Toward an Economic Sociology of Chronic Poverty: Enhancing the Rigor and Relevance of Social Theory

20 Pages Posted: 23 Jun 2010

See all articles by Michael Woolcock

Michael Woolcock

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG); Harvard University - Kennedy School of Government; Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)

Date Written: October 1, 2007

Abstract

In recognizing that poverty is 'multi-dimensional,' contemporary policy discourses – drawing on scholarship on ‘networks,’ ‘exclusion,’ and ‘culture’ – have made important (if often underappreciated) steps to incorporate insights from social and political theory, but these (hardwon) gains now need to be consolidated, advanced and sharpened. To build significantly on them, coherent theories of and useful policy responses to chronic poverty require attention to three additional (and interrelated) realms, which must cumulatively be able to (a) provide a clear but distinctive model of human behaviour, (b) explain how and why poverty persists as part of broader processes of economic prosperity and social change, (c) account for the mechanisms by which power is created, maintained and challenged, and (d) readily lend themselves to informing (and iteratively learning from) a new generation of supportable poverty reduction policies and practices. These three additional realms – social relations, rules systems, and meaning systems – are deeply grounded in a long tradition of social and political theory, and offer an opportunity to take a next step towards more faithfully incorporating the full richness of social science into poverty policy and practice.

Suggested Citation

Woolcock, Michael, Toward an Economic Sociology of Chronic Poverty: Enhancing the Rigor and Relevance of Social Theory (October 1, 2007). Chronic Poverty Research Centre Working Paper No. 104, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1629197 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1629197

Michael Woolcock (Contact Author)

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG) ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://econ.worldbank.org/staff/mwoolcock

Harvard University - Kennedy School of Government ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://ksgfaculty.harvard.edu/michael_woolcock

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) ( email )

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