, or attend college to gain the knowledge for a higher position. Spencer and the other individualists' theories are illogical, in that those theorists blame the poor as a whole for their plight, without seeking outside sources of their poverty. The Marxist theory of poverty is well documented throughout history. Even as far back as the middle ages, those who worked for the aristocracy, or the capitalist, found themselves with no way to gain property. They were often barred from owning land, subjected to constant changes in the rules for agriculture production in an effort to force them from their land. In later times, factory production began to appear, meaning that even those who did work for themselves could not compete, since the factory could...

Together, these forces combined to create a working class poor, caught in a cycle of poverty that is never ending.
Marx believed this poverty to be a direct result of the free market economy. While there are certainly some areas in Marxist theory that no longer applies today, the general idea that the working poor are caught unable to purchase capital to improve their conditions, while those who own capital continue to profit is hard to deny. Poverty, and the struggle of the working class, will always exist in a capitalist society.

References ore, Tom. A Dictionary of Marxist Thought.

Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1983.

Marx, Carl, and Engels, Frederick. The Communist Manifesto. 1848. The Australian National University. 2 Dec 2004. http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html.

Spencer, Herbert." Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 2004. 2 Dec 2004. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761558093/Herbert_Spencer.html.