Key Concepts

Poverty

Ruth Lister

Overview

Poverty remains one of the most urgent issues of our time. In this stimulating new textbook, Ruth Lister introduces readers to the meaning and experience of poverty in the contemporary world. The book opens with a lucid discussion of current debates around the definition and measurement of poverty in industrialized societies, before embarking on a multifaceted exploration of its conceptualization. It draws on thinking in the field of international development and real-life accounts to emphasize aspects of poverty such as powerlessness, lack of voice, loss of dignity and respect. In so doing, the book embraces the relational, cultural, symbolic as well as material dimensions of poverty and makes important links between poverty and other concepts like capabilities, social divisions and exclusion, agency and citizenship. Lister concludes by making the case for reframing the politics of poverty as a claim for redistribution and recognition. The result is a rich and insightful analysis, which deepens and broadens our understanding of poverty today.

Poverty will be essential reading for all students in the social sciences, as well as researchers, activists and policy-makers.

About the Author

Ruth Lister is Professor of Social Policy in the Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University.

Table of Contents

  • Preface
  • Abbreviations
  • List of Figures
  • Introduction
  • 1. Defining Poverty
  • 2. Measuring Poverty
  • 3. Inequality, Social Divisions and the Differential Experience of Poverty
  • 4. Poverty and Social Exclusion
  • 5. Discourses of Poverty: From Othering to Respect
  • 6. Poverty and Agency: From Getting By to Getting Organized
  • 7. Poverty, Human Rights and Citizenship
  • Conclusion: From Concept to Politics
  • Notes
  • References
  • Index

Endorsements

“This thought-provoking analysis is informed by its understanding of both the experience and meaning of poverty. It deserves to be made compulsory reading for all those engaged in making, carrying out or studying policies that affect the lives of people in poverty in any way.”

— Adrian Sinfield, University of Edinburgh

“This important book provides a compelling analysis of the nature of poverty. Ruth Lister succeeds in making complex ideas clear and accessible to the reader – and in highlighting the challenges and dilemmas that have to be confronted if poverty is to be eradicated.”

— Alan Deacon, University of Leeds

“This is a highly scholarly book, which presents the most up-to-date review of the most relevant theoretical and methodological literature and debates in research on poverty, carefully threading their links with policy traditions and cultural assumptions.”

— Chiara Saraceno, University of Turin

Available titles

Sort by author | title

  1. Barbara Adam, Time
  2. Alan Aldridge, Consumption
  3. Alan Aldridge, The Market
  4. Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, Disability
  5. Darin Barney, Network Society
  6. Mildred Blaxter, Health
  7. Harriet Bradley, Gender
  8. Harry Brighouse, Justice
  9. Steve Bruce, Fundamentalism 2nd Edition
  10. Margaret Canovan, The People
  11. Alejandro Colás, Empire
  12. Anthony Elliott, Concepts of the Self 2nd Edition
  13. Steve Fenton, Ethnicity
  14. Michael Freeman, Human Rights
  15. Russell Hardin, Trust
  16. Fred Inglis, Culture
  17. Jennifer Jackson Preece, Minority Rights
  18. Paul Kelly, Liberalism
  19. Anne Mette Kjær, Governance
  20. Ruth Lister, Poverty
  21. Jon Mandle, Global Justice
  22. Judith Phillips, Care
  23. Michael Saward, Democracy
  24. John Scott, Power
  25. Anthony D. Smith, Nationalism
  26. Stuart White, Equality
  1. Care, Judith Phillips
  2. Concepts of the Self 2nd Edition, Anthony Elliott
  3. Consumption, Alan Aldridge
  4. Culture, Fred Inglis
  5. Democracy, Michael Saward
  6. Disability, Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer
  7. Empire, Alejandro Colás
  8. Equality, Stuart White
  9. Ethnicity, Steve Fenton
  10. Fundamentalism 2nd Edition, Steve Bruce
  11. Health, Mildred Blaxter
  12. Human Rights, Michael Freeman
  13. Justice, Harry Brighouse
  14. Gender, Harriet Bradley
  15. Global Justice, Jon Mandle
  16. Governance, Anne Mette Kjær
  17. Liberalism, Paul Kelly
  18. The Market, Alan Aldridge
  19. Minority Rights, Jennifer Jackson Preece
  20. Nationalism, Anthony D. Smith
  21. Network Society, Darin Barney
  22. The People, Margaret Canovan
  23. Poverty, Ruth Lister
  24. Power, John Scott
  25. Time, Barbara Adam
  26. Trust, Russell Hardin

 

Forthcoming titles

  1. Garrett Wallace Brown, Cosmopolitanism
  2. Craig Calhoun, Community
  3. Costas M. Constantinou, Diplomacy
  4. Keith Dowding, Rational Choice
  5. Katrin Flikschuh, Freedom
  6. John Gearson, Terrorism
  7. James Gow, War
  8. Geoffrey Ingham, Capitalism
  9. Robert Jackson, Sovereignty
  10. Gill Jones, Youth
  11. Bob Jessop, The State
  12. Peter Jones, Toleration
  13. Keith Krause, Security
  14. Chandran Kukathas, Multiculturalism
  15. George Lawson, Revolution
  16. Anthony Payne and Nicola Phillips, Development
  17. Christopher Phillipson, Ageing
  18. Lord Raymond Plant, Citizenship
  19. Kenneth Prandy, Social Mobility
  20. Timothy Sinclair, Global Governance