Poverty Knowledge in South Africa (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521198752)

Poverty is South Africa's greatest challenge. But what is "poverty"? And how can it be measured and addressed? In South Africa, human-science knowledge about the cost of living grew out of colonialism, industrialization, apartheid, and civil resistance campaigns, which makes this knowledge far from neutral or apolitical. South Africans have used the Poverty Datum Line (PDL), and other poverty indicators, to petition the state, to chip away at the pillars of white supremacy, and, more recently, to criticize the postapartheid government's failures to deliver on its promises. Rather than advocating one particular policy solution, this book argues that poverty knowledge - including knowledge of the tension between quantitative and qualitative observations - teaches us about the dynamics of historical change, the power of racial thinking in white settler societies, and the role of ordinary people in shaping state policy. Readers will gain new perspectives on today's debates about social welfare, redistribution, and human rights and will ultimately find reasons to rethink conventional approaches to advocacy.

Author: Grace Davie
ISBN-10: 0521198755
ISBN-13: 9780521198752
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 02/09/2015
Pages: 346
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.90w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2015