The Control of Externality among the Street Children and Marginalized People of Dhaka City: A Key Indicator to Ensure Sustainable Livelihood

Abstract

Any ‘sustainable livelihood’ requires the empowerment of the individuals elevated enough to be the decision-makers with their respective sets of priorities. Any scheme to ensure livelihood as such, supposed to include the transcendence of a perspective of development that conciliates the diversity of both economic activities and social actions that a person may rely on to subsist. This need to convey a holistic view of poverty, which considers multiple perspectives beyond the common measurement like income levels or productivity: that does not see the poor as only the victims of the societal context. However, Bangladesh is the country where apparently the culture of poverty predominates, and the people are often thought to be not motivated enough to change their fate. Therefore, studying the psychosocial makeup of the poor regarding the decision-making of pivotal issues of their lives may indicate the ways to ensure the sustainability of poverty reduction strategies in this country. The paper detains the extent to which the poorer segments of people in Bangladesh show whether their surroundings are controlling their existence or not. The study investigates the state of the seven groups comprising of street children, rickshaw pullers, beggars, women working in parlors (the ethnic minority), factory workers, men working in saloons (the refugees) and the people living in the old home (socially isolated). The study administered a three-month survey with a pre-defined questionnaire. The findings suggest that the people of Bangladesh lean towards the external locus of control, hence tends to blame outside forces when it comes to certain hiccups in pursuits of goals.