Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Today, in our continued discussion on poverty, I mentioned Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs. This theory was proposed by American Psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943. The premise of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is this: In order for higher order needs to be met, lower level needs must first be met.

In summary, these needs are as follows:

Basic Needs- Also known as physiological needs which include: food, water, breathing, and sleep.

Safety Needs- Includes security of body, employment, health, freedom from persecution, etc.

Social Needs- Also referred to as Love/Belonging, refers to our need for human contact in friendships, romantic relationships, community groups, etc.

Self-esteem Needs- These are our need for confidence and achievement, respect and to respect others.

Achievement Needs- Commonly known as the need for Self-actualization. These are our needs for morality, creativity, spontaneity, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts.

So what does this mean for issues of poverty?

Well, by this theory, people living in poverty have a prioritized set of needs. First, they will seek to satisfy their need for food, water, and shelter. Shelter also meets safety needs as well, for example, having shelter is a good way to protect yourself from animals, insects, or people who may cause you harm.

However, it is unlikely that in an impoverished country all safety needs would be met. Freedom from persecution and maintaining good health (nutrition, contagious disease, vector bourne diseases like malaria), for example may be needs that people may not be able to satisfy.

This means that, in theory, higher order needs, such as social, self-esteem and self-actualization needs will not be met if people living in poverty cannot feel safe and healthy, not to mention satistfying lower level needs.

It is interesting to observe much of the aid that organizations will give to impoverished communities. They seem in line with Maslow's theory. They first provide food, clean drinking water, shelter, healthcare, and security. After that, they begin to develop infrastructure, community groups, schools, and ways for people to improve their way of life.

This idea is only a theory, and should not be taken as an exact representation of how we view and categorize our various needs, but it is interesting to think about poverty in this context.