Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
and choices basic to human development are not available to those
experiencing it. Such a view links to the definition of poverty as a lack
of power and access in the marketplace, including education, employ-
ment, housing and health. The occurrence of a number of linked disad-
vantages gives rise to the concept of cumulative or multiple deprivation,
where lack of power in one arena leads to a consequent lack of power in
others.
Absolute and Relative Poverty,
Entitlements and Vulnerabilities
In Chapter 1.3 we noted that, while globally the average level of pov-
erty is reducing, the difference between the incomes of the rich and the
poor is getting wider. This represents a situation where while absolute
poverty is decreasing, relative poverty is increasing.
Viewing poverty purely in terms of income suggests economic growth
as the route to poverty reduction. If a multidimensional view is taken,
then poverty alleviation requires targeted social policies. A good exam-
ple of this relates to changing views of poverty. Sen (1984) argued that
to understand poverty, malnutrition and starvation, it is necessary
to think in terms of what may be referred to as entitlements. These
refer to the resources that the poor can access to withstand short- and
long-term food crises. Entitlements include income, ownership of wider
resources, and access to public goods such as health care along with
other basic services (Thirlwall, 2006; Chant and McIlwaine, 2009).
Malnutrition involves a lack of access to food, but this does not depend
solely on whether food is available. It is also a reflection of people's
entitlements to food. Groups may go short of food not because food is
unavailable, but because their entitlement to it has been impaired.
From this perspective, famine results from a rapid decline in the enti-
tlements of various groups to the local food supply.
Sen cites the example of the Great Bengal Famine in 1948, which
mainly affected fishermen, agricultural labourers and transport work-
ers. In this famine, demand for the services of these workers declined
while, at the same time, the demand for labour in urban areas was
serving to push up the price of the staple foodstuff: rice. This illustrates
people can become too poor to afford the food that is actually available.
At the global level, there has always been enough food to feed the people
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