Poverty as Ideology: Rescuing Social Justice from Global Development Agendas

by Andrew Martin Fischer, Juliana Martínez Franzoni (Editor), Thomas Pogge (Editor)

Overview

Winner of the International Studies in Poverty Prize awarded by the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP) and Zed Books.

Poverty has become the central focus of global development efforts, with a vast body of research and funding dedicated to its alleviation. And yet, the field of poverty studies remains deeply ideological and has been used to justify wealth and power within the prevailing world order. Andrew Martin Fischer clarifies this deeply political character, from conceptions and measures of poverty through to their application as policies.

Poverty as Ideology shows how our dominant approaches to poverty studies have, in fact, served to reinforce the prevailing neoliberal ideology while neglecting the wider interests of social justice that are fundamental to creating more equitable societies. Instead, our development policies have created a 'poverty industry' that obscures the dynamic reproductions of poverty within contemporary capitalist development and promotes segregation in the name of science and charity. Fischer argues that an effective and lasting solution to global poverty requires us to reorient our efforts away from current fixations on productivity and towards more equitable distributions of wealth and resources.

This provocative work offers a radical new approach to understanding poverty based on a comprehensive and accessible critique of key concepts and research methods. It upends much of the received wisdom to provide an invaluable resource for students, teachers and researchers across the social sciences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786990440
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/15/2019
Series:	International Studies in Poverty Research
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Andrew M. Fischer is associate professor of social policy and development studies at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS). He has worked with and advised various multilateral agencies and NGOs, including the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. His previous books include The Disempowered Development of Tibet in China (2014) and State Growth and Social Exclusion in Tibet (2005).
Andrew M. Fischer is associate professor of social policy and development studies at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS). He has worked with and advised various multilateral agencies and NGOs, including the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. His previous books include The Disempowered Development of Tibet in China (2014) and State Growth and Social Exclusion in Tibet (2005).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xi

List of Abbreviations xii

Acknowledgements xiii

1 Introduction: Poverty, ideology and development 1

Uncomfortable questions 3

Deconstructing the politics of poverty measures 6

Understanding poverty as ideology 8

The fundamental relativity of modern poverty 12

Three dominant approaches and a framework 22

Appendix: Note on the use of the terms 'neoliberal' and 'globalisation' in this book 26

2 Unpeeling the politics of poverty measures 28

The politics of representation 28

The politics of prioritisation 41

The politics of conception and production 49

The plentiful pathways of poverty analysis 53

Conclusion: The moral politics of poverty studies 57

3 Money-metric measures of poverty 60

Clarifications on the metric of money and unidimensionality 62

The arbitrariness of money-metric poverty measurement 68

Secular underestimations of absolute poverty 92

Conclusion 103

4 Multidimensional measures of poverty 107

Direct approaches to poverty measurement 111

Composite indicators and quandaries of aggregation 113

Subtle ideological shifts in Senology 128

Conclusion 140

5 The social exclusion approach 142

A synthesis of the social exclusion approach 147

The ambiguities of social exclusion 152

Differentiating social exclusion from poverty 165

The benefits of differentiation 174

Conclusion 181

6 Locating modern poverty within the creation and division of wealth: Towards a structuralist and institutionalist political economy approach in poverty studies 184

Production, distribution and redistribution: The classical triad 189

Supply, demand and terms of trade and wages 198

The fallacy of productivity reductionism and development 205

Conclusion 218

7 Social policy and the tension between identification and segregation within social ordering and development 221

Social policy and social ordering in development 227

Universalising universalism 240

Conclusion 252

8 Conclusion: Poverty as ideology In an age of neoliberalism 254

Deconstructing for social justice 259

The poverty of poverty studies 261

The return of segregation 263

The political consequences of shifting modalities of targeting 265

Beyond absolute poverty 267

Re-politicising social justice within global development agendas 273

Notes 275

Bibliography 284

Index 303

Editorial Reviews

This award winning book shows that global poverty and what we know about it is much more contentious than is ever recognised in the headlines. A must-read for anyone who cares about global poverty and inequality.” —Andy Sumner, King's College London

“A timely, spirited, critical dismantling of the poverty business, complete with thoughtful suggestions for its alternatives. Of great value to students and practitioners alike.” —Barbara Harriss-White, Oxford University (Emeritus)

“A bracing challenge to contemporary approaches to poverty and exclusion. No matter your point of view, Fischer will make you rethink what you thought you knew.” —Gary Dymski, Leeds University Business School

“In this deep critique of global poverty studies, Andrew Fischer shows how dodgy methods and metrics and wishful thinking combine to place scholarly analysis of poverty in the effective service of economic orthodoxy and neoliberal policies. Informed by the author's own field research and spectacular command of the literature, Poverty as Ideology is an instant landmark.” —James K. Galbraith, The University of Texas at Austin.

“In this landmark contribution, Fischer uncovers the ideological foundations of poverty and poverty measurement, going beyond critique and deconstruction to spell out a radical alternative. Perceptive and profound, this is essential reading.” —Jamie Peck, University of British Columbia

“In this important work, Fischer shows how concepts and measures of poverty come with underlying ideologies and politics. This lays the basis for a truly transformative approach, explicitly bringing in the politics of social justice.” —Jayati Ghosh, Jawaharlal Nehru University

“Fischer does a wonderful job in linking technocratic approaches to poverty reduction, which try to eschew questions of politics and power, to neoliberal hegemony. His critique is powerful and convincing. Highly recommended.” —Ray Kiely, Queen Mary University of London

From the Publisher

“In this landmark contribution, Fischer uncovers the ideological foundations of poverty and poverty measurement, going beyond critique and deconstruction to spell out a radical alternative. Perceptive and profound, this is essential reading.

Jamie Peck