This Article Full Text (PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (25) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Chambers, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Poverty and livelihoods: whose reality counts?

The Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RE, UK, Fax: (44) 1273 621202

This paper explores how professionals’ universal, reductionist and standardized views of poverty differ from those of the poor themselves. Poverty line thinking concerned with income-poverty and employment thinking concerned with jobs, project Northern concerns on the South, where the realities of the poor are local, diverse, often complex and dynamic. Examples illustrate how poor people’s criteria differ from those assumed for them by professionals. The paper also discusses neglected dimensions of deprivation including vulnerability, seasonality, powerlessness and humiliation. In the new understandings of poverty, wealth as an objective is replaced by wellbeing and "employment" in jobs by livelihood. The final sections argue for altruism and reversals to enable poor people to analyze and articulate their own needs, and they conclude with the implications for policy and practice of putting first the priorities of the poor.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. McIlwaine and C. Moser Poverty, violence and livelihood security in urban Colombia and Guatemala Progress in Development Studies, April 1, 2003; 3(2): 113 - 130. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Bradshaw and B. Linneker Civil society responses to poverty reduction strategies in Nicaragua Progress in Development Studies, April 1, 2003; 3(2): 147 - 158. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. Few Flooding, vulnerability and coping strategies: local responses to a global threat Progress in Development Studies, January 1, 2003; 3(1): 43 - 58. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. Pugh Poverty and Progress? Reflections on Housing and Urban Policies in Developing Countries, 1976-96 Urban Stud, October 1, 1997; 34(10): 1547 - 1595. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. Mcllwaine Third-world development: urbanizing for the future Progress in Human Geography, June 1, 1997; 21(3): 406 - 413. [PDF]

				D. Drakakis-Smith Third World Cities: Sustainable Urban Development II Population, Labour and Poverty Urban Stud, May 1, 1996; 33(4-5): 673 - 701. [PDF]