European Tribune - Comments - Social construction of poverty

Social construction of poverty | 43 comments (43 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Social construction of poverty (4.00 / 2)

Writing this suggests a hypothesis to me, which is that societies that are more meritocratic tend to have a greater incidence of social pathologies among members of their low-income quintiles. This seems testable.

I'd be careful with this if I were you, lest the bona fides of (presumably anti-social) pathologies be determined by the dominant class(es) in said societies. Tyranny of the majority and all that...

Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant

by redstar on Wed Nov 15th, 2006 at 10:17:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Social construction of poverty (none / 1)

There's indeed a well-known work that can be seen in the light you suggest, The Bell Curve.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Nov 15th, 2006 at 04:18:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Social construction of poverty (none / 0)

Indeed. An abusive power can use any kind of judgement as a basis for abusive action, and the judgement that "those people are bad" has been the basis for some of the most horrific.

Words and ideas I offer here may be used freely and without attribution.

by technopolitical on Wed Nov 15th, 2006 at 11:04:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Social construction of poverty | 43 comments (43 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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