I wouldn't say to a "large extent" but to some extent.
My friends in Kenya and I laugh about the poverty mindset. It goes something like this: "You have so much and I nothing (or so little), you should give me some!"
We talk about this in regard to keeping stocks of necessary items whether seeds, grass for cows or grass for people. It seems there is a mindset among many that to have a stock is bad. To prepare for the future is bad. To have a 'nest egg', financial or otherwise, is viewed as greedy by those stuck in the mindset. Those in the mindset don't seem to understand the idea of saving for the future. If they have a stock of something, they immediately give it away in hope of others doing the same for them. They see their personal economy, of whatever resource, as a hand-to-mouth situation, and having anything more is immoral.
We joke, "don't let them see your stock, or the poverty mindset might get you".
The sad reality is people with this mindset operate in a different economy than those who plan for food and other security. Their economy is one of social capital alone. Any extras must be dispersed in hopes of increasing one's social capital for the day when one needs help from those one has helped. It ends up a circle of friends constantly feeding off each others' disposable earnings and no one ever developing a stock with which to establish personal security. It's kind of a form of group security, a loose collaboration of those hanging on by a thread always pulling their "friends" down as soon as one builds a stock. Crabs pulling each other back to the bottom of the bucket.
There are, of course, other aspects of the poverty mindset. It's not a concept that can be dismissed entirely. Still, one must be careful not to cross a line into blaming the victim territory.
