Rich Democracies, Poor People How Politics Explain Poverty

Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-19-538587-8
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 280 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 584 g

Poverty is not an individual's choice. Nor, as David Brady demonstrates, is it necessary. Building on the latest scholarship in poverty studies, this book points out that among affluent Western societies, there is immense cross-national and historical variation in poverty. Brady seeks to determine what makes poverty so entrenched in some affluent democracies whereas it is a solvable problem in others. He illustrates that, among these democracies, the United States is in the worst shape, with three times as much poverty as some West European countries. In the U.S., nearly 20% of the population is poor, as are almost a fourth of U.S. children and elderly.

Searching for the causes of this dilemma, Brady puts forth a sweeping new theory to explain that the fundamental cause of poverty is politics, starting from the simple claim that the distribution of resources in states and markets is inherently political. Societies make collective choices about how to divide their resources, and these choices are institutionalized. Brady points out that where poverty is low, equality has been institutionalized, and where poverty is widespread, as most visibly demonstrated by the US, there has been a failure to institutionalize equality. Hence, it is a society that collectively decides how much of the population will be economically secure. Countries with a relatively low level of poverty in fact socialize the responsibility of preventing citizens from being poor. This book effectively tackles the issue of how this collective responsibility is conceived and institutionalized, by defining the mechanisms that shape this ideology, or prevent it from coming into being. David Brady offers promising new directions for understanding the politics of social equality, and takes an ambitious step forward in the struggle against poverty.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Brady, David

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Politische Soziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Soziologie und Psychologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Globalisierung
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziale Ungleichheit, Armut, Rassismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1.: Beyond Individualism

- 2.: Rethinking the Measurement of Poverty

- 3.: Mythical and Real Patterns in Poverty

- 4.: The Welfare State and Poverty

- 5.: The Politics of Poverty

- 6.: The Poverty of Liberal Economics

- 7.: Structural Theory and Poverty

- 8.: Politicizing Poverty

- Appendix

- Acknowledgements

- References

Über Autor(innen)

David Brady is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Duke University and is a widely-published author of articles on poverty, inequality, and globalization.