Peasants are a majority of the world's poor. Despite this, there has been little effort to bridge the fields of peasant and poverty studies. Peasant Poverty and Persistence in the Twenty-first Century provides a much-needed critical perspective linking three central questions: Why has peasantry, unlike other areas of non-capitalist production, persisted? Why are the vast majority of peasants poor? And how are these two questions related? Interweaving contributions from various disciplines, the book provides a range of responses, offering new theoretical, historical and policy perspectives on this peasant 'world drama'. Scholars from both South and North argue that, in order to find the policy paths required to overcome peasants' misery, we need a seismic transformation in social thought, to which they make important contributions. They are convinced that we must build upon the peasant economy's advantages over agricultural capitalism in meeting the challenges of feeding the growing world population while sustaining the environment. Structured to encourage debate among authors and mutual learning, Peasant Poverty and Persistence takes the reader on an intellectual journey toward understanding the peasantry.

First published in 1981. Professor Crowther traces the history of the workhouse system from the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 to the Local Government Act of 1929. At their outset the large residential institutions were seen by the Poor Law Commissioners as a cure for nearly all social ills. In fact these formidable, impersonal, prison-like buildings - housing all paupers under one roof - became institutionalised: places where routine came to be an end in itself. In the early twentieth century some of the workhouses became hospitals or homes for the old or handicapped but many continued to form a residual service for those who needed long-term care. Crowther pays attention not only to the administrators but also to the inmates and their daily life. She illustrates that the workhouse system was not simply a nineteenth-century phenomenon but a forerunner of many of today's social institutions.

The new growth patterns and shifting wealth in the world economy fundamentally alter the basis for Western aid. This book demonstrates how Western development aid has been transformed over time, in particular in the 1990s, when the West enjoyed world hegemony. Western aid, once a helping hand to other countries' development strategies, has increasingly been seen as a tool for large-scale attempts to transform states, societies and minds according to Western models. The authors claim that this has made aid more complex and less useful to poor countries in their fight against poverty.
Emerging economies, such as China, have demonstrated that other paths to growth and poverty alleviation are available. They are attractive partners in development, offering collaboration without paternalism. Most poor countries experience growth, and are able to finance development with homegrown resources or in collaboration with non-Western partners. Having other options, they may increasingly challenge and reject Western aid if it is accompanied with goals of transforming the recipients based on Western blueprints.
The authors claim that aid has a role in the fight against poverty in the future, but only if Western donors are willing to adapt to the new world order, leave paternalism behind and rethink their role in development. Donors must change the way they relate to poor sovereign states, redefine the meaning of 'development', and reinvent aid to make it simpler and more manageable.

Do accelerating trade and foreign direct investment - experimented by most developing countries in the 1990s - imply a positive, negative, or neutral impact in terms of employment, income inequality and poverty alleviation? This book provides some empirically-tested answers to this question using an open-minded, unconventional economic approach and deriving original policy implications. ELI BERMAN Boston University, USA LUIGI CAMPIGLIO Catholic University of Milano, Italy GIOVANNI ANDREA CORNIA Firenze University, Italy PAOLO FIGINI Bologna University, Italy AUGUSTIN FOSU African Economic Research Consortium, Nairobi JEAN BAPTISTE GROS International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland SANJAYA LALL Oxford University, UK JOHN LANGMORE International Labour Office, New York, USA STEPHEN MACHIN University College, London, UK GIORGIO BARBA NAVARETTI Milano University, Italy MARIACRISTINA PIVA Catholic University of Piacenza, Italy SANJAY REDDY Columbia University, New York, USA ENRICO SANTARELLI Bologna University, Italy VINCENZO SPIEZIA Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris, France LANCE TAYLOR New School University, New York, USA RAYMOND TORRES Organizatio

Stock market euphoria and blind faith in the post cold war economy have driven the topic of poverty from popular and scholarly discussion in the United States. At the same time the gap between the rich and poor has never been wider. The New Poverty Studies critically examines the new war against the poor that has accompanied the rise of the New Economy in the past two decades, and details the myriad ways poor people have struggled against it.

The essays collected here explore how global, national, and local structures of power produce poverty and affect the material well-being, social relations and politicization of the poor. In updating the 1960s encounter between ethnography and U.S. poverty, The New Poverty Studies highlights the ways poverty is constructed across multiple scales and multiple axes of difference.

Questioning the common wisdom that poverty persists because of the pathology, social isolation and welfare state "dependency" of the poor, the contributors to The New Poverty Studies point instead to economic restructuring and neoliberal policy "reforms" which have caused increased social inequality and economic polarization in the U.S.

Contributors include: Georges Fouron, Donna Goldstein, Judith Goode, Susan B. Hyatt, Catherine Kingfisher, Peter Kwong, Vin Lyon-Callo, Jeff Maskovsky, Sandi Morgen, Leith Mullings, Frances Fox Piven, Matthew Rubin, Nina Glick Schiller, Carol Stack, Jill Weigt, Eve Weinbaum, Brett Williams, and Patricia Zavella.

"These contributions provide a dynamic understanding of poverty and immiseration"
"--North American Dialogue, Vol. 4, No. 1, Nov. 2001"

This book deepens the understanding of the broader processes that shape and mediate the responses to climate change of poor urban households and communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Representing an important contribution to the evolution of more effective pro-poor climate change policies in urban areas by local governments, national governments and international organisations, this book is invaluable reading to students and scholars of environment and development studies.

Rethinking M&E - Challenges and Prospects in the Changing Global Aid Environment' incorporates the good examples and innovative M&E solutions of 120 development professionals from a wide range of countries, circumstances and specialisms. This book is based on INTRAC's international conference and regional M&E workshops in Ghana, India, Sweden and Peru, and includes perspectives from NGOs and CSOs, donor ministries, activists, think-tanks and foundations. Emphasising Southern perspectives and covering a rich variety of experiences, it stresses the important role of M&E in challenging many of our assumptions about poverty alleviation. It analyses practitioner issues and situates them within wider aid trends. It takes as its premise the observation that official development aid is shifting towards an increasingly technocratic, managerial, state-centred approach. It follows that M&E within the aid chain worldwide is directed away from its focus on qualitative outcomes and long-term poverty alleviation impacts. Within this context, Rethinking M&E provides innovative insights into such areas as M&E of NGOs as donors, the M&E of advocacy and the M&E of humanitarian emergencies.

More than a decade on from their conception, this book reflects on the consequences of income management policies in Australia and New Zealand. Drawing on a three-year study, it explores the lived experience of those for whom core welfare benefits and services are dependent on government conceptions of 'responsible' behaviour. It analyses whether officially claimed positive intentions and benefits of the schemes are outweighed by negative impacts that deepen the poverty and stigma of marginalised and disadvantaged groups. This novel study considers the future of this form of welfare conditionality and addresses wider questions of fairness and social justice.

Experts review the leading social policy scholarship from the past year in this comprehensive volume. Published in association with the Social Policy Association, the latest volume in this long-running series addresses current issues and critical debates throughout the international social policy field with a particular focus on employment policy, housing policy and climate justice. Contributors also explore key developments including researching during the COVID-19 pandemic, migrants' access to social benefits in Germany, the right(s) to healthcare in Italy, American and European homelessness policies and much more. This annual review is essential reading for students and academics in social policy, social welfare and related disciplines.

First Published in 1999. This title examines one publicly funded training program by describing the complex, dynamic process of fostering small business ownership. This case study focuses on the behaviors and environments that influence entrepreneurial success and show how a teaching methodology can contribute to an environment that encourages entrepreneurship. This study provides, not only an example of the efficacy of entrepreneurial training but suggests findings beyond business start-up as measures of program results.

The past ten years for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region countries have registered an extreme deterioration in at least one measure of social and economic welfare: earnings inequality, unemployment, and poverty. The combination of slow economic growth, population explosion, and decline in labor productivity led to the reversal of the economic gains achieved during the economic boom in the 1970s. In contrast to that period, growth per capita (GDP) in 1980-1991 for Arab countries was -0.2%. Several indicators point to the extent of the problems faced today by the region's countries. Although the percentage of poverty declined for the majority of the regions in the world in 1985-1990, it has increased in the MENA region.

The purpose of this volume is to address the conditions of earnings inequality, unemployment, and poverty in the MENA region and the problems associated with these factors; to determine the state and magnitude of these problems through various country studies; and to provide solutions to alleviate the negative conditions facing developing economies, with special emphasis on the MENA countries.

The individual and institutional capacities required for the prevention and reduction of nutritional insecurity and hunger in lesser-developed countries as the twenty-first century approaches are identified in this book. Household nutritional "security" can be defined as the successful The essays in this book champion the idea of increasing, or scaling up, grass roots operations to provide nutritional security, while scaling down the efforts of national and international institutions. Scaling up involves strengthening local capacities to improve and expand upon current successful programs by building upon existing local culture and organizations. This, in turn, enables the programs to strengthen relationships with national governments, international bilateral/multilateral donors, as well as non-governmental organizations. Scaling down concerns the ways and means by which these various organizations encourage and complement the local development. Therefore, as local capacities are scaled up, the national/international control over decisions and functions is, ideally, scaled down. The volume also directly addresses the resultant complication: how to create programs that are both culturally specific and that will flourish well into the future.

Have slums become 'cool'? More and more tourists from across the globe seem to think so as they discover favelas, ghettos, townships and barrios on leisurely visits. But while slum tourism often evokes moral outrage, critics rarely ask about what motivates this tourism, or what wider consequences and effects it initiates. In this provocative book, Fabian Frenzel investigates the lure that slums exert on their better-off visitors, looking at the many ways in which this curious form of attraction ignites changes both in the slums themselves and on the world stage. Covering slums in Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok and multiple cities in South Africa, Kenya and India, Slumming It examines the roots and consequences of a growing phenomenon whose effects have ranged from gentrification and urban policy reform to the organization of international development and poverty alleviation. Controversially, Frenzel argues that the rise of slum tourism has drawn attention to important global justice issues, and is far more complex than we initially acknowledged.

Child poverty and the well-being of children is an important policy issue throughout the industrialised world. Some 47 million children in 'rich' countries live in families so poor that their health and well-being are at risk. The main themes addressed are: * the extent and trend of child poverty in industrialised nations; * outcomes for children - for example, the relationship between childhood experiences and children's health; * country studies and emerging issues; * child and family policies. All the contributions underline the urgent need for a comprehensive policy to reduce child poverty rates and to improve the well-being of children. Findings are clearly presented and key focus points identified for policy makers to consider.

Located in the heart of Mumbai, Dharavi is estimated to be the largest slum in Asia. Often referred to as 'Little India', it has been home to thousands of migrants from across the country providing opportunities for work and livelihood. As such, Dharavi presents a fascinating paradox: the convergence of stereotypes associated with the slum - poverty and misery - and an effervescent economic vitality, impelled by globalisation and international capital flows. Bringing together 20 years of painstaking fieldwork, this book reveals the social, economic, political, and urban complexities that define Dharavi beneath the shadow of Mumbai, the financial capital of India. It provides a rare account of the slum's history, with a special focus on the original populace of leather workers - who form the backbone of its urban informal economy - their work, organisation and increasing political awareness. Dominated by a population of ex-'untouchables', conventionally stigmatised by poverty and low status, Dharavi illustrates how traditional caste-based occupational and regional divisions continue to be strong and affect structures of political governance and economy. At the same time, it testifies to an intimate encounter with consumerism, liberalisation and technological innovations, and its resultant cultural globalisation under the heady influence of media, advertising and cinema transmitted by the city of Mumbai. This book traces the mega-slum's gradual transformation as a thriving trade centre, through an informal economy's successful adaptation to global markets, in turn establishing an urban paradigm. It will be useful to those in sociology, anthropology, urban studies, politics, public policy and governance, and to those interested in globalisation, transnational migration and town planning.

The population of London soared during the Industrial Revolution and the poorer areas became iconic places of overcrowding and vice. Focusing on the communities of Westminster, MacKay shows that many of the plebeian populace retained traditional working-class pursuits, such as gambling, drinking and blood sports.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was enacted in India with the multiple objectives of providing employment in a rights-based framework, addressing rural poverty, checking migration, and building rural infrastructure. As such, every year around 15-20 per cent of households in India overall and 30 per cent in rural India receive some form of employment share under the MGNREGA programme. This volume looks at various aspect of the scheme, its linkage with employment, agricultural wages, livelihood and food security, gender issues, and migration in rural India. It also discusses challenges in implementation, hurdles and the relative successes of the scheme. Based on primary survey data from 16 major states in the country, the findings of the study provide key insights into MGNREGA and assess the implications for other welfare-oriented programmes. Rich in empirical data, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of political economy, economics, agriculture, rural development and sociology, as well as policymakers and nongovernmental organisations.

Epdf and ePUB available Open Access under CC BY NC ND licence. The COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone - but, for some, existing social inequalities were exacerbated, and this created a vital need for research. Researchers found themselves operating in a new and difficult context; they needed to act quickly and think collectively to embark on new research despite the constraints of the pandemic. This book presents the collaborative process of 14 research projects working together during COVID-19. It documents their findings and explains how researchers in the voluntary sector and academia responded methodologically, practically, and ethically to researching poverty and everyday life for families on low incomes during the pandemic. This book synthesises the challenges of researching during COVID-19 to improve future policy and practice. Also see 'A Year Like No Other: Family Life on a Low Income in COVID-19' to find out more about the lived experiences of low-income families during the pandemic.

Since 1990, the World Bank, most of the other international agencies and an increasing number of governments have committed themselves to the eradication of poverty. But the basis of their work badly needs overhaul and concerted verification. Breadline Europe provides a scientific and international basis for the analysis and reduction of poverty. It demonstrates that there is far more important research into the problem of poverty going on in many countries of Europe than the international agencies and national governments admit or even realise. Knowledge of the major scientific advances in research needs to be spread among other countries within as well as outside Europe. Breadline Europe has been written by a number of leading European poverty researchers and has three main themes: the need for a scientific poverty line: for better definition and measurement of what is the biggest and rapidly growing international social problem; the need for better theories distinguishing between poverty and social exclusion, with the corresponding policies calculated to diminish these problems;the need for better international social policy and for better policy-related analyses of poverty: for more exact analysis of the year-by-year contribution of specific policies to poverty. This is the first book to examine poverty in Europe within the international framework agreed at the 1995 World Summit on Social Development. Breadline Europe provides up-to-date, essential reading for social science undergraduates and postgraduate students. It will also be of considerable interest to policy makers and NGOs with a concern for poverty reduction.

This book examines economic and political polarisation in post-Soviet Russia, and in particular analyses the development of rural inequality. It discusses how rural inequality has developed in post-Soviet Russia, and how it differs from the Soviet period, and goes on to look at the factors that affect rural stratification and inequality, using human and social capital, profession, gender, and village location as independent variables. The book uses survey data from rural households and fieldwork in Russia in order to highlight the multiplicity of divisions that act as fault lines in contemporary rural Russia.

This book presents the findings of a five-year action research programme into how far poverty-oriented microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are contributing to global poverty reduction, and how they can do so more effectively. Martin Greeley reviews evidence on their success in reaching poorer clients and improving the average income and wealth of their clients (chs 2&3). Naila Kabeer reviews evidence on performance against a wider array of indicators, including women's empowerment, citizenship rights, and social inclusion (chs.4&5). Both authors highlight methodological difficulties associated with assessing impact, but are cautiously positive. Susan Johnson is more cautious, suggesting that the contribution of MFIs to the overall growth of financial services in selected parts of Africa and India remains small (ch.6). James Copestake reviews evidence on the organizational factors that influence achievement of MFIs' social as well as financial goals, as well as progress in routinely monitoring and managing social performance (ch.7&8). He and Anton Simanowitz then make clear and simple suggestions for how this can be done better (ch.9). This covers how MFIs can manage their 'double bottom lines' more effectively, as well as what public and private investors in microfinance can do to help them. The bigger challenge, linking up with the wider movement for corporate social responsibility, is to find ways to do so across the entire financial sector.

This book reflects the implications of a social performance management agenda for the perspective of twelve partners from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, who participated in a three-year microfinance action-research programme known as Imp-Act. It features contributions from MFI staff who worked with Imp-Act directly, as well as from members of Imp-Act's academic team, who worked closely with the partners. The book reflects each MFI's unique, contextualized approach to measuring and monitoring the social impacts of microfinance, emphasizing the role played by this work in improving delivery of services; increasing client satisfaction and reducing drop-outs from microfinance programmes; and increasing impacts on poverty. Running through the book are three interlinked stories: the story of Imp-Act, an action-research partnership responding to particular concerns within the microfinance industry; the story of organizational systems and learning around social impacts, and the resulting changes to service provision and working practices; and the story of changes in clients' lives. The book reveals the faces behind the social performance agenda and the processes of discovery and self-discovery that underlie programme learning. The book communicates that Imp-Act is not only about proving impact or improving services, but is also about MFIs rediscovering their mission goals and instilling a sense of purpose in their staff and clients. Above all, the book shows that each management is unique, reflecting cultural and organizational differences. Thus, in contrast to available impact assessment frameworks, learning through Imp-Act has been largely driven by the MFI's own goals and perspectives.

Poor America describes the sharp contrast in the extent of poverty between the United States and six Western European countries. While 36 million Americans live below the poverty line, a much smaller percent of Western Europeans struggle with the same problem. Samuel J. Eldersveld seeks to discover why this variance exists by exploring various theories. To explain the larger percentage of American poor, he tackles the history of poverty in each of the featured countries along with examining the "system theory" approach, the role of values, the political elite character in the United States compared to Europe, and the differential robes of the business elites in these countries. Poor America follows the issue of poverty through the present day, discussing proposals and prospects for reform in poverty relief in the United States.

Originally published in 1972, Minority Perspectives is the second in a series exploring metropolitan problems within the government structure. The 1960's were a period of civils rights movements as well as poverty in the United States and in the 70's, it became clear that poverty was closely linked to race. This report sets out to explore issues contributing to the metropolitan-minority poverty problem such as racial exclusion and public policy. The papers included in this report discuss issues such as political power in metropolitan areas, the impact an address can have on economic opportunity for minority groups and the effects that laws and litigation can have on poverty. This title will be of interest to students of environmental and urban studies.

Unlike other regions around the world, several Latin American countries have managed to reduce income inequality over the last decade. Higher growth rates and growing employment, but also innovative wage policies and social programs, have contributed to reducing poverty and narrow income disparities. Yet, despite this progress, nation-states in the region demonstrate little capacity to substantially change their patterns of deeply rooted inequalities. Focusing on the limits and challenges of redistributive policies in Latin America, this volume synthesizes and updates the discussion of inequality in the region, introducing the perspective of global and transnational interdependencies. The book explores the extent to which redistributive policies have been interlinked with the provision and quality of public goods as well as with structural changes of the productive sector. Inspired by structuralist and neostructuralist thinking of Latin American economists, such as RaAl Prebisch and Celso Furtado, authors question the redistributive impact of the interplay of recent macroeconomic, fiscal and social policies, particularly under left and center-left administrations committed to greater equality. Bringing together experts in social, fiscal and macroeconomic policies to investigate the interdependent and global character of inequalities, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, economics, development and politics with interests in Latin America, inequality and public policy.