その③ Cultural perceptions which prejudice the market economy also impact this situation. As Rudolf Bahro observed, culturally conceived poverty based on non-Western modes of consumption are often mistaken for misery and poverty. People are perceived to be poor if they eat millet or maize, common non-Western staple foods that are nutritionally far superior to processed foods (and are once again becoming popular in the West as health foods). Huts constructed with local materials, rather than indicating poverty, represent an ecologically more evolved method of providing shelter than concrete houses in many conditions. Similarly, natural fibers and local dress are far superior in satisfying region-specific needs to machine-made nylon clothing, especially in tropical climates. The West uses its own misguided definition of poverty and backwardness to legitimize non-sustainable forms of development, which have, in turn, created further conditions for material poverty or misery by diverting essential resources to resource-intensive production processes.
