The added value of mixed methods research in poverty and vulnerability is now widely established. Nevertheless, gaps and challenges remain. This volume shares experiences from research in developed and developing country contexts on how mixed methods approaches can make research more credible, usable and responsive to complexity.

50 years ago, World Bank President Robert McNamara promised to end poverty. Alleviation was to rely on economic growth, resulting in higher incomes stimulated by Bank loans processed by deskbound Washington staff, trickling down to the poorest. Instead, child poverty and homelessness are on the increase everywhere. In this book, anthropologist and former World Bank Advisor Glynn Cochrane argues that instead of Washington's "management by seclusion," poverty alleviation requires personal engagement with the poorest by helpers with hands-on local and cultural skills. Here, the author argues, the insights provided by anthropological fieldwork have a crucial role to play.

This book investigates how, alongside Beatrice Webb's ground-breaking pre-World War One anti-poverty campaigns, George Bernard Shaw helped launch the public debate about the relationship between equality, redistribution and democracy in a developed economy. The ten years following his great 1905 play on poverty Major Barbara present a puzzle to Shaw scholars, who have hitherto failed to appreciate both the centrality of the idea of equality in major plays like Getting Married, Misalliance, and Pygmalion, and to understand that his major political work, 1928's The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism had its roots in this period before the Great War. As both the era's leading dramatist and leader of the Fabian Society, Shaw proposed his radical postulate of equal incomes as a solution to those twin scourges of a modern industrial society: poverty and inequality. Set against the backdrop of Beatrice Webb's famous Minority Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Law 1905-1909 - a publication which led to grass-roots campaigns against destitution and eventually the Welfare State - this book considers how Shaw worked with Fabian colleagues, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, and H. G. Wells to explore through a series of major lectures, prefaces and plays, the social, economic, political, and even religious implications of human equality as the basis for modern democracy.

How do young people get by in hard times and hard places? Have they become a "lost generation" disconnected from society's mainstream? Do popular ideas about social exclusion or a welfare-dependent underclass really connect with the lived experiences of the so-called "disaffected," "disengaged" and "difficult-to-reach"? Based on close-up research with young men and women from localities suffering social exclusion in extreme form," Disconnected Youth?" will appeal to all those who are interested in understanding and tackling the problems of growing up in Britain's poor neighborhoods.

This book is designed to help readers navigate through the vast and rapidly growing literature on poverty in urban America. The major themes, topics, debates, and issues are examined through an analysis of eight basic questions about the nature and problem of urban poverty: *What is poverty, and how is it measured? *What kinds of national policies have been utilized to manage poverty? *What are the major characteristics and trends associated with poverty in America, and how are race and ethnicity reflected in these trends? *What are the major explanations for persistent poverty in the United States? *What are the major characteristics and themes reflected in the American welfare system and anti-poverty policies? *How is the underclass defined and explained? *How have the poor utilized political mobilization to fight poverty in the United States? *How does social welfare policy directed at poverty in America compare to social welfare systems in other countries?

After analyzing these issues, Jennings concludes with a brief overview of how public discussions related to poverty in the 1990s are similar to such debates in earlier periods. Essential reading for urban policy makers, social scientists, and students of contemporary American urban concerns.

This book investigates the current level and trend of poverty in the Muslim World, including selected countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, East Asia, the Pacific and South America. Authors explore themes of poverty reduction, poverty alleviation and the extent of influences on social and economic development, particularly natural resource endowments (especially mineral resources) and their utilization. Chapters explore theory and practice, including governance and programmes, and take a detailed look at Zakat as a faith-based policy tool, to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods and thus contribute to better environmental stewardship. The final chapters look at development questions in the Muslim World and make policy recommendations, including a proposed multi-dimensional development collaboration model called the Development Collaboration Octagon Model (DeCOM). Readers will discover theoretical explanations of poverty and how poverty hampers the development of many nations because the poor are unable to partake actively in the development process. Poverty indicators and measurement are discussed, and trends of economic growth including productivity, manufacturing, trade patterns, investment and saving activity, and socio-economic developments are all explored: supporting data is presented in tables and figures, throughout this text. Authors explore the potency and success stories of public poverty alleviation strategies and programmes pursued in the Muslim world, especially the extent to which the institution of Zakat has been effectively incorporated into public poverty alleviation strategies. Policy options required to enhance social and economic development are proposed, to help pull the poor out of the poverty trap into the mainstream economy in the Muslim world. This work will appeal to anyone wishing to scrutinise poverty, its parameters and its relationship with the development of countries in the Muslim world. Scholars in the fields of economics, sociology, geography and Islamic studies will all find something of value here.

Multidimensional approaches have increasingly been used to understand poverty, but have yet to be fully operationalized. This methodical and important book uses factor analysis and structural equations modelling to develop a multidimensional framework that integrates capability and social inclusion as additional poverty indicators. The empirical relevance of this methodological contribution is demonstrated through in-depth case studies of the United States and Nepal.

History, Time, and Economic Crisis in Central Greece explores how the inhabitants of a Greek town face the devastating consequences of the worst economic crisis in living memory. Knight examines how the inhabitants draw on the past to contextualize their experiences and build strength that will enable them to overcome their suffering.

This book is one of the first attempts to examine the issue of poverty in small-scale fisheries from a multi-disciplinary perspective. It represents a state-of-the-art collation and synthesis of the experience of nineteen international experts in fisheries management, planning, economics and other social sciences, including several senior officers form the Department of Fisheries of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO). The authors have benefited from the experiences and comments of colleagues from twenty-five African countries participating in the First International Workshop on "Small-scale fisheries, poverty and the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries" organized by FAO and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). The book offers a new perspective on the problem of poverty in small-scale fisheries, introducing innovative concepts and ideas and drawing upon recent knowledge generated by in-depth empirical case studies and makes explicit connections with the Sustainable Livelihood Approach and the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries - two prominent frameworks which are recognized, applied and promoted internationally by scholars, practitioners and donor agencies in their work on fisheries development. As well as offering important insights into the problem of poverty in small-scale fisheries and representing a contribution to the work of the Sustainable Fisheries Livelihood Programme (SFLP)' in West Africa the book also represents a key source of up-to-date information and reference material for anybody interested or working in the fields of poverty and fisheries management in Developing Countries.

This book analyzes the discourse generated by pundits, politicians, and artists to examine how poverty and the income gap is framed through specific modes of representation. Set against the dichotomy of the structural narrative of poverty and the opportunity narrative, Lemke's modified concept of precarity reveals new insights into the American situation as well as into the textuality of contemporary demands for equity. Her acute study of a vast range of artistic and journalistic texts brings attention to a mode of representation that is itself precarious, both in the modern and etymological sense, denoting both insecurity and entreaty. With the keen eye of a cultural studies scholar her innovative book makes a necessary contribution to academic and popular critiques of the social effects of neoliberal capitalism.

Infrastructure and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa analyzes the extent to which, how, and how fast the infrastructure needs of the poor have been met in Sub-Saharan Africa. Estache and Wodon explore the extent to which some key policies have hurt or helped progress in trying to speed the expansions of coverage so clearly needed in the region. They focus on electricity, water, sanitation, and other services at the core of the day-to-day needs of the population, examining the extent to which reforms of the last 15-20 years have managed to reduce the infrastructure gap. They anchor their analysis on the evidence available about the macroeconomic importance of infrastructure for the region, the policies that have been adopted to accelerate coverage, and a detailed assessment of the poverty dimensions of infrastructure.

This book illustrates the meaning and scope of lifelong learning and different types of poverty reduction programs prevalent generally in the African context and particularly in selected communities in Botswana. Lifelong learning is important for all stakeholders in poverty reduction to develop a better understanding of the scope and extent of poverty so that they can make informed decisions on best ways of tackling poverty. The book succinctly showcases community development and engagement initiatives and experiences from selected African universities and how the interaction of the universities and their respective communities resulted in a major transformation in the lives of poor families through exposure to some engagement strategies that effectively gave them a better future in their fight against poverty. This book develops in the reader a better understanding of the dynamics and dilemma of poverty and its negative effects on individuals and communities. But it answers the plight of the poor by equipping them with effective and practical tools to transform their lives and take full control of their destiny. * Provides a conceptual understanding of lifelong learning * Describes practical aspects and indicators of poverty and how it requires tackling through a multi-sectoral approach * Focuses on poverty reduction in all fronts, including development of an entrepreneurship mind-set

A family torn apart. A daughter determined to stay together.When the parish guardians send Lydia, daughter of convict James Knowles, to be an apprentice in the cotton mill at Caton, she is distraught at being parted from her younger siblings and mother, Martha, but she has no choice. At the mill, Lydia is bullied by some of the other girls and things do not go well when she stands up to the ringleader. Fearing she has killed someone and with the word murderess ringing in her ears, Lydia runs for her life. Meanwhile, Martha and her children have been granted passage to Australia to join her husband, but Lydia cannot be found so Martha is forced to leave without her. When Lydia arrives home to find her family has gone she is determined to follow them, all the while avoiding the law who seek to return her to the mill. A dramatic and emotional family saga for fans of Emma Hornby, Joanne Clague and Kitty Neale.

Pro-poor tourism - tourism that is intended to result in increased net benefits for poor people - is currently receiving enormous attention from the World Tourism Organization, the UN system, governments, industry, and NGOs and is an integral component of many sustainable development strategies in the less developed countries. Through a series of cases and reviews from experts in the field this book provides one of the first assessments of the effectiveness of pro-poor tourism as a development strategy and tackles the issue of who benefits from tourism's potential role in poverty reduction. This timely book therefore makes a major contribution to the ongoing debate about tourism's role in economic development, postcolonial politics, and North-South relations at a time when international trade negotiations appear poised to further open up developing countries to international tourism.

Manohar Pawar discusses the relevance and importance of social policy for water issues. By analysing several interrelated perspectives on water, he suggests core values as bases for formulating and implementing social policies so as to provide universal free access to safe drinking water for all, particularly for the most poor and disadvantaged.

This authoritative reference work explores the factors driving the much-debated increase in economic inequality in U.S. society, as well as the impact that this divide is having on U.S. culture, politics, families, communities, and institutions. This reference work provides an authoritative and comprehensive resource for both students and scholars who are interested in learning more about the rich-poor divide in the United States-a divide regarded by many lawmakers, researchers, pundits, and concerned citizens as one of the nation's most serious problems. The book provides important historical background for understanding how the nation has grappled with (or ignored) this issue in the past, examines specific causes of inequality identified by observers across the political spectrum, and summarizes the potential consequences (both present and future) of economic inequality. This book examines more than 25 issues frequently cited as factors contributing to the rapidly widening gap between socioeconomic classes in the U.S., ranging from such demographic factors as race and gender to tax code provisions and differences in access to quality education and health care. The book also provides both a retrospective and prospective look at government policies aimed at addressing inequality or assisting the poor. Finally, the book looks ahead to survey the future of inequality in America. Coverage of more than 25 distinct factors contributing to the widening rich-poor divide in the U.S. Evenhanded presentation of both progressive and conservative perspectives on key economic issues Authoritative but accessible entries that provide illumination and insights for academics and students alike

"This slim, useful book ... is suitable for students ... The fairly tight North American focus allows for great accuracy and detail, and the Canadian material is especially interesting, because Canadian social policy is less well known than that of the United States, and seems far more progressive on homelessness." . The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

" The authors] present key themes from the available literature in a way that affords policy makers and other practitioners access to what it is that anthropology has to offer in thinking about and responding to homelessness on a day-to-day, ground level. In this endeavor, the book] is supremely successful." . American Anthropologist

As homelessness continues to plague North America and also becomes more widespread in Europe, anthropologists turn their attention to solving the puzzle of why people in some of the most advanced technological societies in the world are found huddled in a subway tunnel, squatting in a vacant building, living in a shelter, or camping out in an abandoned field or on a beach. Anthropologists have a long tradition of working in poverty subcultures and have been able to contribute answers to some of the puzzles of homelessness through their ability to enter the culture of the homeless without some of the preconceptions of other disciplines.

The authors, anthropologists from the U.S.A. and Canada, offer us an analysis of homelessness that is grounded in anthropological research in North America and throughout the world. Both have in-depth experience through working in communities of the homeless and present us withthe results of their own work and with that of their colleagues.

Irene Glasser has widely published on homelessness and has been Professor of Anthropology at Eastern Connecticut State University, specializing in urban, applied, and medical anthropology. Since 1994 she has also been Director of Canadian Studies. Rae Bridgman is Research Associate at the Department of Social Anthropology of York University, Canada."

Despite increasing acceptance that poverty is multidimensional, most policy work adopts a monetary definition. Using data for India and Peru, the authors compare four different approaches to poverty analysis at a theoretical and empirical level. "Defining Poverty in the Developing World" compares and contrasts monetary, capabilities, social exclusion and participatory approaches in a highly informative manner. The research elucidates the implications for measuring poverty and for policy, concluding that the approach chosen does make a marked difference to conclusions drawn.

The first book to examine in detail the ways in which people adapt their understanding and behaviours towards poverty as a direct result to their experiences of poverty in developing countries, including world-leading academics and case studies from China, India, Ethiopia and South Africa.

Most, if not all of the global biogeochemical cycles on the earth have been broken or are at dangerous tipping points. These broken cycles have expressed themselves in various forms as soil degradation and depletion, ocean acidification, global warming and climate change. The best proposal for an organic solution to fixing the myriad broken cycles is a deliberate investment in solutions that first acknowledge the historic roles played by both the subjugated peoples, and the economic beneficiaries of the environmental exploitations of the past. Ever since Europeans made contact with the West, a series of global circumstances including the genocide of the indigenous people of the Americas, the enslavement and global subjugation of Africans, and the emergence of Western concepts of trade dominance and capitalism, have led to deleterious impacts on the global biogeochemical cycles. Addressing the broken biogeochemical cycles should be done with a clear understanding that it was not only human subjects which were subjugated, but also land, water, and air. These three global stores must be replenished from the ideological position that poverty is not simply the absence of money, but is also the lack of access to non-polluting energy sources, to clean air devoid of runaway greenhouse gasses, and to local conditions devoid of climate change instabilities. With this in mind, the global powerbrokers can enter into a new deal with developing nations, shifting the paradigm toward a new ecological approach that rewards good behavior and sets new standards of worldwide relations based on ecologic inclusivity rather than the exclusive economic arrangements currently in order. Harnessing a forward thinking approach to analyzing the current global environmental crisis, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainable development, political ecology, sustainable agriculture, climate change and environmental justice.

This book provides insight into rural poverty in Latin America. It draws on six case studies of recent rural household surveys for Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, and Peru and several thematic studies examining land, labor, rural financial markets, the environments, and disadvantaged groups. Recognizing the heterogeneity within the rural economy, the studies characterize three important groups--small farmers, landless farm workers, and rural non-farm workers--and provide quantitative and qualitative analyses of the determinants of household income.

Millions of descendants of the former colonized and enslaved peoples around the world are now classified as poor readers, bad writers, and slow learners. Are they illiterate or silenced people? Are they global citizens or global outcasts? Drawing from case studies of flesh and blood individuals in Mexico and the U.S., this book questions the colonizing images of the "illiterate", and explores the ways in which the long social history of conquest and colonization, plunder and globalization, is inscribed in the personal histories of today's subjugated people. It argues that rather than "limited literacy skills" they face systematic lack of freedom to speak, act, and make decisions about their own lives. Literacy, thus, is understood as a key practice of voice and citizenship.

This book offers a critical analysis on employing a universal understanding of poverty and suggests ways forward for poverty reduction for developing countries in a post-2015 era. Taking specific country-contexts into account, the author argues that national poverty lines should be the benchmark for future anti-poverty policies.

An examination of the ways that digital technologies play an increasingly important role in the lives of precarious workers, far beyond the gig economy apps like Uber and Lyft. Over the past three decades, digital technologies like smartphones and laptops have transformed the way we work in the US. At the same time, workers at both ends of the income ladder have experienced rising levels of job insecurity and anxiety about their economic futures. In Left to Our Own Devices, Julia Ticona explores the ways that workers use their digital technologies to navigate insecure and flexible labor markets. Through 100 interviews with high and low-wage precarious workers across the US, she explores the surprisingly similar "digital hustles" they use to find work and maintain a sense of dignity and identity. Ticona then reveals how the digital hustle ultimately reproduces inequalities between workers at either end of polarized labor markets. A moving and accessible look at the intimate consequences of contemporary capitalism, Left to Our Own Devices will be of interest to sociologists, communication and media studies scholars, as well as a general audience of readers interested in digital technologies, inequality, and the future of work in the US.