Dennis, the link did not work here.
Poverty is a political choice that is for sure.
Dennis Raphael
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[SDOH] [spiritof1848] SDOH: Poverty
and cognitive development.
2008/12/08 02:50
PM
Please respond to
Social
Determinants of
Health
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Dennis
Raphael/fs/YorkU
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12/08/2008 02:35 PM Spirit of 1848
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Subject
Re: [spiritof1848] SDOH: Poverty and
cognitive development.Link
Not the fault of anybody?
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The view of many liberal social scientists and policymakers who subscribe
to this position
is that “No one intended this calamity and no one really benefits from it,
but it has the
consequence of significantly deepening the problem of poverty” (Wright,
1994, p. 36). Of
course, this raises the question of why some modern changing capitalist
economies have
high levels of poverty while other modern changing economies do not.
The second system view is that social inequality—and its most obvious
by-product,
poverty—is built into the economic system. For capitalism to survive, it is
argued, the value
of workers’ labour must be expropriated for the benefit of the owners of
business. Wright
(1994) argues:
"Poverty is not an accident; it is not a by-product. It is an inherent and
crucial feature of a
society whose economic structure is grounded in class and exploitation. The
pivotal idea
is that there are powerful and privileged actors who have an active
interest in maintaining
poverty. It is not just that poverty is an unfortunate consequence of their
material interests,
it is an essential condition for the realization of their interests. To put
it bluntly, capitalists
and other exploiting classes benefit from poverty". (p. 38)
Poverty is profitable because it suppresses wages, thereby increasing
profits, pits the
employed against the unemployed, and makes the likelihood of working class
organization
and action less likely. Poverty also serves as a potent reminder to those
who are not poor
of what awaits if off ered employment is not taken up. Such employment,
however, may be
low-waged, offer few benefits, and be of poor quality. Yet, such employment
will be taken
up because the alternative is the misery of poverty.
Wright argues there are important political assertions that flow out of
these diff ering
views. The first view—poverty as a by-product—argues that the
poverty-reduction task
will be advanced by showing policymakers that employment and training
programs will
serve to reduce poverty. Since no one really benefi ts from poverty, the
argument goes,
the task is one of educating and enlightening those in power about these
various poverty
solutions. According to Wright, this view postulates that there may be some
myopia among
policymakers and decision makers as to the causes of, and solutions for,
poverty, but there
is really little if any malice towards people living in poverty by
policymakers.
In contrast, the class exploitation view of poverty argues that the
reduction of poverty
will require the defeat of powerful forces that benefi t from poverty.
These forces include
policymakers who are under the control of these poverty-supporting forces.
As Wright
(1994) explains,
"The persistence of extreme levels of poverty occurs not because powerful
elites have mistaken
ideas of what is in their interests and what would solve poverty, nor
because they are shortsighted
or unenlightened, but because they benefi t from the existence of poverty
and have
unchallenged power". (p. 38)
Wright, E. O. (1994). The class analysis of poverty. In E. O. Wright (Ed.),
Interrogating inequality
(pp. 32–50). New York: Verso.
From Poverty and Policy in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of
Life (2007).
-------------------------------------------------------------
Of related interest:
*NEW* Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives, 2nd edition,
edited by Dennis Raphael
Forewords by Carolyn Bennett and Roy Romanow
http://tinyurl.com/5l6yh9
Poverty and Policy in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life
by Dennis Raphael
Foreword by Jack Layton
http://tinyurl.com/2hg2df
Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Health Care,
edited by Dennis Raphael, Toba Bryant, and Marcia Rioux
Foreword by Gary Teeple
http://tinyurl.com/2zqrox
See a lecture! The Politics of Population Health
http://msl.stream.yorku.ca/mediasite/viewer/?peid=ac604170-9ccc-4268-a1af-9a9e04b28e1d
Also, presentation on Politics and Health at the Centre for Health
Disparities in Cleveland Ohio
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4129139685624192201&hl=en
Dennis Raphael, PhD
Professor, School of Health Policy and Management
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto ON M3J 1P3
416-736-2100, ext. 22134
email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.atkinson.yorku.ca/draphael -------------------
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