The concept of a "culture of poverty" is unfitting and potentially dangerous. On the other hand, however, the usefulness of the notion of "inequality traps" can certainly be defended. These traps are situations of self-enforcing equilibria that maintain certain groups in a relative position with respect to power, wealth and social status. These equilibria have multiple forms and are sustained either by rational behavior resulting from limited information or from the interaction between unequal power distribution, social status, and stigmatization.