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Rahnemas assertion that global poverty is an entirely new and modern construct 1
is taken from his argument that modernized global poverty as understood through
economic terms is a western social construct that does not reflect historical
understandings and uses of the word poor. He argues that our current
understanding of poverty looks at the poor as a substantive, describing people
characterised by an increasing gap between their socially induced needs and their
inability to find the resources necessary to meet those needs2. This understanding
of global poverty not only oversimplifies and neglects the infinitude of meanings of
poor but also has harmful effects of producing scarcity and further isolating the
poor. This essay will first look at how this modern understanding of poverty has
been socially constructed as a norm, it will then look at how it can create scarcity
and exacerbate inequalities of resource distribution. This essay will look also look at
the evolution of definitions and measurements of poverty in recent decades. This
will demonstrate how the representation of poverty is reflective of the discourse
and agenda of development actors and highlight the malleable nature of the concept,
which allows the global poverty to be new and different constantly.
Rahnema argues that the current World Bank poverty line measure of $1[.25] US
dollars a day is arbitrarily labelling people as poor and simplifying poverty to a lack
of money earnings. He argues that historically there have been 2 categories of
poverty that has now been replaced by modernised poverty or global poverty.
Previously, there was convivial poverty of sharing and reciprocity and voluntary
poverty, which is a conscious choice to be liberated from dependency creating
needs3. Modernised poverty developed with the urbanisation and industrialisation
of economies that monetised society and socialised individuals to view those with
lower money earnings as lacking in power and wealth. Rahnema argues that when
people did not have enough to meet what was culturally defined as necessary to
their livelihood, they learned how to live with higher self-constraints; it was merely
a particular human predicament as opposed to a label describing a lack and
unsatisfied needs4. This imposition of the concept of the poor lacking material
necessities in life as defined by those who do not identify as such has reduced
individuals to an income and stigmatised poverty as an issue to be solved for the
poor, as they need assistance to.
Acknowledging such differences can help bring to light specific problems that were
previously overlooked and thus create awareness for solutions. We cannot be overly
critical of the concept of global poverty as it tackles a vast and complex issue. Our
definition and understanding is continually developing and acknowledgement of its
faults and issues are key to its improvement. Our changing understanding of global
poverty suggests that the definition of global poverty is not a static new construct
but one that constantly reinvents itself. However, it is also important to be wary of
the forces that change our understanding of global poverty and for whose purpose
they serve.
Bibliography
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