The Shame of It

Global Perspectives on Anti-Poverty Policies

Gubrium, Erika K., Pellissery, Sony, Gubrium, Erika K., Pellissery, Sony

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781447308713
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781447308720
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Social Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The shame experienced by people living in poverty has long been recognised. Nobel laureate and economist, Amartya Sen, has described shame as the irreducible core of poverty. However, little attention has been paid to the implications of this connection in the making and implementation of anti-poverty policies. This important volume rectifies this critical omission and demonstrates the need to take account of the psychological consequences of poverty for policy to be effective. Drawing on pioneering empirical research in countries as diverse as Britain, Uganda, Norway, Pakistan, India, South Korea and China, it outlines core principles that can aid policy makers in policy development. In so doing, it provides the foundation for a shift in policy learning on a global scale and bridges the traditional distinctions between North and South, and high-, middle- and low-income countries. This will help students, academics and policy makers better understand the reasons for the varying effectiveness of anti-poverty policies.

Table of contents

• The shame of it
• Contents
• Notes on contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• 1. Resetting the stage
• 2. New urban poverty and new welfare provision: China’s dibao system
• 3. Thick poverty, thicker society and thin state: policy spaces for human dignity in India
• 4. Self-sufficiency, social assistance and the shaming of poverty in South Korea
• 5. ‘Not good enough’: social assistance and shaming in Norway
• 6. Pakistan: a journey of poverty-induced shame
• 7. Separating the sheep from the goats: tackling poverty in Britain for over four centuries
• 8. ‘Food that cannot be eaten’: the shame of Uganda’s anti-poverty policies
• 9. Shame and shaming in policy processes
• 10. Towards global principles for dignity-based anti-poverty policies
• Index