Capabilities, Recognition and the Philosophical Evaluation of Poverty: A Discussion of Issues of Justification and the Role of Subjective Experiences

Graf, Gunter; Schweiger, Gottfried

doi:10.1080/21598282.2013.818088

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Whereas the capability approach is an increasingly influential approach to poverty and widely used in poverty research, the recognition approach has not been applied to issues of poverty to this extent (Schweiger 2013a). However, as we have shown elsewhere, both provide different but equally challenging answers to the normative question why poverty is morally wrong (Graf and Schweiger 2013). As a consequence, a reflection on the relationship between the capability and recognition approaches regarding their take on the role of the subjective experience of poverty appears to be a promising source of insight for the philosophical debate and for the wider frame of poverty research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

The Subjective Experience of Poverty

Schweiger¹,

Graf²

2014

Sats

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What significance should the subjective experiences of poor people have in a normative philosophical critique of poverty? In this paper, we take up this question and answer it by looking at two different normative theories: the capability approach of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and the recognition approach of Axel Honneth. While Sen and Nussbaum are largely quite reluctant toward the role of subjective experiences of poor people, the recognition approach views them as central for its social critique of poverty. We will defend the thesis that a more inclusive view on the role of the subjects of suffering and injustice is needed, that such subjective experiences and the unique first-hand knowledge it produces cannot be substituted by objective criteria, while such criteria are needed to bolsterand in some cases also criticize -the poverty knowledge of poor people. sats 2014; 15(2): 148-167 Brought to you by | Simon Fraser University Authenticated Download Date | 6/7/15 5:48 AM( Brock 1999;Norton 2001). The rise of the debate about subjective well-being, which obviously cannot be determined objectively without reference to the interior view, and its use for poverty research is also an indicator for this (Kingdon and Knight 2006). Finally, the role of poor people themselves in the conceptualization, measurement, and evaluation of poverty is in question. Do they know best or maybe better than the poverty researchers what poverty means or should mean? Neither poverty research nor normative philosophy is situated outside the real world, which is full of relations of power and domination, and it is a fact that some knowledge is privileged and a few have the power to shape the discourse about poverty (Chambers 2007).These questions also touch upon normative questions in moral, social, and political philosophy, when it comes to the philosophical evaluation of poverty. The discussion is complex, and there is considerable disagreement about many issues such as questions concerning the ethical responsibility for the current situation and ethically demanded solution strategies. However, a widely shared understanding is that worldwide poverty is not only bad for poor people and to a minor extent also for the rich, but somehow morally wrong and unjust (Mack et al. 2009). Within this realm of normative discussions, one question that is hardly ever treated explicitly is concerned with the role of poor people themselves in ethical theories of poverty and in normative evaluations of their living conditions. The moral wrongness of poverty is often only assumed -which is not a false assumption as we want to make clear -and presented as a fact, without reference to the poor as authoritative subjects on these matters who should have a say in defining and evaluating this moral wrongness and injustice of their own living conditions. There is some discussion about the poor as agents of justice, and it is clear that they are important for the detection of poverty and also to design the right measures to overcome and alleviate poverty (D...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

The Subjective Experience of Poverty

Schweiger¹,

Graf²

2014

Sats

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“…Linking these insights back to the topic of subjective poverty in Ukraine, the capabilities approach is informative in two ways. Firstly, the framework emphasises the importance of the context in which people live (Graf and Schweiger, 2013), which is helpful for thinking through the structural limitations that people in Ukraine face. Secondly, the idea of being able to 'live a life one finds worth valuing' highlights that subjectivity and relative standing are important across different conceptualisations of poverty.…”

Section: One Of the Important And Unresolved Issues In Relation To Re...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…in the Global North context (Lister, 2002(Lister, , 2004b(Lister, , 2015Walker and Day, 2012;Castleman, 2013;Graf and Schweiger, 2013;Schweiger, 2013Schweiger, , 2014bLamont, 2018;Sambo, 2018). In the context of Eastern Europe, recognition theory has only been applied to study the marginalisation of the Roma population (Szalai, 2005;Hobson, 2018) and has not been used in relation to examining (subjective) poverty amongst non-minority groups.…”

Section: Chapter 7: Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ukraine's poor majority: Exploring the driving factors of subjective poverty

Homonchuk

2022

Int J Soc Welfare

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Existing scholarship indicates that there are divergences between objective and subjective poverty; yet subjective poverty remains under-researched and not well understood. This research contributes to addressing this gap by identifying and exploring influential factors contributing to high rates of subjective poverty in Ukraine, where nearly 70 per cent of people self-identify as being poor. This rate is surprisingly high given that the World Bank and the National Statistical Service of Ukraine estimate poverty in the country to be around 30 per cent. To understand the drivers of high rates of subjective poverty, the thesis investigates the questions 'what does selfidentification as poor entail in the context of Ukraine?' and 'why does the attribution of subjective poverty not correlate with income and material circumstances?' The questions are explored through a qualitative case study in Rivne city in Western Ukraine, using recognition theory as the main theoretical lens. The analysis draws on data from 50 in-depth semi-structured interviews across low-and high-income groups and across three age groups, with individuals ranging from 20 to 81 years old.Completing this thesis has been a journey of personal and intellectual transformation, which would have been possible without the generous support of the Clarendon and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundations, to whom I am enormously grateful. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Fran Bennett, who has been incredibly patient, supportive, and encouraging throughout the last four years. I am further grateful to my examiners Professor Mary Daly, Professor Nicolas Duvoux, Professor

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Humiliation and Child Poverty

Schweiger

2019

Philosophy and Poverty

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Capabilities, Recognition and the Philosophical Evaluation of Poverty: A Discussion of Issues of Justification and the Role of Subjective Experiences

Cited by 7 publications

References 24 publications

The Subjective Experience of Poverty

The Subjective Experience of Poverty

Ukraine's poor majority: Exploring the driving factors of subjective poverty

Humiliation and Child Poverty

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