Poverty as Ideology: Rescuing Social Justice from Global Development Agendas (International Studies in Poverty Research)

Poverty has become the central focus of global development efforts, with a vast body of research and funding dedicated to its alleviation. And yet our fundamental understanding of the causes of poverty has seen little progress. Despite the vast literature on poverty studies, this scholarship has not resolved, and often does not even address, the central debate around the creation and division of wealth within and across societies. In Poverty as Ideology, Andrew Fischer shows that these shortcomings stem from ideologically driven views of poverty and anti-poverty policies, which have in turn shaped how it is conceived and measured. Poverty studies have, in effect, served to reinforce the prevailing neoliberal orthodoxy, and have too often ignored the wider interests of social justice. An effective and lasting solution to global poverty, Fischer argues, requires us to reclaim the development agenda from the ‘poverty industry’ this orthodoxy has created, and to reorient our efforts away from current fixations on productivity and towards the more equitable distribution of wealth and resources. Offering a comprehensive and accessible critique of the key concepts and research methods within development and poverty studies, the book upends much of the received wisdom to provide an invaluable resource for students, teachers and researchers across the social sciences. Winner of the International Studies in Poverty Prize awarded by the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP) and Zed Books. Poverty has become the central focus of global development efforts, with a vast body of research and funding dedicated to its alleviation. And yet, the field of poverty studies remains deeply ideological and has been used to justify wealth and power within the prevailing world order. Andrew Martin Fischer clarifies this deeply political character, from conceptions and measures of poverty through to their application as policies. Poverty as Ideology shows how our dominant approaches to poverty studies have, in fact, served to reinforce the prevailing neoliberal ideology while neglecting the wider interests of social justice that are fundamental to creating more equitable societies. Instead, our development policies have created a 'poverty industry' that obscures the dynamic reproductions of poverty within contemporary capitalist development and promotes segregation in the name of science and charity. Fischer argues that an effective and lasting solution to global poverty requires us to reorient our efforts away from current fixations on productivity and towards more equitable distributions of wealth and resources. This provocative work offers a radical new approach to understanding poverty based on a comprehensive and accessible critique of key concepts and research methods. It upends much of the received wisdom to provide an invaluable resource for students, teachers and researchers across the social sciences. Poverty has become the central focus of global development efforts, with a vast body of research and funding dedicated to its alleviation. And yet our fundamental understanding of the causes of poverty has seen little progress. Despite the vast literature on poverty studies, this scholarship has not resolved, and often does not even address, the central debate around the creation and division of wealth within and across societies.0In Poverty as Ideology, Andrew Fischer shows that these shortcomings stem from ideologically driven views of poverty and anti-poverty policies, which have in turn shaped how it is conceived and measured. Poverty studies have, in effect, served to reinforce the prevailing neoliberal orthodoxy, and have too often ignored the wider interests of social justice. An effective and lasting solution to global poverty, Fischer argues, requires us to reclaim the development agenda from the 'spoverty industry' this orthodoxy has created, and to reorient our efforts away from current fixations on productivity and towards the more equitable distribution of wealth and resources. Offering a comprehensive and accessible critique of the key concepts and research methods within development and poverty studies, the book upends much of the received wisdom to provide an invaluable resource for students, teachers and researchers across the social sciences Shows how our dominant approaches to poverty studies have, in fact, served to reinforce the prevailing neoliberal ideology while neglecting the wider interests of social justice that are fundamental to creating more equitable societies. Instead, our development policies have created a 'poverty industry' that obscures the dynamic reproductions of poverty within contemporary capitalist development and promotes segregation in the name of science and charity. Fischer argues that an effective and lasting solution to global poverty requires us to reorient our efforts away from current fixations on productivity and towards more equitable distributions of wealth and resources. --From publisher description An incisive critique of how the field of international poverty studies, cultivated by global development agendas, has served to legitimate an increasingly punitive and conservative neoliberal world order.