Traditions and Plurality of Definitions in Thinking About Poverty

Abstract

Throughout history, poverty has been an issue of concern, and different traditions have emerged. There have been important variations in the significance of poverty in different types of society and in different periods. Many of these are present today. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, mainly in the societies that were more advanced in the Industrial Revolution, the appearance of new factors of production led to the loss ofmeans of subsistence and employment and consequently poverty increased massively. In the following decades, economic development in the industrial nations raised the living standards of the working class. But the crisis of the 1930s led to an increase in unemployment. The world’s leading capitalist economy resorted for the first time to state intervention. Far from advancing through international cooperation, the countries responded with protectionist measures and economic policies to confront the crisis. After the notable post-war prosperity, the persistence of poor minorities in prosperous societies becamemore visible, while the process of decolonization in peripheral societies brought awareness of the inequality of poverty. Liberal economists believed that it was possible to eradicate poverty in developing countries with sustained economic growth over time. The persistence of mass poverty, however, demanded a conceptualization of the term. This led to various formulations regarding the problem of poverty. The different definitions incorpórate the discretion of the assessments on which they are based. The choice of a particular definition of poverty implies assuming a certain political connotation, as well as certain development strategies to improve the situation of lower income groups.